On reddit someone posted this:

>>> oskarzito 16 points · 1 hour ago

I had Joe as a lecturer in parallel Erlang back in January and February this year. Amazing person, seemed like he knew everything about computers. He told us that he was sick with lung fibrosis. His lungs capacity was at 50% something and kept shrinking every day. The last few lectures he was supposed to give got cancelled due to sickness. Got the news that he had passed today. A very sad day I must say.

I keep refreshing looking for the answer. Seems that it would be the top question for somebody who was 30. He was 68 but he had way more energy than many 20 year olds that I see.

I'm deeply sad. Despite being absolutely brilliant he was also extremely positive and full of humility. It's a rare combination.

I'm always curious about these things because if it's something medical that might be preventable or that has some nonprofits raising funds for, etc., then that can increase awareness. But I can understand if people don't always rush to talk about it.

His wife said this morning on Twitter [1]:

>>> This is Helen wife of @joeerl It’s fantastic to read all these comments. Joe died from an infection which his lungs couldn’t cope with due to a quite recent diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis. Incurable and rather unusual. Donate to lung research!

[1] https://twitter.com/mrsjoeerl/status/1119941783381774338

Since it was sudden, a stroke of some sort is generally the case.

Glad I’m not the only one who wants to know