my friend Bill Keezer has passed away

The news of my friend Bill Keezer's death has come to me belatedly via Bill Vallicella at his Maverick Philosopher blog. Bill was many things: a friend, a father figure in times of trouble, a scientist, a writer, and an all-around thinker. I had the pleasure of meeting him once when I lived in Front Royal, Virginia. Bill was fascinated by trains; he also had a background as a scientist (biology), and he would often write me private emails about my various diet and fitness schemes. During the period after my mother died and I was discovering unpleasant facts about my father, Bill stepped in as a kind of father figure, helping me reason my way back to sanity. I would periodically send Bill emails of my own, asking after his health. He suffered from congestive heart failure for years, and I assume that that's what did him in eventually. I had wondered at Bill's radio silence over the past month or so, and I'm ashamed not to have sent another of my inquiry emails before his late-November passing. My last email to him was sent this past September. Until about mid-November, Bill was sending out his shotgun emails to the people on his personal list—memes, articles, cartoons, and the like. I'm sad not to have known he was so close to the end; I would have liked to have had the chance to say goodbye. But life rolls on, and Bill has stepped through the Great Door, hopefully to a better place. RIP, Bill Keezer. The world is a little dimmer without you.