Eric passed away a couple of days ago, and only now have I been able to bring myself to write something about it. Even so, there’s very little I can say that truly reflects how I’m feeling. So I’ll just share the message I left on the site Anne has been building for his family.
Please take a moment to visit Friends of Eric Binnion.
I’ll miss you, bud.
Eric is someone I deeply admire. I first knew him through work, and from the beginning I looked up to the way he thinks, leads, and approaches hard problems. Over time, that admiration became much more personal. He became someone whose judgment I trust, whose example I try to learn from, and whose presence quietly makes people around him better. But Eric is not only someone I admire professionally. He is also the friend who can move from serious life advice to Pokémon, MTG, tattoos, or a ridiculously cool BMW Z4 in a heartbeat. He has this way of making conversations feel easy, even when life is anything but. I want Eric, his wife, and his family to know how loved he is. His influence goes far beyond the work he has done. He has shaped people, encouraged them, made them better, and left marks that will stay with us. Eric, I am grateful for you. I am grateful for your kindness, your humor, and the example you set. I wish we had more time, but I also feel lucky for the time we did have. You are loved, admired, and deeply appreciated. More than I probably ever managed to say out loud.
You will probably notice the ribbon I added at the left corner of my blog, I made an Open Source plugin for that and you have get it at https://github.com/rtio/corner-ribbon – it was already submited to the plugin directly and will be available soon.