Marc Orchant passed away today after a massive cardiac infarction.

Online it’s easy to feel anonymous and unimportant when there are so many already established experts, when everyone seems connected with the connected, and where some people seem superhuman in all they’ve accomplished. Marc Orchant may have been a connected and star technologist, who I look up to for the quality and earnestness of his writing, but he was also one of those rare people who didn’t make you feel anonymous. In an era where the one line email is the best you’d expect from an “A-lister,” Marc would respond with paragraphs of personal, careful thoughts to every email. He epitomized the productive person with values in the right place–he never seemed to make sacrifices. He was a great friend and his priorities were always straight.

If you ever had the pleasure to listen to his podcasts, you learned about his family, which he frequently discussed. I was always amazed at how he made time for them in between his tours of travel, writing, speaking, consulting, and gadget-testing. Everything he took interest in, he took a PASSION to. Or at least that’s how he made you feel. Just such a balanced and brilliant person.

I’m still getting my head past this. I’ll miss our calls and emails and his ever steady stream of writing. If I accomplish half of what Marc has by the time I’m his age, then my family will be proud. There’s no question that he’s left a legacy. And that he’ll live on as a role model for so many of us.

Filed under: Productivity, Technology

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