MIKEAL ROGERS

ROGERS-- Mikeal. Joyful Innovator Helped Build Foundation of Modern Web. Mikeal Rogers, a computer scientist and open-source pioneer whose work on Node.js and its open governance principles fundamentally changed how software is built today, died on June 9, 2025, in San Francisco. He was 42. The cause was colon cancer, his family said. Rogers was among the founding figures of Node.js, a revolutionary technology that allows programmers to use JavaScript to build entire applications. Rogers was known for creating several widely used software libraries, as well as being a mentor and advocate for inclusive practices in technology. He championed efforts to make open-source communities more welcoming and diverse, believing that better software emerged from broader participation. Rogers helped organize the first Node.js conference - NodeConf - and fostered the community that grew around it. These events & community efforts helped shape not just Node.js but the broader culture of collaborative software development. A practicing Buddhist, Rogers carried a sense of calm even among sometimes heated and hyperbolic community discussions where he was known for his collaborative approach, drive for distributed decision-making, and ability to build consensus among diverse stakeholders. Colleagues described him as someone who could bring competing parties together and then step back from the spotlight once solutions emerged. Rogers was also a prolific writer on matters spiritual and technical, and he chronicled his journey to the end with grace and acceptance. Born in 1983 in Bellingham, Washington, to Ramon Rogers and Terry Helmka, Rogers displayed a drive for self-directed learning and technology from a young age, often skipping high school classes to pursue computing projects and earning recognition from teachers who saw his potential. Rogers became active in online communities all with a common theme that software and information should be free and openly available. He spent nights on conference calls sharing code and ideas - experiences that taught him the value of collaborative development and community building. Rogers displayed his fearless approach to life when he moved from Bellingham to Seattle at age 18 with a GED diploma and little money. He worked briefly at Blockbuster before landing a position at RealNetworks, where he discovered his passion for open-source development. Rogers moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2005, working for the Open Source Applications Foundation and later Mozilla. At CouchOne and later DigitalOcean, he became involved with the nascent Node.js project - settling into a happy life with his wife, Anna Maier, whom he married in 2011. In 2014, Rogers helped navigate a community schism that threatened to fracture the project. He led the io.js fork, a breakaway version that embraced open governance principles to balance corporate interests with community needs. His diplomatic efforts led to a successful reconciliation of the competing factions culminating with the creation of the Node.js Foundation in 2015. Rogers became a leading voice in open-source software governance. Under his leadership, the Node.js contributor base expanded significantly, and the foundation gained backing from major technology companies including Google, Microsoft, IBM, Netflix, and Red Hat. The governance model established became a template for other open-source projects. "Node.js has a strong project, an even stronger community, and it deserves a strong institution ensuring its longevity," Rogers wrote in 2017, reflecting on his efforts to create the Node.js Foundation. Rogers stepped down from the Node.js Foundation in 2017, but remained active in open-source circles. He went on to work at Samsung, where he pioneered developer tools using machine learning. In 2018, he joined Protocol Labs, where he led development of InterPlanetary Linked Data (IPLD), part of efforts to create a more decentralized Internet architecture. His later work focused on content-addressed data structures and distributed systems, positioning him at the forefront of what became known as Web3 technologies. Rogers' interests extended beyond technology. He was passionate about cooking, particularly fermentation, coffee, and bread- making, and often incorporated these interests into community events he organized. He studied Buddhist meditation and was working on a translation of sutras at the time of his death. Most importantly, Rogers was a loving husband and devoted father who enjoyed sharing his curiosity about the world with his two young children. He gave them both a foundation of love, intelligence, curiosity, and confidence to build on. Rogers is survived by his wife Anna Maier; their children, Kora and Kai; his mother, Terry Helmka; step- parents Charles Akin, Jeff Koenig and Denise Perigo; and siblings John Akin, Jeff DeGolier, Todd DeGolier and Aimee Phair. The family has requested that donations be made to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance, ColonTown, or the San Francisco Zen Center.