My ALS Journey (31/31): The End

Dear readers, we are extremely sad to inform you that Rainer passed away on October 6, 2025, surrounded by his closest family. After suffering from life-threatening pneumonia, Rainer decided against further life-sustaining measures that would have severely restricted his life. He passed away peacefully, accompanied by his family.

>> Rainers Journey with ALS <<

Rainers lifework

Despite his progressive ALS disease, Rainer remained full of energy and drive until the very end and continued to work on his two life goals:

1. Creating Value for the C++ Community

First, to share his knowledge and experience of C++ with you through his blog modernescpp.com, his mentoring program, and digital participation in conferences.

His last digital appearance was at CppCon 2025, where he had given lectures both digitally and in person in previous years. More recently, Cippi, an initiative founded by Rainer and his wife, Beatrix, has visited conferences such as CppCon and will continue to do so.

You can read more about Cippi’s adventures on her blog.

If you would like Cippi to visit your conference, please send an email to beatrix.grimm-jaud@ModernesCpp.de.

2. Raising awareness for ALS

Second, to raise awareness of ALS and other neurological diseases in order to collect donations for ALS research.

As part of this, Rainer attended a charity run organized in his name by TV Rottenburg on September 28, which raised over €6,000 in donations for ALS research.
Since Rainer himself had been active as a running coach at TVR for over 15 years before his illness and had coached several athletes to the German championships, he had the opportunity to meet many long-time acquaintances and friends there once again.

Over the past two years, Rainer has repeatedly offered his books at a significant discount and donated all proceeds to ALS research.

Thank You!

As a family, we would like to thank you, the C++ community, for being like a second family to Rainer over the years and providing him with such an essential source of support, both professionally and privately. Especially in the last two years, when ALS took away Rainer’s chance to attend conferences in person, you showed your sympathy and, not least through your support for Rainer’s Cippi initiative, underlined what a great, strong, and empathetic community you are!

We cannot say at this point what will happen to his blog, his mentoring, or his book in progress, Modern C++26, but we will keep you informed.

Thank you very much!
Beatrix, Juliette, and Marius