I posted after his stroke a little bit about how Bill & I met. How he called me on my assumptions, hypotheses, and opinion always pointing back to some truths he'd gleaned from a patent or proof from actual testing. He was a man that rarely said "it depends" because he held himself to that same standard he held others to... a no BS, it ain't true until you've proved it, generally a no-nonsense, don't-throw-SEO-myths-at-me, that's not what it means, type of person who added way more to every conversation than he took.

Monday the 16th of May, I was staying over in Encinitas and reached out to Bill as I had done a number of times before to meet up for a cuppa and chat. He was always very magnanimous with his time and knowledge and I think my thought processed challenged him as I tend to ask and answer my own questions, so he enjoyed the banter (although 'banter' perhaps wasn't his thing), and I also wanted to check in on how he was doing. He's been a bit grumpy on a twitter chat a few weeks ago and a few folks had some concerns, so I'd thought touching base might be cathartic and a pleasant distraction for us both.

Anyway, I had pinged him on Twitter and messaged him, and had no response. I felt a bit miffed he didn't answer - now feel guilty about that reaction - and right now a massive sense of loss that we didn't get to have that cuppa or chat or have a discussion on what works, what doesn't and how crazy some folk's assumptions are.

You will be missed Bill. Not least your intellect and contributions. I can without hesitation say you helped me be a better marketer & SEO.

Cheers