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
I’m so sorry for your loss. Our loss. Jerry was a friend, an ally, a brilliant writer, a visionary.
And I’ll miss him, miss his notes in my inbox, miss his books, miss his columns, miss his thoughts.
The world is a poorer place for his absence.
I just wanted to say thank you for all you’ve written over the years. You had a FAR greater effect on this world than most men ever will. God bless you and rest in peace.
I only met Jerry once at a convention about 10 years back, but was impressed that he was someone who was as smart and big hearted in person as he was in print. His books are some of my favorites, both entertaining, but also at points thought provoking and challenging me to think about what really is wise in a society. I know his family and close friends will miss him, and am praying for the Lord to help them in their time of loss.
I knew Jerry for about 25 years, mainly on-line at Genie and later SFF.Net, only rarely running into him at cons. I argued with him a lot, about almost everything imaginable. In the end, it turned out he was right about most things, which I was happy to admit just as publicly as when I had disagreed. A happy memory is from about 10 years ago on sff.net, when Jerry posted, “Listen, Barton and I agree on this. That means we’re probably right.” He never gave up, no matter what idiocy he faced, and mine was pretty idiotic.
Goodbye old friend, thanks for sharing your Universe.
May the mystery be revealed to you.
Chaos Maner was why I subscribed to Byte and continued long after Byte ended. Jerry was always so special to us nerds as he “got it”. He named his machines. He battled with mysterious network goblins. Tackled early day software that required holding your head like this, your elbow like that and typing an arcane string of characters in. I bet he swore a lot.
Thank you Jerry for all of it.
My condolences to the Pournelle family are sincere and deep felt. I know all of you will be very busy for some time in dealing with all that Doctor Pournelle left behind. But, I wanted you to know that at least for this weary traveler, I considered him to be the very last of the true Renaissance men this world has seen. He has had a profound impact on many movers and shakers in this world and his influence made a great difference in the world we lived in, in ways uncountable of which many are simply unaware. I fear for the future when I do not see any today that are Renaissance men who can meet his measure. We need such men. I mourn the loss of his influence. I pray for your strength and peace in the days to come, and consolation in the celebration of a life truly well lived.
I am sorry to learn of Dr. Pournelle’s passing. He was a conservative voice in a sea of liberals. A tireless champion of manned space flight. He will be sorely missed.
I am very sorry that my family and I could not attend the memorial.
We are so honored that Jerry was our neighbor and we wish Roberta and the family peace during this difficult time.
I found Jerry’s writing to be refreshing, candid and full of good humor. I was a faithful reader of his column in Byte and I enjoyed his science fiction novels. I will miss him!
A great writer, blogger and tinkerer! I always loved hearing about your computer problems and struggle to get thru them. Such clear and lucid prose. Just saw obit in today’s NY Times. Brings tears to my eyes. Rest in peace.
I will miss you Jerry. Godspeed.
Although I never met Jerry, my respect for him was brought about by a warm friendship with his wife, Roberta. To the family I extend my deepest sympathy and offer of help in any way possible. I may be reached in San Diego at the email address provided here or at 619 718-0096.
Like so many who will miss Jerry I too started reading him in early Byte columns and his fiction. He guided me and my school here, in Tokyo, through computerization–he did not know that he was a guru here too.
He led me to other authors and had a important influence on my thinking. I didn’t always agree with him but he always made me think and be careful of not only what but how I was thinking. It was important to read his columns, I suppose that was what I feel most.
I hope his family can be at peace.
I read through all of the hundreds of comments before posting mine, and it is heartwarming to read about all of the people Jerry influenced and inspired.
I think the most important thing I could say about Jerry is that he loved his species, the human race. Jerry and his contemporaries came from a culture of vibrant optimism about the future, and indeed at the services today, his line “The only true sin is despair” is more important now than ever. He represented the polar opposite of the nihilist, Malthusian doctrine that has taken over public discourse today. He believed that we should seize every opportunity possible to succeed and prosper, and spread our civilization to the stars.
