idgames Maintainer Ty Halderman Passes Away At 69

[The Green Herring]

Late last April, new files stopped appearing on the idgames archive, leading to mounting concern about maintainer Ty Halderman's well-being. The following month, in late May, a visit by a Doomer in Ty's native New Orleans confirmed that he was alive but hospitalized. That same month, Bill Koch (Bloodshedder) and Eric Baker (The Green Herring) were recruited as interim maintainers to keep the idgames archive running. Today on the forums, a close relative confirmed that Ty Halderman died on July 31, surrounded by his family. We have no reason to believe that this information is fabricated.

As maintainer of the most important part of the Doom community, Ty Halderman was the reason over 20 years of custom levels and mods remain available today. As part of TeamTNT, he contributed to TNT: Evilution from the Final Doom package among other WADs, and was one of the main programmers of the source port Boom, which set a new standard for custom level design that remains today. Needless to say, Ty Halderman was not called an "essential pillar of the community" for nothing. For all of this and more, he received the Espi Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Cacowards just last year. The work he did for this community is immeasurable, and his loss devastating. We at Doomworld offer our condolences to Ty Halderman's family, and would like to thank him for his efforts in keeping the central archive of the Doom community alive. He will be missed by us all.

[Coraline]

OMG...RIP Ty, you will be missed. Another legend has moved on, but never forgotten.

[SteelPH]

R.I.P. Ty. :(

[Xenaero]

RIP Ty, you legend.

Didn't know him personally, but always appreciated the work he put into the community that laid the groundwork for what it grew into.

[purist]

This is sad news. RIP Ty, and my condolences to his family. His absence has certainly been keenly felt within the Doom community and he'll be greatly missed here.

[Chris Hansen]

RIP mr. Halderman. We'll never forget you!

[fraggle]

RIP Ty. Not just a pillar of the Doom community but a legend as well.

Here's Ty's Espi award dedication from last year.

[msquid]

RIP Ty, thank you for everything.

[Quasar]

No matter how prepared I figured I was to hear this, it is still deeply saddening. It is bittersweet now that we chose to honor him in the last Cacowards, since little did we know that was the last chance we had to do it. I didn't really know him that well as he kept to his own business and was always professional about it all. But I still feel a loss anyway.

[Ledillman]

No fucking way.
R.I.P man.

[Soundblock]

R.I.P. Ty Halderman

[Woolie Wool]

This is terrible. We lost one of the heroes of our community on the 31st. My sympathies to his family.

[Springy]

R.I.P my condolences to his family.

[HumanBones]

RIP. An important ambassador for the doom community if I ever saw one. His presence will be sorely missed.

[The Green Herring]

fraggle said:

RIP Ty. Not just a pillar of the Doom community but a legend as well.

Here's Ty's Espi award dedication from last year.

I have added a mention of the Espi Award dedication to the article. He truly was a legend, who's done more for the community than one could imagine.

Rest in peace.

[dg93]

TY, you've done a lot for the Doom community as the /idgames archive manager. It's hard to believe that you are gone. We will miss you a lot. RIP :(

[Alfonzo]

By all accounts a man of upstanding character and commitment, his work was integral to the functioning of this community for many years and he never asked for anything in return. Thank you, Ty. Our achievements seem today mere footnotes in the story of this community, a book that you helped to write.

[Doomkid]

We're all gonna miss you, good buddy :( RIP, and thanks so much for everything you've done for each of us.

[DeathevokatioN]

Thank you so much for everything you've done for the DooM community Ty, rest well.
I loved your levels for Icarus as well.

[Beed28]

Wow, I just heard this. I haven't felt this much shock since Satoru Iwata died earlier in the same month, also from cancer.

Rest in peace, Ty.

[Marnetmar]

Rest in Peace, Ty. Prayers for your family.

[Buckshot]

RIP Ty

taken too soon :(

Many thanks for all the awesome years of archives!

[Sergeant_Mark_IV]

Thanks for all, Ty. R.I.P.

[Suitepee]

Dang, that sucks. Hope he's enjoying Doom (among many other things) in the afterlife.

[Tiger]

My first reaction when I saw this was immediately "Oh my god, no!". This truly is saddening; I am lost of words and my eyes are a bit watery...

[Imback55]

And my concern for the previous maintainer because of something that was inevitable anyways. Rest in piece and thanks for all of your contributions to the community especially the archives.

[june gloom]

What a huge loss. :(

[Pirx]

that's sad. rest in peace ty, and thank you for all your work.

[40oz]

Link to his Doom Wiki Page includes his entire documented mapping background, which I will be playing this week as a tribute. Great guy and definitely one of the most important people in the origin of the Doom community.

[mallo]

This is a truly sad day for the entire community. Rest in peace, Ty.