Gary was always very kind to my sister Kim & me. My fondest memories with Gary included shooting hoops together when he was in town or blasting The Beach Boys during our visit to Oregon. Gary will be missed dearly!

As devasting as the news of Gary’s passing is to his friends and allies, I can only imagine the pain that his wife Marnia and son Arion must be feeling. I hope that the messages that have been shared here help bring you both comfort as you grieve the loss of a devoted husband and father.

There can be no doubt of the strength of Gary’s passion, intelligence, warmth, and fortitude. In the years since I got to know him, I’ve had the deepest respect for his work and honestly have been in awe of his encyclopedic knowledge on the harms of pornography. Time and time again, I have relied on his website as “the place” to get the right information. His work has truly empowered a movement and helped set untold numbers of people free from their pornography addictions. He helped and inspired so many of us involved in the fight to end sexual exploitation with his wisdom and wit and by serving as the watchman on the wall. With his passing the world has lost an incredibly special and irreplaceable individual.

I m eternally grateful for your work. May you soul rest in peace.

almost a year ago I found out about my porn addiction through Mr. Wilson's ted talk and found out even more when I searched his website, since then I've been talked about and informed about the harms of porn on social media, for sure it was my biggest influence and inspiration for me to have had that attitude. I have no words to thank you for all the work he's done and what it's meant to me. My condolences to family and friends and I will miss him very much.

Gary, you are an absolute legend. Thank you for saving my life.

Marnia, I am so sorry for Gary's loss! You and he have been active for so long at SASH. I'm sure he will be missed!
Jennifer

Gary opened the eyes to my excessive porn and masturbation habit that destroyed my life. My life changed dramatically since I stopped PMO 3 years ago. A man that I never met changed my life to the better. Without his engagement I wouldn't be able to face the difficulties life put in front me since my fathers brain aneurysm popped. I'm able to take care of my family and thus give my family a positive outlook on life. On my very dark days I wouldn't be able to cope with this very difficult life situation. It's not an exaggeration that this man contributed heavily to avoiding my suicide. You never know what the waves of life will do to others. The waves Gary created are positive waves that bring hope, happiness and a lot of potential to future generations.

Gary's work is a first step for many guys struggling with excessive porn use. His TEDx talk was the first place I saw him. I remember watching it saying, "YES!" It was perfect. He was the right guy at the right time to deliver the message. We are all deeply indebted to him.

Thank you for helping us recover our lifes. Me and many others wouldn´t be where we are without you.

Gary gave voice to a struggle I lived with in silence and shame for 20 years. I remember finding YBOP online and thinking "oh my God, this is me". Without the slightest exaggeration, Gary's bravery, tenacity, and commitment to speaking the truth about an uncomfortable subject saved my life.

And that was before I had ever met him.

When we finally did meet, I discovered a humble, kind, generous man. Inspired by Gary's example, I had waded into the world of porn addiction advocacy, and before that first meeting, I worried that Gary might see me as an upstart. Those fears melted when we spoke. Gary was warm and encouraging. Together with his amazing wife Marnia, he became an enthusiastic collaborator and a trusted, understanding friend who stood by my side during some of my own most difficult moments.

I was only vaguely aware of Gary's health struggles, but I had a front-row seat to the relentless, unfounded, unhinged abuse he absorbed almost daily over the internet; undue recompense for speaking his mind about a controversial topic. But I never saw him waver or back down from his mission to gather and disseminate information that he knew would help people find their way out of problem porn use and toward a healthier, more fulfilling life.

For me, Gary's dogged determination in the face of adversity brought to mind the Wordsworth poem, "The Character of the Happy Warrior" (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45512/character-of-the-happy-warrior), and in particular this passage:

Who is he
That every man in arms should wish to be?
[...]
'Tis he whose law is reason; who depends
Upon that law as on the best of friends;
Whence, in a state where men are tempted still
To evil for a guard against worse ill,
And what in quality or act is best
Doth seldom on a right foundation rest,
He labours good on good to fix, and owes
To virtue every triumph that he knows:

Gary met his adversaries with reason, facts, and an abiding, always-good-natured belief in the virtue of sharing knowledge so that truth can prevail. He never backed down from his principles, he tended to his family and friends, he gave his time and energies generously, and he carried the burdens of his fame with humility.

He was, in other words, the type of person we all should wish to be. Someone (to borrow another passage from the Happy Warrior) "whose high endeavours are an inward light, that makes the path before him always bright".

Thanks, Gary, for lighting the way for so many of us. We love and miss you.

Like many people, Gary's wisdom has had a massive impact on my life that I will never forget. His presentation on "Tedx Talks" will always have a positive effect on me. Never before had there been somebody so courageous to talk about what he did in front of a massive audience, he has my utmost respect for that as his wisdom surely saved me.

