I am touched by your words, my friends.
I've said before that just because we know each other via the Web rather than in the flesh, the connections our emotions make are none the lesser for it.
My lady is sleeping now (at last!) so I get to be weak and shed a few tears of my own for the passing of a man I had not yet gotten to know as deeply as I wished.
Tears lubricate the soul - there is nothing weak about them. Please accept my condolences on your loss of a man you knew less well than you would have liked, and please pass on my - and all of our - condolences to your wife and her family.