Terribly sad news,
He helped me more than a few times with system 80 pins I would pick up.
Once I had a Pink Panther that I posted on pinside to view, and he noticed my center plastic wasn't cracked/broken and he offered to send me a new metal protector.
"How much I asked?"
"Don't worry about it, no charge"
That's the kind of guy he was.
My thoughts go out to him and his family.