[from Linda]
With the Giants in the lead – and they didn’t dare lose tonight! – Chris died peacefully shortly after 7:30 pm tonight. We’ll have more details about the memorial service and celebration service shortly.
Thank you, thank you, thank you ALL. We are so blessed by each and every one of you.
[Update: See this tribute to Chris on InMenlo.com.]
Chris Gulker - www.gulker.com 
Godspeed Chris.
I find myself exhaling, I was holding my breath.
Linda, although we’ve never met, you and Chris have shared your lives with me online for many years now.
Please feel free to call on me at anytime for anything in the days to come, I’m just a couple of towns away.
I have known this would happen, but have been in denial that it would. My heart sank when I saw the title.
He is free.
My deepest sympathies to you. We never had the opportunity to meet which I regret. I worked with Chris in the mid 70’s when we both worked for a crazy Czech named Frank. He moved on much faster than I did. I am still selling cameras. I got to know him very well during those couple of years we worked together. We hung in the same bars. I was a low life in the Lock Ness Monster while kept bar there. Had dinner in the big house in Highland Park. Kept in touch during the newspaper days in LA, and later in SF. Apple and onward. In all those years he was just a great guy.
He will be missed.
I wish Linda all the srtrength she has shown so far. Although unfortunately we only met Chris a couple of times this year in France, we will miss him. Our thoughts are with her and Chris on his last journey.
Finally, peace. . . Lots of love coming your way, BPP. See you soon.
My condolences to you and yours during this difficult time. I know that Chris is at peace.
Yes, finally peace for your both. You’ve been stalwart soldiers in the face of the inevitable. You’ve shown what courage really is.
Blessings to you both. We all will miss Chris.
No doubt Chris’s passing made last night’s inspiring Giants victory all the more meaningful and sweet.
Maybe Chris’s spirit guided Juan Uribe’s bat through the three-run homer in the 5th?
A night for the ages!
I’m so sorry. My condolences to the family.
Linda: First, my deepest sympathies to you and your family.
Chris was someone I have long admired, first professionally and then — through a shared experience — also personally. We maintained an intermittent online friendship over the years after the opportunities to run across each other dwindled. I interviewed Chris and wrote about some of his publishing exploits several times. The last time I managed to meet up with him was while he was working as an Acrobat product manager at Adobe Systems. Then in 2006 I blogged about his brain-tumor diagnosis after he collapsed in his office there.
One of my earliest connections with Chris was in 1992 when we were invited to give several digital imaging and publishing presentations in Australia and New Zealand. It was a whirlwind tour of three cities in the two countries — we barely had time to create any Down Under memories. One thing I’ve always remembered was that Chris got a call or message saying that you were experiencing some sort of health issue. He didn’t hesitate — he immediately made plans to cut the trip short and to return home to be with you. Up to that point, I had only known Chris the technology visionary and evangelist. I realized on that trip he was also someone who had his personal priorities right.
Now through both of your writings these past four years, it’s been abundantly clear to me — and to his many other friends, colleagues and admirers around the world — what a special bond the two of you have had. Thank you so much for all that you both have explored, shared and taught us all through this virtual connection. What a fitting legacy for and summation of Chris’ life.
Peace be with you, Linda, and with others who knew him so much better than I did. We all share in your loss in our own ways, and we’re all fortunate for having known Chris in some capacity.
— Kurt Foss, Madison, WI
Dear Chris: It was a privilege to have known you, however briefly. You have been and will continue to be an inspiration for your many friends and admirers. Jym
Although I haven’t seen Chris since I left the Bay Area in 2001, he was one of those few people I felt I could drop in on at any point and take up where we left off. He had that wonderful gift of being open with his friendship – a short exchange online every now and then was all we needed to be in touch. Quite a special man, who faced mortality better than many of us would dare to.
Linda – though we have never met, I can only imagine what you are going through now, bereft of your life partner. Reading about you from Chris, it seems you were both blessed to have found each other. May God bless you for all you did to comfort and support Chris these past years, and may God support you in the days and years to come.
Farewell Chris. I will always remember our days at the L.A. Herald Examiner and S.F. Examiner. You were a great friend and colleague.
When I take photos with my LX-3 which Chris recommended I remember him….sharp, astute, creative. Great journey onward Chris.
God bless Chris! It was a privilege to have known you both!
“And I dreamed I was dying
I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me
Smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high up above my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty
Sailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was crying”
from American Tune, Paul Simon
Hey Linda, Even though we new it was coming,our hearts broke a little this morning when we awoke to the news, we love you and will see you soon, Love Karen, Dave, Tyler and Thomas
Linda,
The roads will be hilly and winding for some time, then peace sets in for your future endevours,” Chris” will always be near to cheer you on with your new challenges, may God help you during your saddest times. mp
I did not know Chris, but the pioneering work he did changed the course of photojournalism forever. I sit here at the picture desk, handling and editing thousands of digital images – and I always marvel at the power these tools have given us to communicate.
