
NYTimes Obituary for Ilya Zhitomirskiy, Co-Founder of Social Network, Dies at 22 - donohoe
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/technology/ilya-zhitomirskiy-co-founder-of-social-network-dies-at-22.html?_r=1&src=twr
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spodek
“He was an immensely talented and intent young mathematician,” Mr. Moglen said
in an interview on Tuesday. “He had a choice between graduate school and this
project, and he chose to do the project because he wanted to do something with
his time that would make freedom.”

22 is young to die. It's sad and I feel for his family and friends. But to
have such a quote from Eben Moglen in an obituary in the New York Times, for
his work to be compared to one of the greatest juggernauts (Facebook) of our
day, to be respected for the quality of his academic and professional work and
the choices he made to promote freedom...

22 is also young to have made such a meaningful mark on the world and to be
respected for his work and choices. I feel I can at least learn something from
his examples and hope to live up to the choices he made.

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exit
the obituary mentions he attended tulane university, the university of
maryland and nyu.

was he moving around as an undergrad or was he doing a graduate degree?

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suivix
I briefly talked to Ilya in March after he randomly gave me 9001 invites to
Diaspora (some here might get the joke). It's like I won some weird sort of
lottery. Anyways, it naturally encouraged me to invite lots of people, and I
got about forty to sign up. He struck me as a very warm, fun-loving guy who
was also fastidious in his work. I saw him announcing bug fixes and new
features day in and day out. He really left a strong impression on me.

I'd really like to learn more about the circumstances of his death, and not
out of morbid curiosity. I suffer from bipolar 1 disorder, and have been taken
medication for two years since I was diagnosed after having a severe manic
episode. His death was a bit of a wakeup call.

~~~
RVijay007
Are you saying you think / know that he suffered from bipolar I? This could
have just been depression. Stories like this just make me realize how
important a support structure is needed when pursuing anything with immense
passion, whether it be a startup, higher studies, job, etc.

