Nov. 30 Update: The scholarship fund for Dan’s children is now available and we are also collecting donations to Wildlife SOS in his memory. You can learn more about both of these giving opportunities on the Linux Foundation website.

To the Linux Foundation Public Health community,

I write today with tremendous sadness to share the news of a great loss in our midsts. Dan Kohn passed away earlier today of complications from colon cancer. While many of you know him as the founder of Linux Foundation Public Health, this was only his final chapter in an incredible career of using technology to change the world. 

Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin wrote earlier today: 

Dan played a special role at the Linux Foundation. He helped establish the organization that we are today and oversaw the fastest growing open source community in history, the Cloud Native Computing Foundation.  Dan was also a pioneer.  In 1994 he conducted the first secure commercial transaction on the internet after building the first web shopping cart.

What you may not know about Dan was his lifelong desire to help others.  From serving as a volunteer firefighter in college to stepping aside from his role in the Cloud Native Computing Foundation to incubate and found the Linux Foundation Public Health initiative which is helping authorities around the world combat Covid19; Dan could always be counted on in a crisis. 

Dan leaves behind his wife Julie and two young boys, Adam and Ellis….We will be creating a scholarship fund for his children and will send out information in the coming days as to how folks can contribute. 

I will be sharing more information on the scholarship fund as soon as I have the details. In the meantime, if you would like to leave a note or image for his family we have set up a card for the community to sign and will forward it on to his family when the time is right. You may sign here. There is also a memorial set up for messages on the CNCF GitHub.

Dan said that he had never felt as excited about his work as he did when founding LFPH. The best thing we can do to honor his memory is to achieve his vision. One day we will read a story about the thousands upon thousands of lives saved due to the resources and software provided by this community. It will be achieved by every single one of us carrying his work forward and partnering together.

May his memory be a blessing. 

Sincerely,
Jenny