Before this was "Hacker News" it was "Startup News". Due to historical / cultural reasons, a large base of the readership of HN are people from, or with connections to, Silicon Valley and the companies there. A lot of people on HN have probably been touched by Mr. Desimone in some way, and more than a few people here may have known him personally. IOW, he might not have been a "hacker" (or maybe he was, who knows?) but he's part of the "HN family" in a sense. That's why his passing gets a mention here, despite the fact that he may not have been notable to hackers in any other regard.