Stan James, RIP

I am very sad to announce that the long-time poster we know as Stan James passed away on December 25, 2007, at Mercy Hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was 55 years old. More info can be found in his obituary.

I only knew Stan from his postings here and a few private e-mails. He was immensely helpful to many, many people here over the years, and also showed a strong interest in learning new material, and was a friendly, enjoyable presence here. Several times we (the JavaRanch staff) invited him to become a moderator, as it was obvious that he was the sort of person we would benefit from having as a bartender here. Each time he politely declined, saying he didn't want to commit to something like that. Nonetheless he continued to keep helping people and generally behaving as a model JavaRancher - many of us considered him an honorary bartender in all but name. I'm glad he spent as much time with us as he did, and am very sorry we won't be seeing any more of him here.

Stan's true name has long been accessible to anyone who follows the links in his signature to his personal web site. Nonetheless, here he preferred to go by the name Stan James, and I would ask that we continue to respect his wishes in this regard. He'll always be Stan to me.

The obituary link above contains a link to a guestbook and a link for sending private condolences, which some of you may wish to use. Also, we will collect all postings from this thread and forward them on to the private condolences link.

Thanks for being such a helpful member of our community, Stan. You will be missed.

So young! What a tragic loss for everyone who knew him. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

I'm sorry to hear that. Stan was always full of patience and information. Even his member status "(instanceof Sidekick)" was a smile. We'll all miss Stan.

It is so sad that anyone would die aged 55, which is regarded as young nowadays. And would I be right in thinking that his death was sudden? His last JavaRanch posting was on 19 December, a mere six days before he died. I do hope that he had the time to make final preparations.

Stan was one of the best contributors to JavaRanch. He made so many good postings, always showing the patience which encouraged people to read what he had to say. He will be missed.

Oh my goodness, this is such a shock. Stan was an absolutely wonderful contributor here -- the model Rancher. Generous to a fault, unassuming, honest, and kind; he will be missed terribly.

[Roger]: It is so sad that anyone would die aged 55, which is regarded as young nowadays. And would I be right in thinking that his death was sudden? His last JavaRanch posting was on 19 December, a mere six days before he died.

I think this is his last post here. He made several that morning, December 20 (in the US). No indication on his part that anything unusual was going on. Though to be fair, I don't know that he would have told us about it if he did know something was up. I suspect it was fairly sudden, but don't really know. I hope he got a chance to say goodbye to his family at least.

Best wishes to his family.
He will certainly be missed here.

I always considered his refusal to take a bartending position as our loss, now our loss is greater

My thoughts are with his family.

Sad to hear about this. I remember him in comments related to mainframe systems, and java, and like me, chose scripts over tags not that it was the right thing. You will be missed, Stan.

Its a loss for all of us. RIP Stan, you will be missed.
[ January 06, 2008: Message edited by: Abhinav Srivastava ]

Very sad to hear this. We lost yet another valuable member of the ranch!

His member status, (instanceof Sidekick), always made me smile. I guess he must have been someone with a good sense of humor. I didn't know that he refused to become a bartender, but I've always considered him like one. It's sad to hear about his loss.

I feel very sad to hear this - we lost a very valuable member.
My condolences.

Sad. Its a great loss. To me its shocking and unbelievable, but I think death is like that. I still can't believe it.

I still remember when I discussed my first implementation of command pattern with him in here. And he was agreeing with everything and gave me the confidence that I did the thing right. I will miss you, Stan.

We often don't think of people like such as heroic, but someone who till his very last days and as much as one could was seen helping people out here can only be termed as exceptional. May God be with his family and loved ones at this difficult time.

Thanks for enriching our lives Stan. You will be missed.

Best regards, Andrew

He's Got the Whole World in His Hands...
Stan helped me a thousand times.

Good bye Stan, you will be missed!

OMG! Terribly sad to hear. Needless to say i am also one among them who get fascinated by the quote "instanceOf sidekick" [though i really could not get the meaning of it].

I was really delighted and overwhelmed by the way he replies. He is one among the many bartendes i am a big fan of.

As all other ranchers said, you are surely being missed Stan. My thoughts are with your family members. May your soul rest in peace and may the almighty give enough support to your family members to sustain your unfortunate loss.

[Edited a term which was a typo and by mistake. Thanks to the bartenders who intimated me about that! So kind of you!]
[ January 09, 2008: Message edited by: Raghavan Muthu ]

Stan, you were a great contributor to these forums, and a joy to have around; you will be missed. Farewell and good-bye.

Wow, this is a shock. I've noticed his many good posts on JavaRanch. He was certainly a good contributor to JavaRanch and he'll be missed. My condolences.

I read this today, and I am very sad. This is really a big loss, Stan was great contributor to Javaranch.

May his soul rest in peace.

Stan is one of the major contributors here at JavaRanch. You'll surely be missed. Good Bye, Stan and may you rest in peace.

Decided to wait a few days -- as I am still in shock (and still hoping that this is a mistake). Stan is one of the Javaranch forum's big contributors, and he will be greatly missed.

My deepest condolences to his friends and family,
Henry

I just saw this thread, and I'm in shock.

Stan was an extraordinarily generous and considerate member of our community here. I learned from his perspective, and enjoyed his posts.

This is very sad news.

Originally posted by marc weber:
I just saw this thread, and I'm in shock.

I am too, who can replace him as a defender of The Beginner with experienced professional oversight - no one, not even those to whom I have disclosed personal thoughts and observations.

Crikey...

my first reaction to the subject title was to check the date's not 1 April.

I'm absolutely dumbfounded - Stan (to me) was one of the few posters where,
when scrolling through a 'large-ish' thread, on spotting his name I'd pause
just to read his reply, often not for what he said, but for the way he said it.

A suggestion - add to JavaRanch's FAQ "How to Answer a Question",
using one of Stan's replies as the example.

Well, Stan, my first drink each Christmas Day will be to you - Rest In Peace.

Stan,

Ruhet shad! - Your soul be happy.

Darya

What a shock - I can't believe it, having just returned from a vacation.

Stan was one of those rare members whom's contributions I'd always read when I saw them, even if I wasn't very interested in the topic. And I learned a lot in our discussions, especially when we disagreed - and they were always a great pleasure. I can't tell you how much I will miss him, and it's a sad thought that now I won't ever have a chance to meet him in person...

Originally posted by Ilja Preuss:
...Stan was one of those rare members whom's contributions I'd always read when I saw them, even if I wasn't very interested in the topic.

Very true Ijla. I have done the same quite a few times.

And I learned a lot in our discussions, especially when we disagreed - and they were always a great pleasure. I can't tell you how much I will miss him, and it's a sad thought that now I won't ever have a chance to meet him in person...

Perfect. I have seen your arguments in some threads and i felt it was very much required to have a constructive criticism that fetches more out of the individuals to yield a good collective information.

Obviously, Stan's absence is a big loss!

Such sad news, my condolences to Stan's family and friends. His posts are real gems.

I haven't been around much lately so I am really shocked to learn of Stan's passing. Stan, you will be missed. We are greater for the time you chose to spend with us, and lesser for your absence.

Couldn't believe this, I am really shocked to read this .