The last post... (1 Viewer)

[Jos Stratford]

Gee, I have been away for two weeks and come back to this, I genuinely feel saddened here. I have never personal met Richard, but my limited correspondence with him, and much greater readership of his many wise words, makes me (and I suppose many on the forum) feel this is a loss beyond words for us all on Bird Forum.

May his legacy live on, one of the true greats on Bird Forum.

Erica, I still laugh over his trip report detailing the trip you took together in Japan and Korea some years back, his imaginative words to portray your delight when emerging a Japanese toilet, enthusiastically describing the the multi-functional aspects of the loo, musical soundtracks and all

"On our travels Erica has developed a perverse interest in the toilets of the world. Japan easily takes first prize. On visiting the ladies’ at Narita, she emerged beaming, and enthusiastically described the function which activates a flowing-water soundtrack to mask other sound effects and preserve a lady’s modesty. We were to find that such hi-tech wonders were commonplace – many toilets have a bewildering array of controls for such features as heated seats, strategically-aimed jets and sprays, and even auto-changing hygienic seat covers!"

 

[l_raty]

Dear Erica,
Thanks for passing the news, as sad as it may be. And sad it is, indeed.
Please accept my most sincere condolences as well.
Laurent -

 

[Peter Kovalik]

Erica, Jenny & Justin,

Please accept my heartfelt sympathy for your loss. I will miss him dearly. Richard was one of the positive influences of my life.

Peter Kovalik

 

[Melanie]

This is so sad. My deepest condolences.

 

[StuartReeves]

Really saddened to read this. Richard's posts here gave a real sense of his passion and his personality so this feel like a real loss.

Sincere condolences,

Stuart.

 

[Daniel Philippe]

Dear Erica,

I am truly sorry for your loss. Richard will be missed and he will never be forgotten.

Daniel

 

[njlarsen]

Thank you for letting us know. I am one more person who only met Richard here online and never in real life, but years of reading his posts still make me feel I knew him. I am very sad.

Niels

 

[Biancone]

I only started on this thread today, and was about to post my gratitude for Richard's unsurpassed breadth of contributions to the systematics forum - and then I got to the end of the thread.
May I add my sincere condolences to those already expressed.
Brian Groombridge

 

[Corvus cornix]

Again, my heartfelt condolences to Erica, Jenny and Justin. Richard will be very sadly missed. My deepest sympathy goes to you all.

Matt

 

[Fritz73]

Please accept my condolences to the family.

 

[MarcelHaas]

Please accept my heartfelt condolences. This is very sad news indeed. My view on taxonomy and all related matters will never be the same again, without Richard clarifying or referring to another article or source...

 

[Merlin]

Dear Erica,

Like all others, I am deeply saddened by this news.
My heartfelt condolences to you and your family.

Merlin

 

[Acanthis]

So sad!!

My condolences

 

[Xenospiza]

Dear Erica,
Thanks for telling us the sad news. I wish you and your family the best. I hope it helps to see we thoroughly enjoyed Richard's contributions.
Jan Hein

 

[jurek]

Dear Erica,

Please accept my condolences, too.

 

[thyoloalethe]

Erica & Family--I'm very sorry for your loss. Richard was very influential to many of us here and we will truly miss him.

Liam

 

[MJB]

Erica, Jenny and Justin,

Sincere condolences and sympathy from me as well.

Thoughts with you and yours at this time.

I echo these thoughts amid my own sense of loss.
MJB

 

[Peter C.]

...When my father died, it was like a whole library had burned down.
World without end, remember me.

-Laurie Anderson, "World without end"​

Peter

 

[KC Foggin]

My sincere condolences to you and your family Erica.

 

[Myornis]

It's impossible to add anything to all the kind messages above, which show how much Richard means to those of us involved in this forum. (I emailed him privately saying similar things after the sad first message.) Richard's posts have made this forum unmissable, enjoyable and at times humorous for the bird taxonomy enthusiast. I hope we can all collectively try our best to fill in the gaps to keep up his good work.

Richard probably chose this birdforum "last post" etymology carefully:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-Pz5KsyfN0
It's a good piece of music to contemplate deeper things than splits and lumps.