It is with sadness that we announce the passing of Hagen Graf, a Joomler from the very beginning and a really nice guy.

As I began to work with Joomla - 2005/ 2006 - I read all the tutorials from Hagen on his Cocoate website. Without him I probably wouldn't be here. Years later I met him on a JoomlaDay in Hamburg and we kept in contact through Twitter and later on Mastodon too. During the corona pandemic he started a VirtualApero, a weekly online gathering to talk about everything and test new technologies (https://hagen.fimidi.com/2022/11/18/der-virtualapero-und-die-zukunft/). This resulted for example in the installation of an own Mastodon instance where I'm part of. I learned a lot of nice people there.

Hagen lived with his wife Christine in a small town on the Mediterranean coast. He was multitalent: he wrote books and blogs, planted trees and grew vegetables in his garden, he renovated houses and organized vernissages with his talented wife. He was always in a good mood, a bright personality. His life in pictures: https://pixel.cocoate.com/hagengraf

He died three days before his 59th birthday on the 4th July. This same day we had a small chat on Mastodon:

(Hagen welcomes David Jardin in Mastodon. I joke that I know him from somewhere. David answers that he is looking for alternatives since Twitter is being killed by its owner. Hagen finds it good and I tell David that I've been here since a while and very happy.)

I will miss him.

The JCM Team decided to write this article to tribute Hagen Graf, collecting some words and memories from other Joomlers.

Comments are verbatim of the memories and contributions sent by the volunteers who participated in this article.

I met Hagen at my very first JoomlaDay in 2006 and since then our paths have crossed again and again.
On every one of these occasions I could meet a man who enjoyed his life to the fullest at all times, whose life model fascinated me and whose cheerfulness and contagious openness no one could resist.
Hagen, I am grateful to have met you. The sky has got one more shining star.

David Jardin

I got to know Hagen back in 2010, when he was doing a presentation on how Joomla as well as Wordpress and Drupal are set up and how they work. This presentation got me involved in Joomla in earnest. A couple of years later I met him again, this time he was talking about Joomla 2.5 and responsive web design.
I still have a copy of his ebook Joomla 2.5 Beginner's Guide Also I subscribed to the blog he used to write for Novatrend (Hoster in Switzerland) and followed him on Twitter.
Sad that he is no longer with us!

Chris Hoefliger

I knew Hagen because when he created books about 2.5, 3 and Joomla mobile, I helped to translate them into French.
He was impressive because of his energy, always creating, always sharing his knowledge.
And he had understood that sharing knowledge is so important.
I met him just one time, at JDay France in Toulouse in 2013, I was very happy to shake his hand and talk to him in real life, he was not really a friend, but he's gone with a part of me.

Serge Billon

I had the pleasure of knowing Hagen Graf through our shared involvement in the Open Source Community, particularly as fellow Joomlers in the Joomla! Community. I met Hagen in many countries and at many events, always will I remember seing his face, quickly followed by a huge warm smile, Hagen always had a smile on his face, and it was infectious.

Hagen spent years renovating houses in France with his wife and always talked about the next project or how it was going with the kids, as well as how he was working on different Open Source projects, not just Joomla! but also WordPress and Drupal. Hagen was a life long Community Contributor to Open Source Tech Communities and a Family man, and all of us who was lucky enough to have met Hagen and been impacted by that huge warm smile will remember him fondly.

Ronni K. Gothard Christiansen

Hagen was a soul of light, one that strikes you when you meet them. He has become a shining star for us.
My deepest condolences to Christine and their families.

Daniel Dubois

My favorite memory with Hagen: we're both walking around chatting about Cloudfest at Europapark, both see the Silverstar, both have no idea what it is, and both say, "yep, that's what we're doing now!"
Both scream, both laugh on the way out. Hagen would have gone again. I wouldn't 🙂

Hagen, you were a great guy and a fine person. Not only the Joomla community will miss you sorely. Have a good trip, Hagen.

Alex Metzler

Some photos of beautiful Hagen. He was a light.

Laura Gordon

His family has created a tribute website: https://hagengraf.love/