As much as I cringe at seeing "undefined behavior" robustness compromises today, when he started they were absolutely necessary, and he got our profession through one of its most difficult periods. We few know what we owe him.
Analogies are tenuous, but when Michael Jackson died, it was obviously big news. It was all over television. Nobody reported when Ross Snyder‡ died, even though his influence was of great importance. That's the way these things work.
‡If anyone didn't know, Ross invented the multitrack recorder, one of the most transformative tools in music production.
I can attest to this. Here at work we work almost exclusively in C (embedded devices) and my boss had no idea who Dennis Ritchie is.
We on HN realize the significance of his work, but most other people won't and that's OK as we all benefit from the things he did whether we realize it or not.
I'll check CNN and the BBC to see their special reports, surely if they had them when some marketing CEO kicked the bucket they'll give at least ten times the amount of coverage to a man who was 100 times his better!