Marcus: A Life of Giving & Quantum-Gravity Enthusiasm

[Demystifier]

This forum will never be the same without him. RIP

 

[Garlic]

My sincerest condolences to tamwuff and their family.
I've seen marcus's posts, but I have never contacted with him in the forum. Still, I shared the sorrow of his passing. I wish I had the chance to meet him.
May your soul rest in peace..

 

[Ibix]

@tamwuff. I would like to offer my condolences as well. I haven't had the skills to discuss topics on his level but I always knew what a great contribution he made to this community. I am saddened by the loss of one of our great ones.

Pretty much what I've been trying to figure out how to say. My condolences also, @tamwuff.

 

[Chronos]

While never having had the opportunity to meet him personally, I have long considered marcus a personal friend and mentor. He will be greatly missed by his extended family here on PF. My condolences.

 

[julian]

I'm just finding out and am in shock. He was a true legend on the physics forum. Also such a friendly guy and was the first person to welcome me when I joined. R.I.P. My condolences also.

 

[mheslep]

How sad. I'll miss Marcus ..

W. H. Auden seems about right ...

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,...

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

http://allpoetry.com/Funeral-Blues

 

[Ivan Seeking]

My deepest condolences to all of Marcus's friends, and especially his family. I only spoke directly with Marcus a few times but attempted to follow many of his LQG discussions for eight years. He has indeed been a legend at PF for as long as I've been around. And in a sense he will live on through the minds of his many readers and fans through his 24,000+ posts here at PF.

My first interaction with Marcus was when he called me out for posting in pseudo iambic pentameter. :D He liked that.

 

[ChrisVer]

Well I am really sorry for reading this
My condolences to his family, relatives and friends.
The PF community and me as part of it will for sure miss his lively threads.

 

[Davephaelon]

When I first started reading and browsing the threads on PF I realized that Marcus was among the most knowledgeable and prolific contributors on here, selflessly providing educational guidance to the whole community, over a very long time. My deepest condolences to his family and friends.

 

[EnumaElish]

My sincere condolences.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

@marcus now has a memorial badge

 

[Lord Crc]

My condolences to the family.

Marcus had a positively contagious enthusiasm for science, as well as being highly inclusive and patient.

As a layman I really enjoyed following his posts, especially in the Beyond the Standard Model, Astrophysics and Cosmology forums.

His contributions will be greatly missed.

 

[ohwilleke]

Hi everyone -- Marcus's son here. Thank you all for the love and warmth here in this thread.

To answer the question about "what happened", it was esophagus cancer -- we found out about it in September, but by that point it was advanced to a level where not much could be done. We tried anyway -- chemo, radiation, etc. But, well...

I know he cared a whole lot about all of you guys. When I would see him or talk to him on the phone, he would often update me on what was going on here on PF, and how he was starting a poll or posting a summary of various papers or whatever else he would do on a regular basis. I empathized with how he felt about PF, since my generation grew up with the internet and I thought it was wonderful to see him bonding as deeply with you guys as I've bonded with the online communities I'm part of.

You guys rock. Hugs to you all.

Thanks for letting us know. We will miss him dearly, as I am sure you will a hundred times more.

 

[kodama]

i will miss him. hopefully atty can continue his work on the bibliography

 

[gracy]

@marcus you are no more but your 24,546 posts will continue to help students. You will get blessings from students all over the world . You have done soul satisfying work. May you rest in peace. God bless you.

 

[johanw]

I just logged in after a long time and read this. How sad, and a big loss to PF. My condolences to his family and all PF members.

 

[samg1]

I don't know Marcus as I am a new member but RIP that's all I can say

 

[julcab12]

... My curiosity with QG started with him. Sad. A true educator.

 

[tade]

cancer is a horrible thing

 

[chwala]

RIP...its everyone's journey, time is the only variable, we are all heading there, we celebrate his life, rip Marcus

 

[jackmell]

I know firsthand some admirable qualities Marcus exhibited on this forum. Perhaps if the members wanted, we could offer an award yearly to someone that exemplified them.

 

[chasrob]

R.I.P.
"His good deeds go before him"

 

[julian]

I know firsthand some admirable qualities Marcus exhibited on this forum. Perhaps if the members wanted, we could offer an award yearly to someone that exemplified them.

I think something we have failed to acknowledge is the courage and bravery that Marcus showed by continuing to learn AND teach several months after what must have been devastating news that his cancer was in such an advanced stage.

