When I was a little boy, I used to think that there was a place that important people went when it was announced that they had passed away. They couldn't have really died, could they? Yul Brenner, John Wayne, Elvis, Andy Kauffman, etc; I thought there was some magical place where billionaires, scientists, great thinkers, world leaders and famous actors went instead of into a 6' hole in the ground. I thought that somehow someone had discovered the key to immortality and that they were just hiding it away from the general masses. Arthur Clarke, Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman were rubbing elbows in a paradise hidden away from us the common people. All one had to do was do something amazing to etch yourself into the history books and you're into the secret society. I thought surely over the last 10,000 years someone had the Philosophers Stone or the Fountain of Youth tucked away in a deep cavern fortress. I mean Gilgamesh ascended to become a demi-god.
As I grew older and more of my heroes died I realized that childhood fantasy never was. The Freemasons were just a bunch of old dudes who knew less about the world, history and science than I did and their 'secrets' were actually pretty lame (maybe I just didn't go deep enough /s). World Leaders are all too human and most are idiots. There isn't some cabal of Wise Elders controlling the tides of fate. No one is in control of this vehicle barreling towards a cliff. Worst of all, that even the great end up in the same place as the meek and wicked.
Mr. Spock was my childhood hero. I loved Roddenberry's philosophy presented in Star Trek. It helped form most of my world views today. I dearly loved all the new and amazing ideas this show presented to me in my living room as a 7 year old boy (National Geographic too). Spock was the most influential character in my childhood. His relationship with Kirk and Bones was the model of friendship and brotherhood. For a young boy, wrestling with some powerful emotions I wasn't sure how I fit into the world. Despite his emotionless nature, Spock was all too human too me. I wish that I had known Mr. Nimoy. So many of my heroes have died my lifetime; Arthur C. Clark, Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman, Christopher Hitchens.... and now Leonard Nimoy.
TL;DR "He's dead Jim!"