I'm afraid I have to be the bearer of some very bad news about The Magistrate

[DFW]

290. The loss of The Magistrate puts Clemenceau's quote to its severest test yet

Georges Clemenceau once said: “The cemeteries are full of irreplaceable people—all of whom have been replaced.”

The Magistrate definitely falls under the category of “irreplaceable people,” and I daresay it will be some time, maybe an eternity or two, before he is replaced.

Sly, erudite, eloquent, interminably patient, and courteous to a point bordering on chivalry. I have had the privilege of having one real life friend like that, and he suffered the ironic fate of being portrayed in a famous film as everything he was not. The Magistrate, at least in our tiny-yet-vast DU microcosm, will need suffer no such fate. The accolades for this irreplaceable (mes excuses, monsieur Premier Ministre) DU icon are deservedly universal.

I can only wave to a grand ship that has sailed for the last time. Shalom, salaam, sai jien, and above all, fair winds.