> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://itsfoss.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Debian Founder Ian Murdock Dies Mysteriously
- URL: https://itsfoss.com/ian-murdock-dies-mysteriously/
- Published: 2015-12-30T23:48:52.000Z
- Updated: 2023-01-11T09:56:16.000Z
- Author: Abhishek Prakash
- Tags: #Import 2022-12-26 08:27

[![Ian Murdock dies](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/wordpress/2015/12/Ian-Murdock-1.jpg)](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/wordpress/2015/12/Ian-Murdock-1.jpg)

Ian Murdock, the founder of Linux distribution [Debian](https://www.debian.org/?ref=itsfoss.com), is dead at the age of 42\. He died on the night of 28th December 2015.

Docker, the current employer of Ian Murdock, broke the news in a [blog post](http://blog.docker.com/2015/12/ian-murdock/?ref=itsfoss.com). The blog posts doesn’t say what caused the sudden death of Ian.

## The life of ‘ian’ of Debian

Ian Murdock created the Debian project when he was a student at Purdue University. He named Debian after his then-girlfriend Debra (Deb) and himself (Ian). While Debra and Ian got separated, Debian lived on to become one of the most successful Open Source projects ever.

Ian ~~has~~ had contributed to a number of projects. He founded Progeny, a commercial Linux company. Later on he became the CTO of [Linux Foundation](http://www.linuxfoundation.org/?ref=itsfoss.com). In 2003, he joined Sun Microsystem to work on a Project Indiana which resulted in [OpenSolaris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSolaris?ref=itsfoss.com) operating system.

He was working for SalesForce before joining [Docker](https://www.docker.com/?ref=itsfoss.com).

## Foul play?

Though there is no confirmed news on whether it was a natural death or a suicide or something else, there is a sense of mystery surrounding his death.

Ian was posting some really weird tweets from his account on 28th December. **He was mentioning police abuse and threatened to suicide.**

[![Ian Murdock Suicide tweets](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/wordpress/2015/12/Ian-Murdock-Suicide-Tweet.png)](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/wordpress/2015/12/Ian-Murdock-Suicide-Tweet.png)

Initially it was [speculated that his Twitter account might have been compromised](http://news.softpedia.com/news/founder-of-debian-threatens-suicide-on-twitter-and-police-abuse-allegedly-498205.shtml?ref=itsfoss.com). But with this unfortunate event, there is a possibility of a foul play.

His Twitter account [@imurdock](https://twitter.com/imurdock?ref=itsfoss.com) doesn’t exist anymore but screenshots of his tweets were saved by some Reddit users. Here are most of those tweets:

[![Ian Murdock Tweets](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/wordpress/2015/12/Debian-Ian-Murdock-Tweets-1.jpeg)](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/wordpress/2015/12/Debian-Ian-Murdock-Tweets-1.jpeg)

[![Ian Murdock Tweets before death](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/wordpress/2015/12/Debian-Ian-Murdock-Tweets-2.jpeg)](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/wordpress/2015/12/Debian-Ian-Murdock-Tweets-2.jpeg)

[![Ian Murdock Tweets](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/wordpress/2015/12/Debian-Ian-Murdock-Tweets-3.jpeg)](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/wordpress/2015/12/Debian-Ian-Murdock-Tweets-3.jpeg)

[![Ian Murdock Tweets](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/wordpress/2015/12/Debian-Ian-Murdock-Tweets-4.jpeg)](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/wordpress/2015/12/Debian-Ian-Murdock-Tweets-4.jpeg)

## Another Aaron Swartz?

This unfortunate event reminds me of a similar event few years back when computer wizard [Aaron Swartz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron%5FSwartz?ref=itsfoss.com) committed suicide at the tender age of 26\. He took this step after continuous harrassment by fedaral agency.

## Rest in peace

It’s a sad and shocking news for the entire open source community. May his soul rest in peace. His contribution to the tech community can never be forgotten.