I’ve just learned that MarkB (also known for some time as the sock puppet “Ermo”) passed away yesterday from non-Hodgkins lymphoma. I am grief-struck.

Yes, I just heard as well. Like you, I am in grief. What a wonderful, lovely man. My heart breaks for his family.

Oh, no! I had been following his journey on CaringBridge and the last update I read a few weeks ago didn't sound promising. How terribly, terribly sad.

My heartfelt sympathies go out to his family.

Such horrible news. Mark was a great guy. I can hardly imagine how his family must feel. RIP

Do you all think it would be OK to share his CaringBridge page or his obituary, either here or via PM? People could express their condolences directly to the family.

this is stunning and so sad. I feel like I got to know him some online, but I always wanted to meet him in person.

I didn't know he was ill.

My heart goes out to his family.

WTG - you can place it here. We can always murder the information later if we want. Really puts a pall over the day.

Mark's Caring Bridge page. It seems that this is where a lot of his friends have been expressing their support along the way. I think you have to create a CaringBridge account in order to view it. I set one up several years ago to follow another friend's illness, and I've never had a problem with the site being intrusive with emails, etc.

The CB journal also mentions some charities that the family holds near and dear.

https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/markbleich/journal

Obituary:

https://www.dignitymemorial.co...mark-bleich-11105579

I'm not on FB, so I don't have a link for his page.

His Caring Bridge is so, so heartbreaking to read.

BTW, to back up what WTG said, I also have a Caring Bridge account, and it's never an issue.

Oh, I'm so sad to hear. I spent time with Mark more than once, one time at his house where I also met Cindy.

He was such a lovely, lovely man.

Remembering markb and his Grand Spinet...

http://well-temperedforum.grou...4535/m/440109244/p/1

This is very very sad news. I am in grief.

So long, buddy.

I first heard this news on Matt's Facebook page earlier today.

It really hit me hard.

At first, I thought Matt was making a joke (in the poorest imaginable taste) - linking the removal of a comic character somewhere (Ermo? Who what?) with Mark Bleich's dying. Did it have something to do with his Improv group?

Then I realized it was a real death announcement (using Ermo to tell it, owing to Mark's having used the character as a pseudonym at one time).
What a sad blow!

Reading his daughter Kayla's farewell to her Daddy, was heart-rending. He must have been the greatest dad (and husband).

I too post facto looked up his Caring Bridge page, and had no trouble accessing it (perhaps already having had an account for other ailing friends, made it easier). I wish I had known he was so sick, so I could have expressed my concern and affection while he was still there to hear it.

Some of my greatest regrets in life are not having reached out to (usually older, not necessarily sick) people who had meant a great deal to me, often having helped me.
I remember when my father was sick (and failing though not "officially" owing to my mother's "Positive Think"). When he got such admiring/affectionate messages even from people he didn't personally know, it meant a great deal to him.

Never, never neglect expressing kind thoughts, especially of gratitude and concern! Such regret is irreparable (much as I doubt Mark was aware of the depth of my appreciation - for that matter, that of other members here).

Don't others of you wish you could have known he was sick, so you could have expressed your kind thoughts, missing his contributions here, concern etc.? Shame we weren't aware - at least I wasn't. (WTG you seem to have had a special channel). I feel quite a pang.

A sad day for all who knew him. RIP Mark.