This page is for site visitors to post remembrances and thoughts at the time of Dr. Pournelle’s passing (8 Sep 2017). Your thoughts can be added using the form at the bottom of this page. Comments that are not related to words of encouragement or condolences will be removed.
Dr. Pournelle’s family appreciates those that have taken the time to send condolences and well wishes.
For those that are interested in Dr. Pournelle’s books, please see the e-books page or the Amazon page . Here’s a list of all of Jerry’s books: All The Books.
Jerry’s last post is here. The text of the eulogy given at the memorial is here. Site news is here. – Editor
Thank you for the guidance and the wisdom. It has made a difference in my life. Thank you for the future you worked on. And on the Gripping Hand, RIP.
I can’t believe that I’m no longer going to be able to get my fix for rational discourse and debate on issues that impact all of us. Dr Pournelle has been a great influence in my life and how I’ve approached the world. My condolences to his family.
Jerry was a part of my childhood. I still vivdly remember going to the bookstore looking out for the latest issue of Byte and the Chaos Manor column. At the time I was living in Malaysia. This was all way way before internet. Jerry gave a view into a magical new world.
I heard him interviewed many times. Brilliant man.
He touched many lives and uplifted them with his insights. He will be missed. Prayers for his family.
Condolences. His astute discourse will be sorely missed by this fan.
I read his column in byte for many years as a teenager and his website after. His approach to Life, technology and education was a constant reminder of why I chose those fields.
Best wishes from the UK
Aleta Jackson, God rest her soul, introduced me to Jerry Pournelle on BIX, way back when she was my first boss. I told her I liked his work but he really missed understanding a lot of dynamic economic reality.
She shoved me at the computer, logged me in, and told me to go type.
Later, she introduced me to him, Roberta, Tom Clancy, Jim Baen, Toni Weisskopf, Tim Kyger, Henry Vanderbilt, and a whole cast of others at the Dubliner on Capitol Hill, where we all gathered after attending the Heinlein Memoriam at the Air and Space Museum.
He was gracious to me and a fabulous conversationalist.
We spent several years afterward sparring occasionally on the tojerry conference on BIX. I was imp.
He cast a long shadow of many small and large acts.
All of us in it grieve with you.
One of the major joys in life was the latest writing from Dr. Pournelle. Sharp, incisive, always fun, his work provoked and challenged, always took me somewhere I had not been, giving me new insights into old vistas.
When we finally shake off these “Crazy Years” and once more focus on the stars, Dr. Pournelle will be remembered as one of those who pointed the way.
To his family, may your sorrow be tempered by the joy of his life and the good he wrought.
Dr. Pournelle had a major impact on my post-formal educational development. I am still working through the extensive list of books he recommended for understanding history and philosophy. A couple months ago he was kind enough to facilitate a three-part autographing of “Fallen Angels,” which he wrote with Larry Niven and Michael Flynn. Glad I did that and that I took the time to thank him for his writing and influence upon me. I will miss his wisdom.
I never got a chance to thank him in person, for changing my life. One book (A Step Farther Out) and a two minute conversation in an elevator at a convention, and he altered the path of my life. The world is poorer for his passing.
Condolences Pournelle family*, we never met but I feel I knew you through Chaos Manor in BYTE and here.
I remember the Chaos Manor stories in Byte which I thoroughly enjoyed. And I read Footfall and The Mote and loved them.
Thank you for sharing your wit and wisdom and stories
RIP
Martin Lentink, the Netherlands
My condolences.
I am very sorry, more sorry than I can say, that we’ve lost Jerry. I had the privilege of knowing him for 35 years. He was a fine writer and a fine gentleman. We didn’t always agree, but I think we always disagreed cicilly. My sympathy and condolences to his family and other friends.
Very long time reader from the Byte days…..he will be sorely missed.
My condolences to Dr. Pournelle’s family and friends. Though I never really met Jerry, I’m a long time fan and sometime contributor to his Chaos Manor pledge drives. I encountered him at a conference in the 1980’s, probably the 1983 ISDC in Houston, but wasn’t bold enough to introduce myself.
Godspeed and Ad Astra!
He’s right by every measure.
You were Significant.
We are diminished.
The two best SF authors I ever read were Jerry Pournelle and Poul Anderson. I hope to see both of you in The phoenix. I promise to be quiet and listen. I hope DR. Pournelle is on a sailboat enjoying himself until the rest of you can join him. Bless you: the survivors.
And so another of the greats passes. The world is poorer today for your loss, but greater for having had you.