Internet commentator Reynolds dies

New Zealand internet and technology commentator Paul Reynolds has died suddenly.

Friend Bill Ralston announced the news on Facebook:

On the spirit with which he lived and pioneered I have to announce this to all his friends online. Dear Paul Reynolds - the magnificent man who told us so much about the whole cosmos of computers and the wonders of the digital world - died this morning of a leukaemia he (and we) never knew he had. Our thoughts are with Helen and his much loved daughter Melanie

Blogger Russell Brown said Reynolds would have "understood and approved of the way the sad news spread - via Twitter, Facebook and old-fashioned email."

In a piece written for the Public Address website, Brown said most people would recall Reynolds "as the Scotsman who talked on the radio to Kim Hill and through his columns for The Dominion, but his great and enduring contribution to New Zealand lies in the heritage sector - libraries, archives and museums."

Brown said that Reynold's web development company McGovern Online, developed the first proper website for Auckland City Library.

He also developed sites for the Waitangi Tribunal, Katherine Mansfield House, the Chartwell Collection and the Colin McCahon House. He had also helped produce and six years' worth of websites for the Auckland Readers and Writers Festival.

Read another tribute from tech commentator Peter Griffin here.

And from friend Graham Beattie here.

-HERALD ONLINE