Om Malik, 1966-2026

The internet is in its feelings after the family of veteran tech writer Om Malik announced that he died on June 24, 2026, at Stanford Hospital, surrounded by loved ones after a long heart-related health journey. But in the comments, this wasn’t just another obituary post — it turned into a wave of shock, gratitude, and full-on emotional whiplash. One reader was reeling that they had just been reading his site that very morning, while others kept coming back to the same painful point: 60 feels way too young.

The strongest reaction by far was that Om wasn’t just a reporter — he was the voice people grew up reading during the wild early years of internet culture. Commenters reminisced about following him through GigaOm, Fast Company, and beyond, with one former freelancer dropping in for a quiet but powerful flex: he once worked for Om’s site and simply signed off with “RIP.” Another commenter praised Om’s style with the line, “write like a human,” which hit especially hard in a world where readers constantly complain that too much writing sounds robotic and corporate.

There wasn’t much fighting in this thread — rare for the internet! — but there was a soft undercurrent of regret. Some admitted they hadn’t realized how serious his health struggles had been, assuming he had merely stepped back. No memes, no dunks, no messy pile-on; just a comment section sounding like a digital wake, with readers mourning not only a man, but a whole era of thoughtful tech writing.