Remembering Nick Simmons
My friend Nick Simmons1 died suddenly a few weeks ago. He was feeling fatigued, laid down for a nap, and never woke up. Rebekah, his wife of several years, found him a few hours later with no vital signs. Nick was an active man, avid cyclist and hiker, had no vices of note, and seemed as healthy as a horse. And now he’s dead at 39. The coroner is investigating, but as of right now we don’t have any concrete idea of what happened.2
I last saw him at a social function a week before he died. He was as gregarious and charming as always, and didn’t show any signs of an impending medical event. We had a nice chat about ways that we might help a group of young engineers relocate to San Francisco to start a company. One of Nick’s many admirable traits was a compulsion to seek out smart young people with more ambition than connections and solve the connection problem for them. As people share their memories of him in the wake of this tragedy I keep hearing variations on the same story:
”Nick was one of the first people to tell me that the idea I had was worth pursuing, and that I was the right person to pursue it.”
Had I known that it was the last time we’d see each other I would have said a lot more. I would have thanked him for the many stimulating conversations that we had, for all the books he gave me, and for the confidence he had in me. I would have told him that I had deep respect for his earnest idealism and the immense effort that he expended in order to live out those ideals.
Nick is survived by his wife Rebekah, his brother, his parents, and his grandfather. Some people are passing the hat to help Rebekah cover funeral expenses, and I encourage those who knew him to pitch in what they can. There will be a memorial in the next few weeks, details forthcoming.
Godspeed Nick, I’ll remember you fondly.
Better known to some as Halikaarnian; Nick was prolific on the internet, which is where we first met years ago.
Some additional details, shared at Rebekah’s request:
Nick died in his sleep sometime in the afternoon or evening of December 13th. Rebekah found his body a bit later, noticed that he wasn’t breathing and had no heartbeat, called the paramedics, and attempted to resuscitate him.
Rebekah was taken to the hospital along with Nick’s body and was put under observation. This is a standard precaution in situations where somebody has died suddenly and without explanation. While obviously bereaved, Rebekah was physically fine, ruling out a number of external causes of death. It’s also worth noting that Nick and Rebekah’s cat was in the room with him when he died, which rules out many other environmental causes including carbon monoxide poisoning.
Neither Nick nor Rebekah had noticeable symptoms of a respiratory infection. The doctors who examined Nick’s body stated that an infection was probably not the cause of death. Nick was not taking any new medication in the weeks leading up to his death. Nick’s body showed no signs of distress, it’s likely that the last time he was conscious was as he was dozing off like he would have on any other occasion.
This is all the information that we have at the moment. We may learn more once the coroner completes an autopsy, but this may take weeks. Until then all we can do is comfort Nick’s grieving friends and family.