Ryan Knickmeyer: 1978 - 2005

Ryan Knickmeyer was one of the most kind, good-hearted and sincere people I have ever met. This is not a rosy exaggeration or any actual form of hyperbole; I, and anyone else who truly knew him, would surely have said the same a year ago – before he departed campus, before he was diagnosed with cancer and before he left this world last night.

I met Ryan last fall when he moved up at the Badger Herald and became an associate sports editor. He had put much of his life on hold to follow a passion – sports writing – and the Herald was privileged to count him amongst its ranks. His desk and mine were barely feet apart as we both loitered in the back end of the office, gossiping about sports and politics interchangeably while both of us should have been tending to our work.

Ryan was an amazing writer. But he was, for sure, an even more amazing person. His smile, his laugh, his constant willingness to listen to anyone's problems sympathetically and his sheer joy were only some of the qualities he so warmly radiated on a constant basis.

In his memory, there is a full page tribute in Monday's Badger Herald. It is replete with photos of him from better times, a truly touching final column he penned and some words from those of us who were so honored to know him.

It feels so odd to be sharing memories of someone I not-too-long-ago called a colleague. It is sad, it is tragic and, yes, it is the very embodiment of those many things for which my words surely cannot do justice.