Gordon Mah Ung, PCWorld Editor and Renowned Hardware Journalist, Dies At 58

PCWorld's Jon Phillips pays tribute to Gordon Mah Ung, "our hardware guru, host of The Full Nerd, exemplary tech journalist, and very good friend." He passed away over the weekend after a hard-fought battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 58. From the report: With more than 25 years' experience covering computer tech broadly and computer chips specifically, Gordon's dogged reporting, one-of-a-kind personality, and commitment to journalistic standards touched many, many lives. He will be profoundly missed by co-workers, industry sources, and the PC enthusiasts who read his words and followed him as a video creator.

Gordon studied journalism at San Francisco State University and then worked as a police reporter for the Contra Costa Times in the late 1990s. In 1997, he joined Computerworld (a PCWorld sister publication) before I recruited him to join boot magazine (later re-launched as Maximum PC), where he would ultimately lead hardware coverage for 16 years.

RIP

[olsmeister]

I remember him from Maximum PC magazine. Always enjoyed his stuff.

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[jdollatari]

same started reading/watching etc his stuff back in the max pc days this is so sad especially since my father is his age with poor health and just before christmas

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[shanen]

But only eight comments (now nine) on it? The RIP might be for reading magazines?

Oh no....

[kyoko21]

Damn.... I thought he was getting better since he started to make videos again and posting content.

He will definitely be missed. *sigh sigh sigh*

I am sorry to hear this

[slaker]

I actually had a lot of respect for him. He was from probably the last gasp of computer magazines as useful sources of timely information. I am sorry to hear that he has passed. I hope that he did not suffer.

Fuck cancer.

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[Valgrus Thunderaxe]

You no mess with Mah Ung!

About Pancreatic Cancer from someone who knows

[geofffox]

This is something I know about because eight years ago I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I was very lucky as it was caught by mistake while looking for something else. I am the only survivor I've ever met. Most folks don't know what's going on inside them until they're too far gone. Our ability to deal with pancreatic cancer has hardly changed since the 1930s when Allan Whipple pioneered the surgery that bears his name. If the cancer has spread at all the Whipple is not performed. That covers most folks with the disease. In Whipple surgery your digestive system is removed from your body and placed on a table. That allows access to the pancreas which is behind most everything. After the head of the pancreas is removed you're put back together, but not in the same order nor in the place they began. Google "Whipple surgery" and look at the diagrams. Chemo and radiation can be used (I know) but that's like fighting a wildfire with a garden hose. It's life extension in the shortest terms. I have never met another survivor.

An Ung Sung hero of the tech industry

[DRAGONWEEZEL]

He will be sorely missed. Gordon is the reason I've stayed in tech despite early setbacks in my career. I'll never be the deep knowledge holder of anyone one thing like a linux module, or dev of a universally used tool like WinDirStat. I'll never be the guy who knows why the motherboard traces got routed in that shape around the power supply for the processor, I'll never be the guy who configures the workflow for a technologist's software. But, now, I can confidently lead people who share the passion I have for technology and how we apply it, and I'd never have gotten to where I am without him.

Thank you old friend even though you never knew me. Sorry I never got the chance to meet you!