The Loss of a VBForum Member

[dday9]

I posted this in the Post Race, but it was suggested that I should make a new thread since it would probably get drown out by the nonsense that is known as the Post Race.

A VBForum member, homer13j, pointed out that he hasn't seen any activity from another VBForum member, gruff, in a while and knew that he had some health issues. Needless to say homer13j was a little concerned. So I decided to see if I couldn't track down gruff; while I wasn't able to speak with gruff I did speak with his daughter. Unfortunately his daughter informed me that gruff passed away on September 12th... this was her exact message:

Yeah...he was King of Dad jokes, that's for sure. I'm glad you reached out. I didn't have his passwords and I know that he very much enjoyed his time on the forums and considered you all friends. I'm sorry I couldn't reach out myself.

He did pass, officially, September 12th of natural causes.

I want to thank you and everyone in the communities he interacted with. He was single and lived alone and I worried for him a lot. It helped to know he had interactions, however they were had, because I know that he looked forward to them on a daily basis. Please pass on my sincerest thanks to whomever you feel necessary. I can't thank everyone enough for keeping my Dad company when I couldnt.

[brad jones]

I've added what I'll dub the Gruff smilie:

[dday9]

[techgnome]

[Sitten Spynne]

Oh no! I've been posting on forums with Gruff since my career started back in 2003. I'll miss the heck out of him.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Well, it's good that he has a smiley, as he was an iconic member.

Yeah, I went with a pun, but as his daughter implied, Gruff would have liked it that way.

[FunkyDexter]

He's a huge loss to the community and definitely deserving of his own smiley. He made me grin... a lot.

[RobDog888]

RIP Gruff! Always terrible to hear news like this. He will be greatly missed.

[jdc20181]

wow...

This one hit me hard. Gruff was a good friend here on the forums.





Well, at least he passed of natural causes...

Someone outta talk to the admins and see about making his account into a memorial...

[Arnoutdv]

Tom was also a beloved member and (retired) moderator on XtremeVBTalk.
We will surely miss him

[dilettante]

Sorry to hear of his passing. The world is a little smaller for it.

[szlamany]

My thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family

[TnTinMN]

DDay,

Thank you for the closure.

I've been dreading the worst for a while now. My last correspondence with Tom had been Sept 2 and he had indicated that he was going in for a another 3 days with the doctors after the Labor Day holiday and that he would be in touch after that. Unfortunately, I never received any further messages. My follow up message went answered.

----------------------

Tom,
R.I.P. my friend.
You will be missed!

[Navion]

I am joining the mourners here expressing their sorrow. I did not know Gruff well but I did come across some of his posts from time to time. R.I.P. Tom. Your daughter's testimony was quite poignant.

There is another forefront member of the VBforums community who has not been heard from for something like 6 months now. I have always been reluctant (and still am) to bring the matter forward and there is not a day I come browsing VBforums that I don't have a thought for him. Wherever you are LaVolpe, this one's for you.

[szlamany]

I found this post from just early September

How's that old engineering joke go...

Optimist: That glass is half full.
Pessimist: That glass is half empty.
Engineer: That glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

[NeedSomeAnswers]

Very sad news,

while i only knew him from his posts mainly in Post Race he seemed like a good guy, genuine and funny.

RIP Gruff