R.I.P. Tech House
 

Whatever happened to Tech House? He hasn't posted since September 2016.

:( Man, I hate this. I don't even know how to break the news, guys, but here goes. Tech House has died.

He seemed to post pretty regularly back then, but as some people do he stopped posting. I didn't think anything of it because it happens. I remembered running across some of his Facebook posts a couple of years ago and it became obvious that he was a poster here because he was commenting about the same things on Facebook that we were talking about here and then posting either photos or articles or something of the same subject. Occasionally I'll see people speaking passionately on Facebook about downtown development in Austin, and I usually assume they're members here. I also remember seeing that cover photo of his posted here, and I remember clicking on his profile on Facebook after reading his comments.

Anyway, tonight I checked his forum profile to see just how long it had been since he'd logged on, and he has his name in his email address that's attached to his forum profile. So I went and looked on Facebook, and it's him. I recognize the photos of him and he still has that same cover photo up there of the skyline.

His last post here was on September 20, 2016, and his last log in was on September 22. His sister posted on Facebook on September 26, 2016, that he had died the day before (on a Sunday), but someone else said it had been on Friday, which would have been the 23rd. So I'm not 100% sure of the date since the announcement may have been prepared prior to being posted, and in their grief, it may have been overlooked. I can't seem to find an obituary for him. Tech House's real name was George Hunt. His sister posted on his Facebook page that he had been struggling with depression and that he decided to end his life.

This is the photo I remember him using as his cover photo on Facebook. He uploaded it the same day The ATX posted it on the forum.

And, I'm exhausted now, and the late hour has nothing to do with it. I spent well over an hour looking into this. I always enjoyed Tech House's posts. He was intelligent, civil, and seemed like a genuinely nice person, as was backed up by the comments on his Facebook page. I'm really saddened to find out this news.

I feared as much. Terrible news. He seemed like a really nice guy. I enjoyed his time here with us.

Thanks for looking into it, Kevin. I was hoping you had access to his real name. I'm sorry you had to bear the news.

I remembered getting a couple of PMs from Tech, so I went back to read them. He talks about what he had been through a little bit. Very telling. He also talked politics quite a bit. Maybe because I'm a rare bird on these forums. haha But throughout it all, he comes across as a very warm, kind individual.

I'm going to share the messages with the forum.


My reply:

Man, that bums me out. I was reading through some of his posts and he was saying that he would like to attend a forum meet even though it was testing his social anxiety. I'll just say that's familiar. I come off sounding like a motormouth on here and on Facebook, but I'm a clam in person. I like to listen. I enjoyed his posts. I would have enjoyed meeting him, I think.

Man, thanks for sharing, guys. So sorry to hear of his passing. I always enjoyed talking with Tech House as well. He was a truly nice person, from what I knew of him on the forum, of course. That said, disagreements across political lines and respect don't have to be mutually exclusive - he's one of the folks who exemplified that. I also loved his sense of humor. He also made me feel a lot funnier than I really am by responding to my attempts at jokes. Seemed like a great guy. I'll miss him around here!

Thanks also, Kevin, for creating this thread for him!

Man this sucks. I always enjoyed his sarcasm and wit. I had assumed he moved out of town and that's why he hadn't posted in a while. I seem to recall him posting about possibly moving to the Northwest. So sad to hear about his passing.

R.I.P. George, aka Tech House :(

This is heartbreaking.

I propose we all get together and raise a pint to George....aka Tech House.

I think it is only fitting it be downtown, how about Cedar Door? I'm free anytime next week.


RIP Tech House.

Sad to hear. You will be missed Tech House.

I enjoyed reading his posts because of the way he wrote. His style was unique and entertaining. I always imagined him as a kind of Ignatius J Reilly character from A Confederacy of Dunces.

He was such a classic member on here.... We're all gonna miss him.

RIP George

Tech House

Several years ago after another forum member had passed away, we decided to create a special user group on the forum to honor forum members who had died. It's really just a way of marking their profile so that other people on the forum become aware that they've passed away instead of them only assuming they simply stopped posting for some other reason.

I think we should leave this thread up at least until the 1 year anniversary since he passed, which is about 2 months from now. That way people will have a chance to see it and it'll mark the anniversary. After that, I can move this thread to the thread archive where it won't have to compete with quite so many threads.

Very sad news indeed. I always enjoyed his posts, and can't believe we didn't catch on until now. A similar thing happened with an old friend who passed under similar circumstances a few years ago. We had reconnected on FB, but it was quite a few months before I realized I hadn't heard from him when I heard his sad news. Another Austin community member passed this week as well. I had never met her, but we had many mutual friends and acquaintances, and many people in Austin are mourning her loss this week.

This breaks my heart. I had him as a friend on FB but I haven't been getting on or using it very much over the last year. I used to see his posts occasionally but hadn't noticed anything since last summer but I presumed eithe just stopped posting much on FB like me or left it all together.

We sent several PM's I guess it was in 2015 or so and discussed House Music. I'm a huge fan of EDM so I messaged him to ask about his screen name Tech_House and sure enough he was also a big fan. I'll miss him.

I don't post a lot on here obviously but I lurk and read the threads almost every day and Tech House was one of my favorite posters on here. I'll echo the sentiments others have already stated that he seemed quite intelligent, funny and likable. Like Jdawgboy, I wondered if his moniker was a nod to the Tech House genre of EDM, as I'm a hobbyist dj and love EDM as well. Now I wish I had reached out and asked him about it. You can't really ever tell if someone is hurting or troubled enough to end their own life when they don't post any clues about it and I certainly didn't detect anything of the sort in his posts. This makes me really sad to know.

RIP Tech House!

I just buried a cousin today ironically, that being said I just want to send my condolences to his family.

You know Ive never met any of you people on here personally and I dont post as much as others but this site feels like family. The information that everybody brings to the table, the passion that everybody shows, anything I need to know about this city I feel like this is the place to come!!! I come to this site daily, its a ritual for me. THANK ALL of you who take the time out to keep me informed on whats going in this city.

His posts were always thoughtful and well written. After he stopped posting in the Austin section I was looking for him to turn up in the Boise or Mountain West threads since he said he was hoping to move out that way. When he didn't I just thought he was one of the many posters who come and go on here as time goes by. R.I.P.

Those that are most likely to kill themselves often don't leave clues. Those that do leave clues are usually attention seeking for self gratification and never actually go through with the act despite constantly thinking about it.

(in my experience)

As to Tech House, this belated news makes me incredibly sad. His posts were some of the best and he was often one of the most engaged members of the sub-forum. I'll miss him and his contributions greatly.