Thank you for everything.

Very sad news about Gary. He inspired so many people.

RIP Gary

So, so sad to hear this tragic news. Gary has been such an inspiration to me and the team at the Laurel Centre and his work has helped not only the clients we work with and the therapists we train, but thousands, perhaps millions, of others. He has left an amazing legacy and I feel honoured to have known him. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends. God bless you Gary and all you have loved.

Over a decade ago I first started speaking and writing about how neuroscience and pornography interface, and quickly became aware of Gary’s work. Over the years, as we have participated in various events related to this subject I came to know him better personally. One enjoyable memory is a conversation we had about the metaphysics and meaning of existence we shared while we were both on adjacent treadmills working out at some conference hotel. There were also many phone conversations over the years which were always valued.

Gary’s sudden loss is obviously immensely difficult for Marnia, Arion, and those who knew him best, but he leaves a big hole in my heart as well. He was fiercely loyal to his friends and to the movement, and combined that loyalty with tenacity, a keen intellect, and a gifted ability to sift through data and concisely distill out and articulate the essence of the matter at hand. He was simply brilliant, but combined that asset with an indomitable warrior spirit and a desire to lift and help those captivated by exploitation.

As a loss to the movement he is simply irreplaceable. While it will be impossible to replicate who he is and what he has done, he has set a standard for those of us who remain to fight. His message of never backing down before the bullies of exploitation, and of answering lies with truth is a timeless one, and we will honor Gary by continuing this fight with renewed determination and vigor.

Don Hilton

I came across his famous ted talk about the great porn experiment. This may very well have initiated my process of recovery from porn addiction.

Thank you Gary for your clear and calm message, it has improved countless lives, including my own.

The Universe has a mysterious way of bringing healing to the suffering.

Gary's work gave me hope as I was stumbling in the darkness of ignorance and addiction. While the scientific community and doctors that I knew reaffirmed that there is nothing such as addiction to pornography, it was Gary's study and TED talk that made sense to me, and helped me understand my addiction.

It may seem but a vanity for the readers, but words can seldom convey the way this man's work touched my life, nay, brought me back to my life...We haven't met...Hell I have never been to your country! Yet this man's work turned out to be a torch light in the journey of my redemption. And I owe a great deal to this man's work for my recovery.

This man's work has done such a priceless service to the society. And his works shall be the guiding light to young people and millennials like me whose life was affected by addiction to pornography.

Please accept my prayers.

Your works and your efforts will never be forgotten. Rest in peace Gary.

The Universe has a mysterious way of bringing healing to the suffering.

Gary's work gave me hope as I was stumbling in the darkness of ignorance and addiction. While the scientific community and doctors that I knew reaffirmed that there is nothing such as addiction to pornography, it was Gary's study and TED talk that made sense to me, and helped me understand my addiction.

It may seem but a vanity for the readers, but words can seldom convey the way this man's work touched my life, nay, brought me back to my life...We haven't met...Hell I have never been to your country! Yet this man's work turned out to be a torch light in the journey of my redemption. And I owe a great deal to this man's work for my recovery.

This man's work has done such a priceless service to the society. And his works shall be the guiding light to young people and millennials like me whose life was affected by addiction to pornography.

Please accept my prayers.

Your works and your efforts will never be forgotten. Rest in peace Gary.

Gary Wilson positively affected millions of lives, including my own. After reading the site for years, I had just finished the book for the first time not weeks before his passing. While I am still in the middle of my recovery journey, if it were not for Gary, I likely wouldn't even know where to start. The book's third section is the best starting place for those looking to take action steps to recover.

Sometimes there's a man...that man was Gary Wilson. Your work touched millions, but it would have been worth it for just one person, myself. I'm sure others feel similarly. Your passing comes as a shock. I didn't know you, but I knew you through your work, and I'm in shock; I'm sad, because I feel like I knew you if only slightly. You will be missed by the multitudes who knew your name and what you stood for.

A man who saw something going on, who stood up and did something about it, for those who could not figure out what to do for themselves. That's a hero in my book.

Rest in power, Gary.

I have suffered with addiction to pornography eventually escalating into sex, for the past decade, and Your Brain On Porn was a book that truly helped me to understand and see that it wasn't only my problem, and it also wasn't my fault. I hope that this book doesn't get lost in the ether and that it drives ever more research than it already has into the understanding of the problems porn can cause to all of those younger people now growing up in a society obsessed with sex and the quick and easy use of porn. I don't know what else to say but I hope he finds peace in another life and knows how many of use he has helped.

I'm a porn addict from Nigeria and Gary made me aware of my problems and gave me the encouragement to do something about it. Ive never met him personally but I feel so sad about his passing;That shows the level of impact the man has had on millions of men like me worldwide. Rest in Peace