Dear Customers and Friends,

O'Reilly reports ... editor in chief Frank Willison suffered a heart attack and died the morning of July 30th. This is a tragedy.

Of all of us at O'Reilly, Frank is the one we'd most have imagined growing old and grandfatherly, dispensing to successive generations the wisdom, humor and caring that he shared with all of us. He is (I use the present tense deliberately) one of those people who is an inspiration to us all, someone who demonstrates convincingly how to be a wonderful human being.

In times like these, I find comfort in a passage from Wallace Stevens:

The shadows of his fellows ring him round
In the high night, the summer breathes for them
Its fragrance, a heavy somnolence, and for him,
For the soldier of time, it breathes a summer sleep,
In which his wound is good because life was.
No part of him was ever part of death.

The passing of our heroes (and Frank was one of my heroes and mentors, as I'm sure he was for so many of you as well) reinforces in us the knowledge that what matters is not the time or manner of our passing, but the way we lived. Frank lived in a way we would all be proud to live; I'm sure he continues on to his next adventure with the same light and curious touch.

We will all miss Frank very painfully in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. But what he gave to each of us will remain as part of the treasure each of us stores up in our life, and hopefully passes on to those around us, as Frank was so ready to do.

In parting, I'd like to share two things with you. The first is a collection of fragments from Frank's emails and columns. His writing was anticipated and collected by O'Reilly employees because of the wit, wisdom, humor, and humanity he wrote with. O'Reilly PR director Lisa Mann kept the file these come from. Around the company the file was known as "The Best of Frank."

Secondly, O'Reilly CTO Jon Orwant put together a memorial Web site where people can share their favorite memories of Frank. I encourage you to do so if you've got something to share.

Go well, Frank. --Tim

The Best of Frank

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