A special father lost his life over the weekend, and that loss brings great sorrow to not only to the wife and two young children who loved and cherished him as only family can but also to hundreds of other fathers who made up his extended family, virtual and IRL, in the dad blogging world.

Oren Miller of Owings Mills, Md., author of the blog A Blogger and a Father and the founder of the “Dad Bloggers” Facebook community of more than 1,000 fathers strong, died Feb. 28 after a nine-month battle with lung cancer. He was 42. He is survived by his wife, Beth Blauer, and his children, Liam and Madeline.

Oren touched the lives of more people than he could have ever imaged: first by creating the international Facebook community that gave fathers a place to share, vent, laugh and support each other, and then by writing about his coming to terms with cancer with unimaginable grace, dignity and eloquence. All of us throughout City Dads Group are saddened by his passing.

To help you understand the impact Oren had, City Dads Group is providing these links and excerpts to some of the many tributes our members have written about him:

“My Friend Oren,” Creed Anthony, Indy Dads Group

“It’s Not About Me,” Chris Bernholdt, Philly Dads Group

“I Missed the Most Important 9 Minutes of Dad 2.0 #Dads4Oren,” Dave Lesser, NYC Dads Group

“My Friend Oren,” Chris Routly, Portland Dads Group

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I … was one of the first 30 guys in his group of dad bloggers that is now over 1,000 members strong, an idea Oren called ‘so crazy that it just might work.” Well, it did. The group’s unity, cooperation, and strength in numbers has positively impacted the societal image of the father via the media that has been produced and supported by the group’s members. The image of the “bumbling dad” who doesn’t know how to change diapers or raise his kids is very quickly becoming a thing of the past. The new image is the strong, caring dad who might work in or out of the home, or be a stay at home parent, but either way is essential in the raising of his kids. To be fair, this shift probably started before Oren’s group, but the group had a definite role in moving it forward. …