Very tragic news. My thougts are with his wife and children who now must grow up without their father.

Terrible news indeed. My sincere condolences to the family

Condolences!
 

As with many here,

I would like to express my sincere condolences to his family! I know my words mean little at this time and moment, but rest assured, he has touched many, and many have benefitted from his words!

I am so sad. :(

I remember Derek as one of the very first FTers whom I met "live" in Paris one Saturday afternoon with blairvanhorn.

My sincere condolences to his family.

My condolences to dctorres family and friends.

Very sad indeed. :(

My condolences to the family.

This is terrible news. It actually brought tears to my eyes. I feel so sorry for his family. His dad died not all that long ago. I hadn't spoken to him in a while but we chatted periodically when he was in Paris, DC, Chicago and Paris again. Derek was a big Cub fan. We spent many hours chatting and trying to figure all that out. :) I saw him on line recently and neglected to say hi. I feel so bad now. I have a good friend who had a patisserie here in Chicago and Derek would order a Bouche de Noel from him and other goodies. :(

Would it be appropriate to post in Community? I wouldn't have known about this if SanDiego1K hadn't alerted me. I'm sure others would like to know.

As discussed with Chris, we expect to move this thread to Community Buzz in a few hours/days once the larger AF community has been informed. You can, of course, start a thread there now and the Community Buzz mods can merge the two threads once we have moved this one.

Gosh, terrible news. :(

Horrible news. dctorres/Derek played a key role in bringing me to FT and will be fondly remembered.

Condolences to his family and friends.

No, if there is a plan, that's fine - but sooner rather than later. Folks are leaving for the Boo Do and might like to know in advance. This is a well liked fellow and I don't see why you would wait for days. Thanks.

Shocked and saddened to hear about this. Condolences to his family.

Very sad indeed.

Sincerest condolences.

With the OP's consent, we are going to move this thread to Community Buzz to share the sad news with the wider FlyerTalk Community. Blair started the thread here on the Air France forum because he felt Derek's "home" on FT was at AF, a feeling many of us share, and I was so moved and heartened to find, in his closing recommendation, an echo of Derek's warm humor and love for life.