Michael and I never met and we never got along online, but that was part of the joy of our relationship. He was always one of my favorite people on the site. I am proud to say that he once threatened to punch me in the face in a private message— actually it was more like relating his fantasy, apparently shared by others on the site—of punching me. For that, I was and am honored. He was a good dude by any measure. He will be missed.
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Holy shit. Huge loss of an OG RateBeer legend. RIP.
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mjames is a RB old school legend. Never met him in person but did talk with him some in chat back in the day. Terrible news. RIP
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Sad news indeed. Could not quite believe it when it popped up this morning. Mike contributed greatly to the site and that will be his legacy. So terribly sad to hear of his passing at just 40, but he lived every one of those 40 years! A lesson to us all. RIP Mike. You will be missed.
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Wow, that’s fucked up. Dude was old school RB, that means a lot. Communicated a little in trades. He was an important part of RB for a long while. 40 years old. Damn. Sounds like he passed doing something he enjoyed anyways. RIP MJ. 
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He was a man. He was 40.
Peace brother james
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We just missed meeting in person when he came to Copenhagen, but we exchanged messages for the good part of our journey on RB; he made amazing contributions to the site.
So sorry to hear about his passing.
RIP Mike.
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Always enjoyed his trips and insight to Germany.
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So bummed to see this. Good guy…
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Saw a couple post via FB, wanted to add my condolences here as it where I was aware of him, never met, but from the forums, he was a casual friend. I know he put in many hours helping the site back in the day. See he was doing what he loved, I would see him paddle boarding via Instagram, cheers Mike
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This is terrible news. So sorry to hear this. I don’t believe I ever met Michael in person, but his contribution to this site was immense. RIP.
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So sad.
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Shit. RIP.
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Tragic news. RIP.
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Awful news. My condolences to those personally affected. He was a great man.
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Crazy, especially with the context behind his RB name. One of the most inspiring early RB community members, he helped open my eyes and gave me lots of recs on Franconia and the love of lagers. His updates to site functionality were some of the most anticipated moments in my young RB time. Terrible loss.
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Tragic RIP. Michael
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Wow, hard to believe. He was one of the early greats on this site.
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This is so tragic. For me, Michael started out as just an online acquaintance, but he became a friend over time – especially after meeting up many times in Boulder. He was full of life and funny and smart and extraordinarily genuine. He was also a very talented writer and photographer. His words and images were truly inspirational. I always enjoyed hanging out with him – whether at a beer festival or a private tasting, or just running into him at the grocery store parking lot. He’s going to be missed by so many people around the world. We lost a great one.
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Well fuck. MJ was amongst the first Non-local Ratebeer guys I met. RBSG Montreal feels so long ago now. His contributions to the site were invaluable. He will be sorely missed.
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