He was the first one to encourage me to post to the group (I had joined the IRC channel, then in existence, first). PRR probably remembers my first ever post, on whether a microphone with a metal foil diaphragm and magnetic pickup for amplification would be a reasonable idea. (By the way, the answer was that it would probably be worth the experiment to try out, but I never got around to it. I may yet, one of these days.) CJ also shipped me, on his dime, a large box full of tubes, caps of all kinds and values, and various and sundry parts. I stil have it all, telling myself I'll figure out something to do with it eventually. Actually, I have an idea for something now...
And believe me, he knows a lot more than just transformers. He's the one who reverse-engineered the T4B opto module for the LA2a and figured out how to make new ones with mass-market EL panels. That was a real accomplishment.
Just like everyone else, I watched the recent posts from him, not knowing what I could possibly do about it.