I never knew him personally, but I definitely felt the loss.

I happened upon the Internet in the late 80s, a wide-eyed college freshman, and the early RFCs taught me a lot about systems design and protocol design.

More than that, they taught me to see the Internet as an endlessly collaborative process. There was no central king-like authority. We were all in it together, figuring it out as we went. We still are.

For that, I owe Jon Postel a debt of gratitude. I always will.

Thank you for making this post, Luyt. It is a good thing to be reminded of those who did so much to make the present day what it is for us.

Folks, these are the shoulders we are all standing on. Let's try not to mess it up too badly.

"Jonathan B. Postel, our Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, friend, engineer, confidant, leader, icon, and now, first of the giants to depart from our midst."