Joe Wishnoff is gone… Joe, a real friend to the industry, died on July 14th from a strange and rare disease called Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). Check the link to learn more about IPF… we do not know what causes the disease, and we don?t know how to cure it.

Joe found out he had the disease after a nurse saw some tell-tale signs on the tips of his fingers that might be caused by the presence of a severe lung disease. So Joe got a check up and he learned he had IPF.

In typical fashion, Joe fought the disease with a positive and upbeat attitude. After he was diagnosed with IPF he wrote, ?There is so much I still want to do. I want to get married. I want to have a family,? and ?Death isn?t a big deal.? (see ?Joe?s Article? here). That sounds like the Joe I met online 9 or 10 years ago. Joe and I shared a good series of emails over the years as well as occasional calls here and there and he was always someone I enjoyed talking to.

Joe was one of the founders of Web Hosting Radio and I spent more than a few afternoons discussing it with him, and his partner Andrew ?RewDog? Capobianco back in late 2001 and early 2002. In typical fashion, Joe was fairly ebullient about the idea. I helped them develop some initial marketing ideas and our staff here told everyone we knew in the industry about their new venture. Our main site, Web Host Magazine & Buyer?s Guide, was a founding sponsor of Web Hosting Radio and we gave the show great front page prominence on our site to help it in any way we could. It was the first real online radio show about Web Hosting and it was quite fun to listen to.

We talked later when he was helping ServerCentral launch their new reseller hosting offering called WingSix. Joe was as upbeat and enthusiastic as ever as he explained what WingSix was all about. That was one of the things I so much liked about Joe, he almost bubbled over at times with his enthusiasm. Joe was a good listener and he always had great follow up questions and ideas that explored the discussion further.

I was saddened to learn of Joe?s death. It is a loss to the industry and he will be missed by more people than his family or his closest friends know. There are a lot of us on the edges of his life that have shared more than a few laughs with him and who will always have good remembrances of him.

So long Joe…

For more information about Joe, go to:

http://www.legacy.com/ChicagoTribune/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=113493196
http://www.servercentral.net/Joe_Wishnoff
http://www.spacesbetween.net/edgeoftheworld/wordpress/?p=251

Donations in his memory may be made to Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, http://www.pulmonaryfibrosis.org/, 1332 N. Halsted St., Ste. 201, Chicago, IL 60642. For Info: 847-255-3520