Mark Hoekstra has passed away

posted Sep 20th 2008 1:33pm by Eliot Phillips
filed under: macs hacks, news, wireless hacks

UPDATE: His personal site has been updated.

It was with great sadness that we learned of [Mark Hoekstra]’s death this morning. Earlier this week, the 34 year old hacker suffered a heart attack while riding his bicycle and was admitted to the hospital in a coma. [Markie] has been a Hack a Day commenter for much of our existence and a project contributor for nearly as long. It started simply with things like his bright green Hack a Day iPod sock and a hand crank iPod charger. He did an excellent job documenting his projects; many people had built IR cameras, but none were nearly as thorough as him. He also enjoyed sharing his love for obsolete hardware with the community. He built a wireless eMate, turned two Mac SE/30’s into audio viualizers, and wired shutter glasses to an old SGI.

It was always a treat to hear about [Mark]’s latest project and he’ll be missed greatly.

[photo: Bram Belloni]

Comments [62]

tagged: belloni, bram belloni, dutch, ipod, ipod sock, mac se30, mark, mark hoekstra, markie, sgi

Reader Comments

:-(
Will be much missed.

Posted at 1:41 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by Louis II

R.I.P brother and may you hack a day every day.

Posted at 1:51 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by Vincent

I’m shocked, I LOVED GT. A heart attack at 34? That’s so awful. Especially since he was just recently talking about a girl he’d met and he seemed really happy..

Posted at 1:52 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by Ash

anyone else suspecting he was assasinated by super-top secret ninjas?

okay, just me then…

He will be missed.

Posted at 2:02 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by jose

that’s really lame. i hit his site almost every day. the scary part is he’s only a year older than me. he will definitely be missed.

Posted at 2:03 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by barry99705

R.I.P.
Too bad they couldn’t hack you back together. You will be missed.

Posted at 2:48 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by Kalleguld

As a long time reader of Hack-a-day, I extend my condolences to Mark’s friends and family. I hope that people will find solace in his many accomplishments, and honor him by carrying the torch of developing technology and clever solutions to problems.

Posted at 2:58 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by Tom Levesque

oh, wow. this is really shocking. i loved going to mark’s site, he always had something new going on, so many projects, great ambitions.

we’ll miss you markie!

Posted at 3:09 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by maxkelley

Bad news for us all. He will be greatly missed.

Posted at 3:13 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by supaduck

I’ve once met Mark in person a few years ago (during a Firefox release party actually, being true geeks! :D).

That was also the first time I heard about him and he directly struck me as a very kind and also very knowledgeable person. He gave me his business card but for some reason or another we never met in person again.

Coincidentally I noticed this card again a few week ago.. and thought: ‘I would be really nice to
have a meeting with him once again’.

Sadly this never came to be…

During the years I followed his work at a distance; Those who have followed this projects/work can only conclude that he had a very rare combination of creativity, knowledge and skills. This combined with his humor made him someone for which I had and have a lot of respect.

It’s very sad that the world has just lost a great person like him.

Mark, we will miss you. Thank you for all the inspirational projects and for just being you: Mr. Geek Technique! :)

May you rest in peace, tinkering with all kinds of heavenly gadgets.

I also would like to extend my condolences to his family and friends. I wish you a lot of strength and as Tom stated so eloquently before me: the torch with his ‘Maker spirit’ will be carried on by enthusiasts all over the world.

Conclusion to self:

- Try to enjoy every day and every moment. You never know how much time you really have available on this world.

- Do not postpone things you’d like to do; perhaps you’ll never have the chance to do them if you wait too long.

Posted at 3:22 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by Wil

NOOOO! i loved geek technique.

moment of silence…

he will be missed

Posted at 3:23 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by mrbob1000

Mark, we zullen je missen.

Posted at 3:24 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by henk

T_T
from beginning to the end youre the best :)

Posted at 3:28 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by jack

RIP bro :-(

Posted at 3:54 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by Pyrofallout

:( sucks to hear what happened to him, from what i heard he lived a full, and happy life.

if god really does exist, i hope he winds up in a better place. RIP Mark Hoekstra.

