Mourning Dan Williams [LWN.net]

I have just received the shocking news that Dan Williams, a longtime, high-profile kernel developer, has passed away. I knew him primarily through his long service on the Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board; he was always a strong, thoughtful, and intelligent presence. Dan will be deeply missed.

There is a support effort underway for Dan's family as they come to terms with this loss.

I wouldn't be here without his patience.

Posted Jul 23, 2026 19:20 UTC (Thu) by gmprice (subscriber, #167884) [Link]

Dan was one of the nicest, most welcoming kernel devs I knew.

This news is devastating, an unimaginable loss. My heart goes out to his family.

Celebration of Life at Plumbers

Posted Jul 23, 2026 20:24 UTC (Thu) by l1k (subscriber, #112260) [Link] (1 responses)

Let's please have a celebration of life at Plumbers to commemorate Dan's huge contribution to this community, as we did for Daniel Bristot de Oliveira two years ago!

Celebration of Life at Plumbers

Posted Jul 24, 2026 1:11 UTC (Fri) by broonie (subscriber, #7078) [Link]

Very much so, we already started planning that.

Rest in peace

Posted Jul 24, 2026 2:50 UTC (Fri) by yehs1 (guest, #125149) [Link]

It's truly shocking. I miss the past times of our communication and the great help he gave me.

No words

Posted Jul 24, 2026 3:27 UTC (Fri) by glikely (subscriber, #39601) [Link]

I just heard the news and I’m absolutely gutted. Dan was the best of us. Kind and thoughtful. Dedicated and intelligent. He was one of my favourite people to talk to when we had the opportunity. He will be greatly missed

Will be greatly missed

Posted Jul 24, 2026 4:12 UTC (Fri) by vaibhav92 (subscriber, #94105) [Link]

Shocking news. I had the privilege of interacting with Dan during his time maintaining NVDIMM subsystem and he consistently came across as a very helpful and having remarkable foresight on how to do things the right way. I learned a great deal during those interactions, largely due to his patience, generousness and helpful nature. He will be greatly missed

Such a loss

Posted Jul 24, 2026 5:14 UTC (Fri) by olof (subscriber, #11729) [Link]

This is devastating news. Dan was one of the most relentlessly positive people I've known, and he always brought others with him with his enthusiasm. He was a genuinely good human being, and I will truly miss him.

RIP

Posted Jul 24, 2026 7:38 UTC (Fri) by ndesaulniers (subscriber, #110768) [Link]

bummer, Dan was always very kind IMO; I remember attending talks of his at plumbers '18 Vancouver.

RIP

Posted Jul 24, 2026 8:18 UTC (Fri) by linusw (subscriber, #40300) [Link]

I worked with Dan while he was maintaining the DMA subsystem in around 2010, before he handed it over to Vinod Koul in 2011-2014.
Then we always kept in touch as he was working all over the community.
He was always there.
We lost one of our greatest assets :(

Goodbye

Posted Jul 24, 2026 9:31 UTC (Fri) by dwmw2 (subscriber, #2063) [Link]

Dan was a genuinely good person, and will be sorely missed. Goodbye, my friend.

He was brilliant and so kind

Posted Jul 24, 2026 11:56 UTC (Fri) by sjjelinek (guest, #92118) [Link]

I had the pleasure of working with Dan at Intel during the Linux PMEM project. I was working on a user library in support of PMEM on Linux. Dan was so intelligent, insightful and failingly kind to someone who was new to the Linux kernel. He will be missed. My deepest condolences to his family.

One in a many million

Posted Jul 24, 2026 14:46 UTC (Fri) by mdolan (subscriber, #104340) [Link]

Dan was truly a wonderful human being and so rewarding to work with. He rolled up his sleeves on thorny issues and was just so focused on helping people - he was a model for all, and the biggest shame is all the people he won't get a chance to influence, coach, and pass on his welcoming smile. Dan's passing is tragic all around - my thoughts are especially with his family... Dan will be terribly missed.

Rest in peace, Dan

Posted Jul 24, 2026 16:52 UTC (Fri) by sathya_kernel (guest, #88881) [Link]

Dan is a brilliant, a great team player and very kind person to work with. He will be greatly missed. RIP.

Deeply sad!

Posted Jul 24, 2026 17:09 UTC (Fri) by wsa (guest, #52415) [Link]

I was shocked when I read the title of this news item. I hadn't worked much with Dan. But from these occasions, I can whole-heartedly second that he was extremly kind and welcoming, intelligent, thoughtful, and positive! I already miss him and mourn the big loss for our community. This was too early! My condolences to his family and beloved ones.

I'm Shocked

Posted Jul 24, 2026 17:26 UTC (Fri) by ware (guest, #83607) [Link]

I was privileged to work with Dan at Intel. We interacted many times over the years. He was always thoughtful and kind. This is such a loss.

No words

Posted Jul 24, 2026 20:19 UTC (Fri) by stellarhopper (subscriber, #84666) [Link]

I had the incredible privilege of working closely with Dan, and he was one of the most brilliant, kind, patient, and helpful humans I've ever known. Rest in Peace Dan.

Memories

Posted Jul 24, 2026 22:37 UTC (Fri) by neilbrown (subscriber, #359) [Link]

Dan appeared on the linux-raid list in 2005 and it was the start of about a decade of the pleasure of working with him. He both received advice well and gave good advice.
He will certainly be missed.

Feeling so sad

Posted Jul 24, 2026 23:06 UTC (Fri) by tim.c.chen (subscriber, #37923) [Link]

Had the privilege of sitting one cube away from Dan for almost a decade. He has a great sense of humor and fun to hang around. I missed those lunch time conversations with him. I have never seen him lost patience with anyone, even when he was bombarded with requests. He's able to have a funny perspective even if the situation is frustrating. Rest in peace, Dan.

Dan will be missed

Posted Jul 26, 2026 18:16 UTC (Sun) by error27 (guest, #8346) [Link]

Dan was a good guy and I enjoyed spending time with him at Linux Plumbers. I always voted for him to the TAB because he seemed wise.

Mourning Dan Williams

Condolences

I wouldn't be here without his patience.

Celebration of Life at Plumbers

Celebration of Life at Plumbers

Rest in peace

No words

Will be greatly missed

Such a loss

RIP

RIP

Goodbye

He was brilliant and so kind

One in a many million

Rest in peace, Dan

Deeply sad!

I'm Shocked

No words

Memories

Feeling so sad

Related links

Dan will be missed