I’ve gotten word from mutual friends that @JES , a longtime forum member, musician and scholar, has passed away. I didn’t know him outside the forum, but he reached out to me in DMs to strike up a conversation when he suspected we might know each other professionally. I thought folks here would want to know.
He was “one-click anonymous” here, going by initials and linking to his personal website in his profile, but he was an internationally renowned media studies professor, and he also had several musical projects as a bassist and synthesist, including the Buddha Curtain which he shared in the modular threads here.
Links to his music are on the sound portion of his website.
Colleagues of his are sharing remembrances on Bluesky, where a search for his name will bring up remembrances and also links to his blog entries about his illness. He had an aggressive form of cancer and passed in his 50s. Here’s to his memory.
What!? Last year he came to my house to try some of my Synths (Take 5 and Hydrasynth) before purchasing them. Very friendly and knowledgeable person. What a loss! My thoughts go to his family and friends. RIP Jonathan.
Thanks for the info. It raises an aspect the moderators haven’t considered before wrt how best to convey such sad news as the account is still active … i’ve left a link to your Topic here within his account profile so that people can learn of the news should they have attempted to e.g. contact him. Fascinating background he had by the looks of it …
I don’t even know what to say. Though we never met, we spoke many times, and Jonathan was an excellent human being. I’m heartbroken.
Rest in peace and prayers to Carrie and his family.
just some extra thoughts
I’m not processing this very effectively. I sent him a message a few days ago checking up and didn’t hear back, so knowing the situation and seeing no updates on the blog for nearly 2 weeks prior, I was already concerned.
I just want to say again what a truly awesome person he was. A true man of culture, he really enjoyed memes.
He went to see Steve Vai play not too long ago and after the show there was a photo opportunity. When he stepped up to Vai for the picture, JES told him to “say kittens” and JES said that Vai’s smile instantly went from professional to genuine.
This is the kind of person we’re talking about. Always good natured. Positive about his treatments. Took time out to talk to me many times and despite having plenty of people in his network, always thanked me for checking in. I just can’t think of a nicer person.
I’m only sharing this because I just want people to know this is not some faceless person, he was a genuine good guy.
Thanks for this, I’ve been pondering age and function a lot lately with body/life changes and while I have not had very personal interactions, I will seek out a subset of his thoughts and experiences with his work Diminished Faculties- A Political Phenomenology of Impairment.
While I have never spoken to him directly this is such sad news. Just listened through his cancer memories on bandcamp and this was a really connecting experience.
Take care and enjoy all the days you can stay healthy. Use your gear and share with loved ones. My thoughts go to all close to Jonathan
What a loss!
I had no idea he was here on the forum, but his scholarship was incredibly important to me as an undergraduate and graduate student. Heartfelt condolences to his loved ones. I feel compelled to go back and read his works, including those which I haven’t yet.
A reminder for all of us to appreciate the reasonable, decent and helpful people on this forum a little more.
It embarrasses me that I can’t conduct myself with the same grace as people like @JES and it saddens me that such decent people who contribute so much good don’t get to be old.
