While I got lucky last night, not everyone was so fortunate. Old-school anime fans and rec.arts.anime.* denizens may remember Steve Pearl, aka starbucking. Steve was a regular on rec.arts.anime back in the day, and became the moderator of rec.arts.anime.info. He was a 'name' in anime fandom, and was involved with cons and many aspects of fandom. Steve had been fighting with severe diabetes for many years - and he's lost the fight. I met Steve many times over the years at cons, and still exchanged emails with him from time to time, as well as comments on LJ, etc. We both came up in fandom at the same time and moved in the same circles. Steve was always there in almost every corner of anime fandom.
I am sorry to learn of his passing, but at the same time I'm glad that his pain and suffering is over. He suffered a lot from complications stemming from his diabetes.