Working for a struggling space start up, Jerry and his friends held up an ideal future that we aspired to, and gave us the motivation in those very difficult early years to keep going. They were inspired far-seers that predicted much of what has come to pass in the private space sector. In the early days of our company, all of us had a common literary and pop culture frame of reference that radiated out from a core group of individuals, particularly the modern hard-science fiction genre pioneered by Heinlein and carried on in the next wave by Jerry, Larry and their contemporaries. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was required reading for new employees, and rarely a week went by where in a meeting someone didn’t say, “Well, on the gripping hand…”
I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Jerry and Larry personally by the incomparable Miss Aleta Jackson, whom we also sadly lost this year. I have fond memories of several thanksgiving visits to Chaos Manor, when the Pournelle family took in those of us who did not have family nearby to celebrate with. Jerry’s son Rich was an early and long time co-worker and Alex occasionally come into our orbit to help out.
I have not mentioned this to very many people until now, but like many people who have written on this comment area, my first encounter with Pournelle and Niven was as a kid in grade school, finding some of their books in the school library. They expanded my mental universe and growing up they were my favorite science fiction authors. Imagine my excitement years later when they became real, three dimensional people in my own life. Listing to Jerry hold court at various space and science fiction venues gave me a better understanding of the world views that leaked into his writing, and gave it a new depth and meaning.
Godspeed Jerry, as you slip the surly bonds of earth and meet the great beyond.
I knew of Dr. Pournelle through, of course, his books and then his early BYTE writings. His collaborations with Larry Niven brought me more hours of pleasure than I can possibly enumerate, but the greatest pleasure of all was introducing his work to my son when he was in his early teens. Only later, through that now-grown son, did I learn about my beloved auithor’s political side. The world is a lesser place without him, and my thoughts go out to your family.
Jerry’s passing leaves a large gap in my online circle. His comments were often thought-provoking, & seldom off-the-cuff. I valued him as a writer of many favorite books (both fiction & non-fiction), a computer user who articulated user needs for many of us who worked in IT, a fellow paleo-conservative, & a brother in the Christian faith. Rest in peace, Jerry. May eternal light shine upon you. I look forward to meeting you someday in your resurrected body.
I was blessed to know Jerry because he happened join our Star Wars Galaxies (MMO) guild. Our guild made an effort to treat him as just another member of the guild so he could escape from the day to day. Yet, he would grace us with stories and yarns of his friends Issac (Asimov) and Larry (Niven), computers and sci-fi, and more. He was a pleasure to be around and always kind. I was really hoping to meet him in person some day. God speed, Jerry. You definitely left the world better off, and an indelible mark on me.
Bel Chaosstrider, Hunter’s Network
Amen, Roland.
Relatively few have effectively wielded the power of ideas and prose to inspire, entertain, and motivate so many, not telling us what to think, but rather teaching us how to think.
Even fewer have also done everything in their power to ensure the survival of the human race by teaching us to raise our eyes to the stars, and then worked tirelessly to make the dream of spaceflight a reality, so as to ensure that we and our posterity will endure.
It’s an even more select company who can lay claim to having foretold and then gone on to lead a revolution in technology that has changed the lives of every contemporary human being on our planet, and all those who come after.
And then, having already achieved three full lifetimes of extraordinary service within a single span, I know of only one who proceeded to devise the strategy which triumphed over an evil empire which held hundreds of millions in its thrall, and thirsted for more.
Dr. Jerry Pournelle was my mentor before we ever met. He took a callow young man seriously in the early days of online communications, and strove to make him think. He almost single-handedly created the industry in which I’ve labored these thirty-odd years; I owe him my vocation. And he was a friend beyond compare, the gift of his company, his wisdom, and his magnanimity a pearl beyond price.
He was the best man I’ve ever known. There is not a day that I don’t think of him, and thank Providence that I had the chance to know him.
Dr. Pournelle has been translated into a realm beyond our understanding. But I know that we will meet again, in a different light.
Somewhere in the Mote System. And beyond.