RIP kokane_muthashed!

That really fucking sucks.

Why did they release him so quickly from the hospital?

 

Put in a stent and discharged after a couple days.

 

I'm of course not a cardiologist, but that just seems super fast after something called the "widow-maker."

I'm praying for his family.

 

WTF???

For real??


That’s terrible.

Jesus.

 

Holy shit, that's awful. I really liked Jeff. Met him at the Cleveland outing years ago. We had plenty in common in musical interests. Friended him on FB and enjoyed conversing with him there. This is very sad news.

 

This is the worst news. Jeff was a great guy. RIP.

(Really tired of losing former SJ.com’ers).

 

Jeff was a good, good dude.

I worked with him for 20 years. I know he had bad days - who doesn’t!?! - but I’ll always remember him smiling. Deadline chaos would engulf the newsroom and he’d be calm. He was fast and accurate.

He attracted people. He’d find ways to connect with damn near everybody in the building. He’d be talking movies with this person, fantasy football with this one, his last concert outing with another, parenting with somebody else.

A previous SE said his best decision was getting Jeff onto the sports desk. When I was promoted to SE, Jeff was my rock.

He left the paper a couple years after I did. He was working at a company that prints athletic and concert tickets. His oldest daughter had a baby a few years ago and he was a doting grandpa (which cracked us up since he wasn’t 50 yet). His middle son just turned 21 a few weeks ago and Jeff took him to our old bar for beer and pizza. They went to the movies this past Saturday.

Like I said, a good, good dude.

 

Just awful news

 

47? Jesus Christ, that's terrible. RIP.

I have a couple of friends who had the same "widowmaker" heart attacks at about the same age. Again, no cardiologist and far from an expert, but I believe the initial survival rate is very poor, which accounts for the name. If you do survive that initial attack I don't know that it's worse than any other heart attack. At least one friend was out of the hospital about that quickly. (He has completely changed his diet and now works for the American Heart Association, I believe. It got his attention.)

 

Jeff is the second person who attended the SJ.com Cleveland outing to pass, following Ron Drago (spnited).

 

I was familiar with Ron, though not with Jeff. An awful loss nevertheless.

RIP, good sir.

 

My first newspaper job was in Springdale, Ark., where Jeff and I talked every night on the phone as the two papers shared stories. I was then recruited to move down the mountain to join the Fort Smith desk, and Jeff and I worked side by side for about five years.

Jeff was just an awesome, awesome guy and was my best friend for the five years I lived in Fort Smith. We worked together most nights. His son and my oldest were about the same age. We drank beers, played a ton of Madden, and just spent a bunch of time bullshitting. He was super good at his job and the kind of person everyone wants to be around.

I'm pretty heartbroken, and struck with that inevitable feeling where we ponder our own mortality. The world is a lesser place without Jeff in it.