He also committed my first code to Django. And was amazingly patient with me while I floundered about during sprints that were held in Lawrence, Ks.
He was a great man, and he will be missed in many communities around the web. I was always in awe of his code, including some of the best refactors of Django.
So, that I may thoroughly hijack this thoughtful comment: who, in the OS community, is like Malcolm was? I want to interact with them. I want my first commit to a project to be through them.
In my opinion, the Django core team is full of people who have the same spirit. Many of the core developers [1] are intelligent, professional, introspective and patient and encouraging with new developers. The dedication to civility and quality of community is one of my favorite things about Django.
It's important to take a moment to remember and pay respect when we lose a community member, but as you're expressing here, it is also important to look around and recognize the talent and kindness around us that we can still learn from.
He was a great man, and he will be missed in many communities around the web. I was always in awe of his code, including some of the best refactors of Django.