A man died yesterday. He had a huge impact on our lives. Fred Shuttlesworth.

I don't normally say things like this, but seriously, how is this hacker news? It seems more like a peevish reddit-style reaction to the Jobs articles.

I read this on reddit, I wasn't even aware of his research, what he found. I found it to be also truly inspiring:

"A great man has passed.

Alas, Ralph Steinman is dead. He died three days before he got the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 2011. He dropped out of no college, he did not make a billion dollar company. He did not make billions of dollars, nor even hundreds of millions, though after his death his estate would receive slightly more than a million dollars of the prize money. Yet, he had touched millions, possibly hundreds of millions of lives and will likely touch billions of men women and children in future generations by discoverying one of the secrets of how immunity against viruses or bacteria are translated into an immune response by adaptation of immune cells. How allergy or autoimmune diseases develop, and how immune cells transmit signales to one another. It is possible that it was the fruits of his research that might have extended the life, after pancreatic cancer several years ago, of another giant who died recently. It is also certain that his work has resulted into billions of dollars worth of pharmaceutical industry, and will produce many billions of dollars worth of pharmaceutical industry, and will produce many billions in the future, Such is the reach of a humble life in fundamental science."

Reading about Rev. Shuttleworth, I am saddened that this is the first I've heard of him. Everything I ever was taught about the civil rights movement revolved around MLK and Rosa Parks, and highlighting certain political leaders (amusingly most of whom were white). Logically it makes sense that there were people like this man on the ground, showing great determination and courage, organizing and rallying supporters -- but since everything was presented to me in a general way about ideas and vague vignettes of types of resistance and demonstration, I never really thought about the other people. [1]

This really makes me hope that I can stand up to things I know are wrong in the same way -- Rev. Shuttleworth's story is an inspiration.

[1] I can't help but wonder if we don't avoid specifics of the civil rights movement in curriculums to avoid showing others how to incite change when the powers that be seem to not want it.

As many times as I've flown out of the Shuttlesworth Airport (in Birmingham) I never knew who it was named for. Thanks for sharing, Colin.

He lived to 89 too, which is why he got put in the general obit category, rather than some other people who died before their time.

Just read the NY Times obits every day. You'll be amazed at all the accomplished people you've never heard about.

Thank you very much for posting this. I was fortunate enough to meet him when I was a kid. Great man.

Taylor Branch's excellent trilogy on the Civil Rights movement:

http://taylorbranch.com/king-era-trilogy/

This guy was a legend! Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for sharing this.

A very revealing article comparing Shuttlesworth and Condoleezza Rice: http://www.blackcommentator.com/160/160_condi_civil_rights_d...

On a slightly different note, I don't remember top 5 posts on HN all about deaths! I wonder why so many people upvote so many stories related to same subject (i.e. Steve Jobs' death)?