He was very, very visionary man! Love him! He worked here at Cornell and his house still stands....We have a Sagan planetary walk here in Ithaca, you would like to see that!
[sciencenter.org]

I miss Dr. Carl Sagan immensely. Like Carl, I was also raised Catholic and even completed Holy Communion. I remember how even then when I had the chance to sit in the silence of the church, I sensed agitation within my cells. Slowly, very slowly, after watching the church gain more power, riches, and things, and not seeing it reflected in supporting the homeless, mental illness, children, and blood loss to war, I could not see the point to belonging to something that lacked empathy. Besides, the bible read like mythology and much less exciting than the Iliad or the Odyssey. Today, I am thankful for Dr. Tyson for carrying on the fight for science.

You ever listen to Bill Burr’s Monday Morning Podcast? Has a Thursday Afternoon just before Friday Monday Morning Podcast, too. Basically he puts out about 2.5 hours a week. He’s fresh, energetic, and real. Ok, yeah I think he’s a deist, but he talks more shit on the supernatural than not. It’s a decent show and mostly I can easily overlook any personal shortcomings that I may deem he has, and enjoy the fuck out of the show.

I miss them both as well. George Carlin was just a nononsense, in your face kinda guy. There were no gray areas for Carlin. He knew exactly what was what and he was great at sharing that with everyone in his own special way. Carl Sagan was just the best at putting complex ideas into terms laypeople like myself could understand. His movie "Contact" is still one of my all time favorites. It is so sad that he died shortly before it was finished. I remember him saying on the Tonight Show ... and there are billions and billions and billions ...I can still see his face when he said those things. A truly great man.

I would add Hitchens to that list but yes, I agree.

I only came to really know his work in recent years, but I admire him so very much I have his original Cosmos series on DVD (as well as DeGrasse Tyson's), and his book A Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark.

His patience and his gentleness and his poetical style is just brilliant. And while he is physically gone, I still feel a strong connection to him through his work.

One of my favorite quotes of Sagan's:

“A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts ( still called “leaves” ) imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time ? Proof that humans can work magic.” – Carl Sagan

Picking up the gauntlet for Master Sagan is Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist and completely "on the mark" scientist. Sadly Prophet George has no replacement. This man told the truth to people for over 50 years performing, making them laugh to hear the stupid truth about themselves, and what idiots they are.

I loved George Carlin as well! I posted some of his quotes on FB and a lot of people did not like them. He put all this religious b.s. in its place the best imo.

Sean Carrol has a similar personality, imho. Sean's popularist work is a little more in-depth, and more specific than Carl's popularist work. Carl might be a little more poetic.
Anyway, Sean reminds me of Carl. His friendly optimistic nature, even when talking with opponents. Dept of knowledge and live for science.

I think that while there are many individuals who are rightly admired in the non religious and pro science communities, Carl Sagan might be the true "Saint". I'm aware of the irony of using the term, but in my view he's just in a class of his own. I never saw him act in a way that was patronising, condescending, arrogant or self important. His influence is immense. Greatly missed, as you said.

I was privileged to see George Carlin perform the last year of his life. His edgy persona was amped up by a factor of 10 over his earlier work. I think he knew his time was short, but he didn't let on. He is truly missed.

And Christopher Hitchens

Agreed.

You should check out Neil deGrasse Tyson's thoughts and videos. I don't know the backgrounds of other scientists (e.g. Lawrence Kraus, Bill Nye, Michio Kaku) in regards to their connection with Sagan.

But deGrasse Tyson has a cool story of him and Sagan when he was first applying to universities:

Try Jim Jeffries

Carlin...is timeless really! I can't about Sagan as I wasn't that much exposed to his work.

Often when I need to explain something to someone eg 4 dimensional space, I pull up a Sagan video clip.