Coming back out of the shadows to say I’m so sorry to hear this. Auto was one of the few Dopers I met IRL, along with tdn and **Robot Arm *in Boston that time. He had a great spirit about him.
tdn, my condolences.
Thank you gigi. It’s good to see you back.
Hard to believe that was five years ago. bbs2k was there that night too. And of course your friend. That was a really fun night!
D’oh! That’s right – I remember now. And now I’m reminded Auto was only 23 then – he had it together for being so young!
I doubt this would ever be an issue, I cannot imagine who would even know to inform the board of my death, but let me say right now: do NOT ever let my Mom become aware of what I have posted here… I don’t care if Cecil Adams and Stephen Hawking and the ghost of Isaac Newton signed up to write timeless poetry in my honor.
Good thinking.
I don’t remember that Autolycus and I ever interacted, but it’s no secret how I feel about this family, so we join with the rest of you in saying goodbye to our friend.
I think no matter who we are, if we communicate with even one person in a friendly way on this board, we have indeed gained a friend, so to those of you who knew Auto well and were a friend, we send our condolences.
Bill and Dondra
PS: Thanks, janis for the heads-up.
Gosh, looking at that thread gave me an indescribable feeling. According to wikipedia, it may be “zemblanity”. Poor fellow.
Thanks for the video, helps commemorate him in a way.
Really sorry to hear about this. Far too soon.
The first thing that always comes to my mind when somebody suddenly dies for no apparent reason is sudden cardiac arrest, which in turn lead me to ask - why don’t they have better screening (and not just athletes) for something that kills 300,000 Americans (including 16,000 children under 17; heart attacks are a major cause but far from the only one) a year, because then many people might still be alive today - including Autolycus.
There’s also cerebral aneurysm, which is what killed my father. It took him five months to die, but that’s only because he was rushed to the hospital in time. They ended up keeping him alive that long, and I’ve often thought since then that it would have been better for him if he’d just died at the time. But the specialist looking after him told me there was absolutely no risk factor for it. It’s not related to age, smoking, weight, diet, blood pressure or anything else they’ve been able to determine. It just happens. And while I was there taking care of matters, I heard of two or three other cases close together where people just dropped, including one guy in his 30s who was bowling when it happened suddenly.
So I’m wondering if maybe it was an aneurysm.
There are lots of “it just happens” ways to die, and they all suck. Young people die, babies die, people who are loved lots die, people other people depend on die…
Just…hug 'em while you got 'em. It’s all you can do.
So sad. He will be greatly missed.
Oh this is so sad.
That kills several professional athletes every year, guys whose health is more monitored than the Crown Jewels. If it was easy to screen for, you think we’d have guys going through it in the Premier or Primera?
How incredibly sad. My heart goes out to his family and friends, and I’ll miss his posts.
Athletes, especially footballers did not routinely undergo screening for congenital heart problems until a few years ago.
I’ve been really hoping I’d come back to this thread to find out it was all a mistake. 
Autolycus is already and will always be missed. He made me laugh and he made me think. He was one of the reasons I keep coming back to this place.
This is completely crushing. He was a great great kid. I don’t even have words, but I have so many memories.
Is it bad form, or even against the rules somehow, to compile something like a ‘Greatest Hits’ thread or post about Auto, or anyone else who’s passed? I recognized the name and all, but it seems like I missed out a lot; just not in the same forums, I guess.
No, I don’t think so. I don’t know that it’s been done before, though in other RIP threads, there are occasionally links to standout threads or posts.
Has anyone heard anything about cause of death? I know it doesn’t really make any difference, but it helps me wrap my head around it a little better.
It’s been almost a week but there’s still a little part of me that wants to hope this is all a joke.
Going into past threads, it was great to see how Auto went from being an obnoxious Good Guy ™ to mellowing out and becoming the humorous, witty, sharing, and insightful guy that he left us as. I look at the exchanges we had here and smile. I look at the few facebook exchanges we had and sadly realize that they were too few and far between. I wish I had the guts to get to know him better.
But for what I do know, I am glad I was able to experience. I remember how devastated he was when he didn’t get into the JET program on his first time so I was so happy when he was able to on his second attempt. It’s obvious that he loved Japan in so many aspects- you don’t need to know Japanese to be on the program but he went above and beyond learning basic Japanese to learning the local Touhoku slang and, from what the videos have shown, speaking fluently. It looks like he enjoyed his job, had a great social life, and also had a ladyfriend. If I remember correctly he was about 1 1/2 years into the program; I’m sure he had planned on staying the maximum of the three years.
I’ve been looking at the links from his youtube page, which lead to various Japanese lessons. I’ve stopped learning Japanese in school but his links have helped me to remember that kindling spark I’ll always have for it. Even from beyond he continues to teach. 