I'm sorry to read (via Hugh Hewitt) that Dean Barnett has died. Hugh Hewitt remembers him, and his inspiring desire to live despite a battle with Cystic Fibrosis that shortened his life:

Dean told me early in our friendship that his disease had forced him to deal with the possibility of living too short a life and that he thus threw himself into everything. This ferocious desire to live well and fully is what I will always tell people marked Dean Barnett. That and the love he had for his wonderful wife Kirstan and his family and friends. His extraordinary story is told in his short essay, The Smart Spunky Kid with the Fatal Disease, and his example will long be an example to others battling with Cystic Fibrosis. I hope we can report some day soon the news that a cure for CF is in hand, and on that day toast Dean for all he did to raise awareness of the disease. I will also toast him whenever I hear smart, persuasive arguments on behalf of common sense conservatism and fierce attachment to the opportunities liberty bestows.

I've always believed that the old saying -- "live each day as if it is your last" -- is a good one to live by if you can.

Dean Barnett did, and left the world a better place for it.

MORE: Via Glenn Reynolds, William Kristol remembers Dean Barnett as "a remarkable man--principled, witty, and to all of us, a model of grace and courage."

He will be missed.

UPDATE: Roger L. Simon remembers Dean Barnett. Not just as a great blogger, but as someone he liked "just as much in person as I did online."