Have had to write this in chunks over several hours where I've had to step away from the PC to catch my breath and wipe my eyes so my kids don't see me cry
I had a unique bond with John that I won't/haven't had with anyone else in the mir community. We spoke almost daily from way back in the RubyM2 days, right up until recently when he went in to hospital. I was 17 when i started working on Ruby, I am now 34 - although he lived on the other side of the world and I never met him in person it feels like I have lost a family member.
More often than not he was a complete dumbass, he had learning difficulties and there were several times I would correct him when he misspelt a word, he would say "OK", and then continue to misspell it (probably on purpose to irritate me lol), but despite his learning difficulties he carried on and for many years was determined to learn how to read and write the C# code, He never did fully get it but it was inspiring to see the small breakthroughs of understanding he had.
He may not have been the best GM, or the most responsible with other peoples files, or pick the best team members to work with him, but his passion for Mir and making things authentic was unmatched, and he would help anybody here with anything when it came to Mir - all of the recent-ish newcomers have said to me at 1 point "IceMan helped me with.....".
I can't describe enough how much of a hole this leaves in me personally as well as the Mir community as a whole, there will never be another person like him. He would have been 42 in a few weeks time, taken so young.
Rest in peace my friend
Edit: John was the dude, not the bird