This was written by Shane on behalf of the team:

“If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.” – Isaac Newton

This famous quote pretty much sums up the beauty of the open source tech world. Beginning with the first lines of code that were freely given to the whole world to use and share, to learn from and to teach. Around this code grew a community from all walks of life, from countless backgrounds and beliefs; all with one thing in common – the sharing of knowledge. The community breathes life into the code, propelling itself to reach ever greater heights standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before them.

We here at Linux Mint, in our own little corner of the Internet, have grown into our own community; helping and sharing, teaching and learning. But among us, Mats stood head and shoulders above the rest – keeping us together, diffusing disputes, listening to grievances, teaching the newcomers, looking after the stranded and cheering on the team. His dedication was selfless and complete as he nurtured an entire community which grew to be the 2nd most popular Linux distribution.

He is a true giant. The ever gentle, calm and encouraging giant who carried our community to reach for the sky. He embodies the spirit of the philosophy of sharing. We at Linux Mint will forever be indebted for his contribution. In our loss we can only be grateful to have known him in however small a way. We can only hope to carry this heavy torch he has passed on to us.

To the Geier family, we cannot imagine your grief. Our surety in the genuine goodness of Mats’ heart is unwavering. Our heartfelt condolences go out to you. Thank you for letting Mats be part of our community. We mourn your loss.

To the rest of us, let Mats be an example of what we should be to the community. Let us help those in trouble, teach those who want to learn, nurture healthy conversation and commend the good. Even to the end, his last post, Mats is the perfect example.

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Mats Geier aka Husse, we will miss you dearly. But more importantly, we celebrate your being one of us; for being the giant we stand on.

Rest in peace Mats.

I don’t really know how to say this. Our friend and fellow team member Mats Geier passed away. Some of us have been working with him for 3 years now. Husse and I were in contact almost every day and I find it really hard to cope with his loss. I’m sure many people in the community will be deeply touched.

Many of you knew him as “Husse”. He was everywhere, especially on the forums, making sure everyone was welcome and that every question was answered. I remember he used to keep an eye on the “unanswered threads” list and would even reply to some of my team announcements with “replied” just to make sure it wasn’t getting in the way of him supporting everybody that might need it. He was also taking care of the weekly newsletter and he was starting to triage bugs on Launchpad. Husse was also helping with the testing of the ISOs as much as he could and he was a very important member of our team. When the community grew, he filled the gap between the users and the developers and he was the one bringing important things to our attention, and keeping us close to you all. He was passionate, he was extremely friendly and he’ll be missed tremendously.

With him gone we’ve lost our ears, our eyes and what made us close to our community. We’ve also lost a friend and that’s going to be really hard to get over. We’re going to need all of you to help each others more than before, to welcome each others and to make up for all the little things Husse used to accomplish on his own. There’s no question that Linux Mint wouldn’t be what it is today if it wasn’t for Husse and that without him our community just isn’t going to work as well. If there’s one thing we can do in his memory it is to keep up the quality he’s set and to continue to make it enjoyable for people to join and interact within our community.

As for me, I don’t feel very well to say the least. We’ll wait until next week to make any announcements about Linux Mint. You can find things out by yourself in the mirrors and on the community website but I just can’t bring you positive news with a smile right now.

Husse: If you hear us, we’re going to miss you a lot.

My condolences to friends and family and to all who knew and cared for Mats. Let’s each take the time we need to think of him and to remember him.