Because the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many, I hope you’ll indulge this old Trekkie with one more sad post to note the passing of someone who, though we never met, has meant a lot to me my entire life, or at least since the day after my second birthday.
I’ll let Captain Kirk (via screenwriter Jack B. Sowards) say what I can’t . . .
“We are assembled here today to pay final respects to our honored dead. And yet it should be noted that in the midst of our sorrow, this death takes place in the shadow of new life, the sunrise of a new world; a world that our beloved comrade gave his life to protect and nourish. He did not feel this sacrifice a vain or empty one, and we will not debate his profound wisdom at these proceedings. Of my friend, I can only say this:
“Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most human.”
And with that, a star has winked out.
—Philip Athans
Fantasy Author's Handbook 