Douglas Fletcher, R.I.P.

Longtime Hit & Run commenters will be saddened by this news from the Facebook page of Todd Fletcher: 

My dear oldest brother Douglas Stephan Fletcher died yesterday at the age of 56. He was surrounded by his loved ones and went peacefully in his sleep.

Doug was many, many things. He was the best big brother anyone ever had. He was an acute observer and showed me a thousand things I never would have noticed. He was a unique wit and a great conversationalist. He was an inspired and incredibly lazy chef. He was inventor of preposterous devices (he once improved his wireless connection with a spaghetti colander). He was a nice guy and a friend. He was never a phoney. He was a novelist, a song writer and a storyteller. He was a fantastic guitarist. He was my best best buddy. And something I never knew about until the end: the bravest of men.

Also worth mentioning: Douglas and Todd Fletcher were among the earliest members of the great Hit & Run commenter community. Here is Douglas practically owning a thread back in 2003, before the invention of the printing press. Here I am trying to figure out the connection between the Fletchers (whom I for some reason envisioned as tall, lanky redheads, and it looks like I got the hair color right), and Douglas explaining, in an esoteric thread of yore.

Douglas Fletcher was always there with a salty word about pompous rock stars and endless, pointless international struggles. He was still gracing us with one-sentence movie reviews as of last month, and was also working on his blog Let's Make Obama Resign! 

Condolences to the Fletcher family. 

A tribute to another commenter who died.