Many have asked what happened and how.
I only spoke with him a few weeks ago but he was so very private I am not sure that it would be appropriate for me to post the details of his illness and what I knew of his last few months. There are others here who probably know more than I.
What I didn't know was that he was so very ill again. As I said earlier, he had told me just a few weeks ago that he thought he was getting better.
Unfortunately, I don't keep my PMs on the forum, both sent and received, for months and months so what I might have missed in his messages is long gone. I think that he may not have wanted us to know how sick he was or that he was just full of hope for his recovery as many who are gravely ill can be.
About his age. I am not sure exactly, but he and I were "of an age" and so I know that he was in his 60s. I think that to be very young from my perspective anyway.
He did have a rich full life. He travelled all over Europe and had been to Russia many times. He had a library of over 5,000 volumes. He loved animals and had a cat rescue project on his property. His cats were named Lenin and Trotsky (at least the last time we talked about it) and others in the same cat-agory.
He was a man who gave much. He was taken far too soon.