Murph, A long time Relic fan and Homeworlder passed away on November 15th. He died after suffering an apparent heart attack at work (this is under investigation). He was 21. Details here.
I’ve known Murph a long time on IRC. Certainly not his best buddy or anything, but we had a good relationship. When I took an American Sign Language course, Murph gave me some pointers (he was deaf). When I worked at Relic doing a QA stint for Homeworld 2, I pushed on the Designers a bit to include captions in the cut scenes so Murph could “see” the story. The captions made it into the game.
Murph did say goodbye to us in a way. Here are his last comments in IRC before he headed off to work, and his death.
[14:13] < Murph > now I shall go to work
[14:13] < Murph > later dolts
[14:13] * Quits: Murph (Murph@D36978F2.E4776E58.264CA1B0.IP) (Quit: work sucks)
Later Dolts indeed.