Posted at 4:15 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by scott

Been viewing this site ever since the first few posts too, linked from Slashdot.

Rest in piece, Mark. He’s adding LED’s to Heaven, now.

Posted at 4:21 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by Will Gittoes

This sucks. Mark has poured so much personality into GEEKtechnique that I feel like I’ve lost a close friend.

Posted at 4:31 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by 512MB USB stick

Thats really sad. Although I wasn’t a regular reader, I love geek technique!

RIP Mark.

I’ll be thinking of you when I’ll finally be able to do your “How to turn your iPod-mini into a flash based iPod” project this week :)

Posted at 4:49 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by Jacob

this is so sad. he will be greatly missed.
the community has suffered a great loss.
we will never forget.
rest in peace.

Posted at 4:51 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by dexter

Shocked
I’m so sad..he was a great “artist”

RIP

Posted at 4:53 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by Spidermac

I had only read about one of his hacks and thought it was excellent. And was looking forward to reading more. But that’s not possible anymore. It’s terrible. Rest in Peace

Posted at 5:02 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by Sammy

RIP. This is my fist post after visiting this site for 4 years.
God bless him, & family /friends.

Posted at 5:36 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by unixx

one of the best, loved the dialog, the projects, the web site. Mark will be greatly missed.

Posted at 5:44 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by bob

always sad to lose a member of the community, especially so young

Posted at 5:51 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by sean

Can’t believe he had a heart attack at 34 and wasn’t 300lbs or anything.
I thought his mac Se hack was soo cool too.

Posted at 6:09 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by nitori

just flash the bios he will be fine

but seriously that is sad and he will be greatly missed

Posted at 6:28 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by Samuel Gamlin

Shit.

Mark was a really huge inspiration to me, I absolutely loved the guy and his work. I really related to his love of SGI gear and various obsolete chunks of hardware. I read geek technique with almost religous, cheerful glee.

I can’t believe he’s gone, I truely am sad now. This is a really sad day.

Posted at 6:33 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by Alexandre Gauthier

Its really troubling to hear of marks passing.

the tinkerers and creative folks ive seen from afar have shaped who i am, and its sad to see any of them go.

I am glad to see so many folks comment back.

anyone going to make a backup of his site ?
-Dane

Posted at 7:27 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by Dane

you will be missed fellow hacker.

Posted at 7:34 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by werejag

R.I.P

Posted at 7:43 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by ciricTech

rip mark. you will be missed.

Posted at 8:38 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by jeff

r.i.p.
very much missed.

Posted at 9:04 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by Horst

Hopefully hes in a better place with all the hardware he can chew on.

I loved geek technique, and I painted my ibook red after I saw his green ibook.

Ill miss him,

Posted at 10:05 pm on Sep 20th, 2008 by w00tb0t

Fahre wohl, mit etwas Gerechtigkeit wartet schon die neue Lötstation auf dich.

Posted at 12:28 am on Sep 21st, 2008 by Thomas

He’s hacking angels now. RIP

Posted at 12:50 am on Sep 21st, 2008 by peptidefarmer

r.i.p markie, you will be sadly missed.

Posted at 2:14 am on Sep 21st, 2008 by Jim

So young :(

rest in peace.

Posted at 3:37 am on Sep 21st, 2008 by mrbrew

Wow.
I remember a few of these projects from over the years.
Indeed, consistent, creative, and the write ups are just great.

What a bummer. :(

I really hope his work can live on in an online archive somewhere.
I’m sure a part of him lives on as long as someone sees and learns and is perhaps inspired by what obviously brought him a lot of joy.

Whatever your next hack is, give a moment of thought to the man, then fire up that soldering iron, drill, welder, computer, torch, or whatever you’re using for tools.
He’d do the same, I’m sure. :)

Hack on, brothers and sisters, hack on.

