Gordon Mah Ung, PCWorld editor and renowned hardware journalist, dies at 58

With heavy hearts, PCWorld pays tribute to Gordon Mah Ung, our hardware guru, host of The Full Nerd, exemplary tech journalist, and very good friend.

- JON PHILLIPS

PCWorld executive editor Gordon Mah Ung, a tireless journalist we once described as a founding father of hardcore tech journalism (fave.co/40AjK2K), passed away over the weekend after a hard-fought battle with pancreatic cancer. Gordon was 58, and leaves behind a loving wife, two children, older sister, and mother.

With more than 25 years' experience covering computer tech broadly and computer chips specifically, Gordon's dogged reporting, one-of-a-kind personality, and commitment to journalistic standards touched many, many lives. He will be profoundly missed by co-workers, industry sources, and the PC enthusiasts who read his words and followed him as a video creator.

Gordon studied journalism at San Francisco State University and then worked as a police reporter for the Contra Costa Times in the late 1990s. In 1997, he joined Computerworld (a PCWorld sister publication) before I recruited him to join boot magazine (later relaunched as Maximum PC), where he would ultimately lead hardware coverage for 16 years.

At Maximum PC, Gordon developed his trademark voice that blended a hardcore passion for PC tech with non sequiturs, deadpan humor, and occasional bursts of outrage. As a very early podcaster in the tech space, Gordon’s “Rant of the Week” segment on the Maximum PC pod became so legendary, someone made a soundboard (fave.co/4hk8jSv) of his best sound bytes. (Caution: It can get a bit NSFW in the finest Gordon tradition.) As I listened to his rants from my office, he always had me guessing, “Is he really that angry, or is he playing us?”