Gary was a man that engendered many different feelings in people.
I remember as a teen reading his writings in the AD&D DMG and thinking, "here's a guy the invented this awesome game and is talking directly to me, the DM."
It was awesome to take that role as DM as I was growing up. I was the one that kept the group going. I made many friends that way.
Then I remember reading some of his writings in Dragon magazine, and getting the sense that this guy was schizophrenic on some level. His writing sometimes went against what he had said before, or just seemed contradictory. His writings also aggravated the crap out of me. At one time I really disliked him, personally, even though I had never met him.
Many years later I recall one of his threads online mentioning that some of the stuff that had a byline of Gary Gygax on Dragon magazine towards the end of his tenure at TSR was not written by him. I'd have to dig the thread but that was my recollection and I might be mistaken. The fact is that I started to understand why those columns decades before had seemed so "out of touch."
Then I finally had an opportunity to meet the man at GenCon, and I met the real Gary. The guy that would look fans in the eye and listen to them, and sign autographs, and take pictures, and want nothing in return. The giving Gary, the man with a sense of love for games and gamers everywhere.
Gary was a class act, one of a kind, unique. Now as an adult, there have never been any tears for "celebrities". But I admit I shed some when Gary left.
Today, as we remember him on this day of his passing, let's remember his life, and the years of joy we have enjoyed mostly due to the friendships built on the legacy of games he left for us.
I sincerely ask the good Lord for a blessing of grace on his family that misses him more than any of us ever could.
Gary, you will always be remembered.