Posted at 5:22 am on Sep 21st, 2008 by strider_mt2k

r.i.p. Mark :(

Posted at 5:28 am on Sep 21st, 2008 by Renji

I’ve never commented here before, but it’s too sad not to.
RIP

Posted at 6:06 am on Sep 21st, 2008 by pAv

To live in hearts we leave behind, is not to die. Rest in peace.

Posted at 9:02 am on Sep 21st, 2008 by Artemisgoldfish

Rest In Peace.

Posted at 9:59 am on Sep 21st, 2008 by S.P.

r.i.p. man, wherever you are.

Posted at 10:02 am on Sep 21st, 2008 by Ghost

Holy fucking shit. I almost don’t believe it.

I follow his site on each and every update.

He’s as much of a hero as I’ve got, honestly.

May he be happy as whatever part of the ethereal construct he may now be.

Posted at 10:15 am on Sep 21st, 2008 by Raggamofyn

just to say i’ve been coming on this site for a while but never commented or looked in depth at many of the hacks. although i’ve never heard of this guy it’s never nice when someone dies, especially since mark was only 34 and by the sound of it he was in pretty good physical shape. all i can say is i hope he has fun playing around with whatever they have in heaven.
R

Posted at 12:04 pm on Sep 21st, 2008 by MrRandomPerson

very sad to hear, RIP Mark.

Posted at 1:38 pm on Sep 21st, 2008 by tiuk

mark… i didnt know you personally but he was an awesome man.

he has recieved his last DoS attack…

Posted at 5:24 pm on Sep 21st, 2008 by Ryan Mitchell

Thats so sad, he was like an hero to me too!!!

hope you are in a better place right now dude!

RIP

Posted at 9:26 pm on Sep 21st, 2008 by daniel andrade

Very sorry to hear the bad news. RIP Mark.

Posted at 11:00 pm on Sep 21st, 2008 by Alan

Is it odd that the last song that he listened to that was scrobbled to his last.fm was “Instant Death” By The Beastie Boys? Sure it might have not been the last track he ever listened to but I find it odd.

http://www.last.fm/user/markhoekstra

Posted at 11:19 pm on Sep 21st, 2008 by othertonywilson

RIP Happy hacking wherever you maybe.

Posted at 12:16 am on Sep 22nd, 2008 by Terry

very shocking to hear this my condolences to his family

Posted at 7:06 am on Sep 22nd, 2008 by notatoy

What a shock! I always enjoyed checking geektechnique regularly even if Mark himself didn’t appear to be doing so.

If only we could send all of his gear with him so he can catch up on his great projects. Was he secretly a Viking?

Posted at 10:25 am on Sep 22nd, 2008 by jonno85uk

wow, I checked his site like every day. what a shock.

rest in peace buddy.

Posted at 3:55 pm on Sep 22nd, 2008 by adam

Adding LEDs in Heaven, and I have been calling them stars. Gone at 34, a sobering reminder, that we never know. I wish for his family and friends all the strength they will need. Enjoy your eternity in what has to be a more peaceful place, Mark.

Posted at 4:42 pm on Sep 22nd, 2008 by static

rip dude

Posted at 12:17 pm on Sep 23rd, 2008 by sean

:( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

That sucks badly.

Will miss you!

Posted at 8:11 am on Sep 24th, 2008 by Kobilica

He will be missed. He was one of those people who made the Net fun for me. He really did.

Posted at 12:11 pm on Sep 24th, 2008 by rkattufts

R.I.P bro’…

Will be missed by every geek…

So sad…

Posted at 5:56 am on Sep 27th, 2008 by pistache

R.I.P mate
i’ve been here over 4 years, never posted a thing
but for him
will miss you.

Posted at 1:25 am on Sep 29th, 2008 by hackepapz

heart attack at 34 is quite shocking. I’ve never really visited his site before, until now, there’s some excellent stuff on there. the vintage hardware stuff is definately my cup of tea.

Posted at 2:40 am on Sep 29th, 2008 by lorddef

R.I.P dear brother.

Posted at 3:47 am on Oct 14th, 2008 by jay lee

Mark Hoekstra has passed away

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