A lament for heroic fantasy

I discovered today, having just returned from holiday, that David Gemell died at the age of 57 on Friday 28th July. I enjoyed the Drenai books quite a lot - I wasn't his greatest fan, but he was one of the few remaining practitioners of that subgenre known as epic fantasy, and it came as a shock to hear that he had died. I had heard nothing to suggest he was suffering from ill health (though this might have been me not paying attention) and I expected him to keep writing for years to come. Sadly, this won't be the case.