I barely knew Cary Lu. I read his posting for a Wacom graphics tablet in a newsgroup. After a volley of e-mail back and forth we settled on a price and he shipped me the tablet.
I was a bit leary about sending money to a complete stranger... but he put my worries to rest after he told me he was a contributing writer for MacWorld magazine... I thought to myself, "Wow... a writer for MacWorld, how cool... " Ever since then I looked for his columns in MacWorld.
He was very kind and helpful when I had problems getting the tablet working.
And, as I read other people's rememberances of Cary Lu I wish I had the opportunity to know him as other people have.
The Macintosh community will miss him.