T1 COO John Kim passes away at age 40

T1 announced Friday, on Twitter, that their chief operating officer John Kim has passed away at the age of 40.

pic.twitter.com/wWhdLa834x

— T1 LoL (@T1LoL) July 16, 2021

Remembering John Kim

T1 stated in the announcement that John was hospitalized on July 7th 2021 and passed away on July 16th 2021. The cause of death not been revealed. In the post, T1 celebrated the life of a dear friend and staff member.

“While we mourn the loss of our dear friend and colleague, we will also continue to celebrate his life and the time we had with him,” the statement read.

John Kim started his esports career by founding TSB while he was still an undergraduate at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. He then moved to work with an Overwatch Contenders team, Skyfoxes. They also expressed their condolences and talked about his part in their history.

We’re deeply saddened by the news of John Kim’s passing.

John was integral part not only to Skyfoxes and its history, but to countless budding talent in the space.

John’s character preceded him and those fortunate enough to meet him were privileged to have him in our lives. https://t.co/7x7iAFurnp

— Skyfoxes @ Taking A Nap…For Now (@SkyfoxesOW) July 16, 2021

Other people have commented under T1’s original Twitter post, talking about their experiences with John Kim. Nuengnara “23savage” Teeramahanon, the Carry player for T1’s Dota team, talked about how he wanted T1 to be the best after the passing of his “Boss.” Others who commented included popular Korean League of Legends journalist Ashley Kang and the CEO of Generation Gaming, Arnold Hur.

T1 content creator Nick “LS” De Cesare also talked about John Kim’s personal impact on his life. Drama surrounded LS’ move to T1. While he was originally rumored to take a coaching position, the backlash from T1 fans caused him to take a content creator position instead.

John was somewhat of a Father figure to me at T1. During Nov, he was constantly around me daily to help ease the turbulent month& always made himself available. He always stepped in for me w/o being asked, and I considered him a confidant. I was beyond fortunate to have known him https://t.co/VJagFZdoor pic.twitter.com/cxFWiLKY43

— LS (@LSXYZ9) July 16, 2021

Kim was working on T1 through it’s transition from SKT. Amid the coaching changes to the League of Legends team, T1 faces a new challenge in losing their COO. There is expected to be a tribute made for John Kim during tomorrow’s LCK Match of T1 vs Damwon Gaming.