After reading the tributes and the blog posts from the last few months, I am grateful, humbled and inspired by Chris, his family, his caretakers and his friends. Thank you all.
Gary O’Brien
Picture Editor
The Charlotte Observer
I was so sad to get the news of Chris’ passing earlier today. I’ll never forget his encouragement and kindness to me as fledgling photojournalist during our waning days at the old LA Herald Examiner. Chris was an amazingly talented on so many levels, wickedly funny and a generous heart. To Linda, John, Julie and Grace, my condolences and prayers. The best of him lives through you. May God’s grace give you comfort and peace in your sorrow .
Akili Ramsess
Go with God, Chris. Though I knew you for only a year, I will miss you, and the wise and wry (and characteristically focused and intentional) way you lived.
God go with you, Linda. Thank you for sharing this most difficult and private time in your life. You are, and will remain, in my prayers.
Love and blessings,
Corrie
Linda:
I’ve been dreading this post for four years, but my experience is that if you’re in that situation a part of you comes not to dread it but to long for it. And I guess that makes it a little easier for those of us left behind on the next day, and the days after that.
But, still, I’m so, so sorry about this news and send you all my best wishes at this time.
I knew Chris online only – when he wrote his Independent column I, for a while, was the person who was responsible for publishing it on the paper’s website. I learned so much about this industry from reading him, there and on this blog, and we went on to exchange a few emails about this and that.
His understanding and embrace of the new technology didn’t simply open doors for people, it demonstrated to them that the opportunities and possibilities represented by the doors existed in the first place. Through him – directly or indirectly – countless people with creative, technical and/or journalistic talents discovered new outlets for their vocations.
And that’s without even considering the legacy of his photography.
To call this ‘a very great loss’ is at once utterly inadequate but also completely true.
Saddened beyond words, but I count myself blessed to have known him.
God bless you and Godspeed, Chris, until we meet again! All our love and prayers for you, Linda.
There are no words to describe the love, admiration and respect for my dear friend Chris. May his gentle insight and great wisdom continue to shine on us from the greater universe.
Linda, we’ve never met, but somehow I feel as though I know you. Thank you for helping us all share Chris’s final journey. I love all the comments here about now Chris is free. I have no doubt about this whatsoever. He was a lovely human being–so patient with me as a newly minted copy editor at the Herald Examiner all those years ago. And his integrity, humor and intelligence shone through until the end.
Lots of love to you, Linda. Big hugs from Seattle —
Anne
He told us this was coming, but it’s still hard to fathom. Thinking back to our days at the HerEx together. Take care Linda.
I am so sad to hear of Chris’ passing. It has been many years since our paths crossed. Chris was very generous with his knowledge, time and resources when I was selecting digital photo and desktop publishing technologies for our newsrooms across the Bay in the early ‘9os. I had the pleasure of working with him again when a group of Bay Area photographers planned the Digital 92 conference in San Francisco. If “paradigm” wasn’t part of my vocabulary before then, I sure knew the word after Chris used it … and used it again … and again. I admired his creative thinking and leadership.
My thoughts are with you,
Cindi Christie
I have been reading Chris’ writing for a decade, and wanted to say thank you for your prose.
Dear Linda,
Quite by accident I learned of Chris’s passing today while hiking in the hills of Hidden Villa. The poet John O’Donahue would describe your role with Chris through these four years as being the “midwife to the sole.” I found this concept quite comforting as I helped my father and sister straddle the bridge. What a wonderful gift you have given each other in your many years togeter. Thinking of you as I have often through the long journey. Love to you and your family.
I found some blog posts of mine from 1999 that mentioned Chris. Through my brief interactions with him online in the early days of blogging, I considered him a great guy, and was saddened to hear of his passing… Hugs go out to all the folks he touched in his life.
I don’t recall ever meeting Chris, but his vision and influence in the early years of blogging helped shape the rest of us. He will be sorely missed.
Linda, thank you for keeping everyone else informed and I’m very sorry for your loss. I’ve added Chris to the memorial list for an All Saints Service at Grace Episcopal in Silver Spring MD this Sunday. Hugs, Gerry
Linda, my deepest condolences to you and your family. Even though you all knew it was coming, the loss will be hard to deal with all the same. I wish you peace and love and wish that I had met Chris and you in person.
Dear Linda and all friends and family of Chris — I am one of the Herald Examiner alumni and have the best, nicest, most wonderful memories of Chris and Jim in the photo lab — the coolest guys absolutely, and so smart and so full information and ideas and jokes too. Just could not imagine working with better people. I have been thinking about Chris all this past week but had not learned of his passing until two days ago. The universe was talking to me about this extraordinary man. He’s soaring.
My condolences to Chris’ wife and family. I had the pleasure to know and work with Chris on some projects in the mid-90’s and he was a very nice, considerate, extremely smart and well respected man. He will be missed. I’m very sad to hear about his passing.