Many of my data center center friends have enjoyed reading and discussing ideas TechHermit has put on his blog http://techhermit.wordpress.com/.

Here is the last post from his son.

Tech Hermit
July 30, 2009
Dearest Friends,
It is with a very heavy heart that I am writing this note to you all. Last Wednesday evening my father Shane McGew (TechHermit) passed away quietly in his bed surrounded by his loving family. In case you did not know, he had been valiantly struggling against lung cancer for quite some time. I am reaching out to each of you to let you know as you represent his online family and friends. My dad came to the "internet" kind of late to the game but had always been in roles where he supported the data centers of various corporate companies and colleges in the area. He really loved what he did. I wanted to thank you for keeping his world interesting in the last few years of his life and I can honestly say that he appreciated and loved interacting with everyone. Knowing my dad, he is probably walking around the data center in heaven telling God what he can do to improve his P.U.E.

William McGew

Christian Belady wrote a comment.

I was devastated by this news….through his blog he had become both a friend and industry pundit.. I found TechHermit a very objective voice of reason in an industry of very subjective opinions. His refreshing candidness made his blog my favorite read. I will certainly miss him immensely and I think the industry will as well. Anytime there is industry news, his blog was the first place I would go to see what his opinion was…and usually they made me smile because he put the “moose on the table”. He truly had a gift in that.

My sympathies go to his family during this difficult time.

I wrote my own comment on TechHermit.

It is sad to hear this news as I felt TechHermit was one of my avid readers, and another person who shared a passion for transparency of what is going on in the industry. I will miss his contributions and discussion as TechHermit was not a media person and wasn't blogging from a company perspective.

An example of how we leveraged conversations is http://techhermit.wordpress.com/2009/06/13/individual-versus-the-collective/

I am writing my own blog entry. My condolences go out to to the family for their loss.