Russell Shaw passed away Thursday night in his hotel room after suffering from a cold. His death was unexpected and certainly a shock to me. I consider Russell a friend and his insights into VoIP were always good often sprinkled with a dash of humor or some political angle since he also wrote for the Huffington Post. Russell is one of the "original" VoIP bloggers along with Andy Abramson, Om Malik, Rich Tehrani, Pulver, and myself.

Apparently, Russell had been traveling for a few weeks to various events. I know how having a cold and flying can be dangerous. TMC lost our ITEXPO sales manager Hilary Inman a few years ago after having a cold and then getting a blood cot in her lung after flying home. She was very young - in her low 30s and while there's no proof the airplane flight caused her death, I am much more wary flying when I have a cold. I have to wonder if all the traveling/flying that Russell did while having a cold contributed to his untimely death. But enough of my speculation. I guess I just want to understand how I have lost a friend - someone that I enjoyed hanging out with at ITEXPO reception parties and having some VoIP discussions or political banter.

Russell Shaw also wrote the ZDNET IP Telephony blog and the Blackberry Blog. But you may not be aware that Russell also blogged for TMC's RSS - Regulations, Statutes and Standards blog that he was just "ramping up" traffic-wise. I actually configured the blog for him on my blog server, so I still feel a part of Russell lives on within the 'digital ether' of my blog server.

Rest in peace Russell & may we meet again...

More:
Rich Tehrani - Russell Shaw & Frank Macari will be missed
Larry Dignan of ZDNet
Om Malik - Goodbye old friend! Russell Shaw, RIP
Dan Farber
Ken Camp
Jim Courtney
Andy Abramson
Another Loss - RIP Russell Shaw
Portland Loses a Blogger: Russell Shaw RIP