I think a lot of us know a friend or family member (myself included) with cancer, and how helpless you can sometimes feel. Also how much treatments such as chemo knocks a person about.

I was trying to think of a way that Marcus could be remembered (aside from his numerous valuable posts) in order to inspire future members of PF, and I think jackmell's idea great. Maybe at some point in many months to come this idea could be realized, but could I suggest that the award be put to a vote and that you can only vote if you make £1 donation to a cancer research charity.

 

[Nugso]

I've not been posting too much on the forums lately, because of the thesis I'm working on, but I always talked to him on PM, and he always helped and answered me with kindness.

I thanked him personally back then, and I'd like to thank him now for everything he has done for me, and for all of us. RIP.

 

[MeJennifer]

May he rest in peace!

He liked this song very much:

 

[Monsterboy]

RIP Marcus

He was certainly one of PF's greatest contributors, he had a unique talent to make dumb people like me understand what he was talking about , although my interaction with him was extremely limited in the topics of GR, QM/QG etc (since its not my area) , I was lucky enough to interact with him on the topics of manned mission to Mars and probes to Ceres and Pluto.

His posts and replies gave me a warm feeling everytime and made me feel at home in PF.

 

[Tsu]

 

[megacal]

Very sad to hear Marcus has passed on.
He seemed like a good & decent man, helping others to understand great things, even those
like me who are mathematically challenged.

Would love to see what he looked like & see his bio if possible.

Sincere condolences to his family and all his many friends. I wish I had known him personally.

 

[Stephanus]

Very sad to hear Marcus has passed on.
He seemed like a good & decent man, helping others to understand great things, even those
like me who are mathematically challenged.

Would love to see what he looked like & see his bio if possible.

Sincere condolences to his family and all his many friends. I wish I had known him personally.

Yes he had answered me, too several times about cosmology.

 

[MTd2]

Hi everyone -- Marcus's son here. Thank you all for the love and warmth here in this thread.

To answer the question about "what happened", it was esophagus cancer -- we found out about it in September, but by that point it was advanced to a level where not much could be done. We tried anyway -- chemo, radiation, etc. But, well...

I know he cared a whole lot about all of you guys. When I would see him or talk to him on the phone, he would often update me on what was going on here on PF, and how he was starting a poll or posting a summary of various papers or whatever else he would do on a regular basis. I empathized with how he felt about PF, since my generation grew up with the internet and I thought it was wonderful to see him bonding as deeply with you guys as I've bonded with the online communities I'm part of.

You guys rock. Hugs to you all.

My condolences to you and your family.

I haven't visited PF for a while. So, one of these days, I was back to see his thread "Loop-and-allied QG bibliography" and I missed his presence. I found it really, really odd that he hadn't opened a new thread about this paper: "Conformal loop quantum gravity coupled to the Standard Model", by one of his favorite authors Rodolfo Gambini and Jorge Pullin. That would nr something that would keep him posting a post after post for all day quoting the paper and making with bold his favorite parts. So, I looked for his latest post, and it was from May 6th. Then, I found this thread.I am devastated. I am crying here... Why?!? I know, there is no why. I always thought of visiting him one day. I wanted to know him, but he kept his privacy. I'd like to know his ideas in a much more deeper and personal level. This is because he always my mind busy during very depressing times since he always kept sight of interesting things. It seems life is not only merely short. moreover, it is further shortened because we don't happen to live nearby, to live during similar times, or to communicate as much as we wanted.

He was always a personal star to me. I hope he can somehow forever shine to many people.

Rest in Peace, Marcus, my friend.

 

[FritoTaco]

This is really sad, he seemed like a really helpful and nice person. Maybe in the next universe, we will find him...

 

[StevieTNZ]

This news truly shocks me. Although I didn't really engage in much discussion with him, he seemed well informed on a variety of physics topics and recent pre-print's and their popularity. He was also the person who guided me in the direction of a book that was in Italian, and soon to be published in English. That book will serve me a reminder of marcus. May he rest in peace.

A few days ago the book translated to English arrived. I immediately thought of marcus.

:*(

 

[houlahound]

If success in life is judged by the positive impact you left on others then Marcus succeeded well at life.

I wish I knew him.

 

[garrett]

Marcus will be greatly missed.

 

[OmCheeto]

Marcus will be greatly missed.

"will be"?

It tore a part of my heart out, when I heard the news.

Once, he put out his hand, and invited people along, on a long boring journey.
I was bit late, but once I grabbed onto his hand, it was a wild ride, that I will never forget.

And that, is how I define friendship: People, going on wonderful adventures, together.