Man the same exact thing happened to me! I had stopped playing for years, and when I picked it up again it was around 2002. I had looked up the guy I had taken lessons from for four years (mid-1980s) thinking I'd send him a note and say "Hi"... and found out that he had passed away a few years prior from pancreatic cancer. His name was Ethan Atkinson. Really sad- he was a good guy, and very gifted jazz guitarist and equally proficient bassist. In fact, I had approached him for guitar lessons but he convinced me to give bass a try due to the demand he saw for bassists at that time in the Houston area. Learned a lot from him, and he always seemed to be into gear too - he had an early Precision (~65, IIRC) and I remember REALLY liking how that thing played. Also had a nice playing black Precision Elite II, and one of those all-walnut Precisions. Had several nice guitars as well. He was a big early influence on my GAS!
I'll never forget one year- I had gotten into electronics mainly just so I could build effects and other music stuff that I couldn't afford to buy. I had built a little envelope follower pedal and gave it to him as a Xmas gift... The next week he brought in a milk-crate with a bunch of old pedals that he gave to me. Two original Dunlop Cry Babys, a Ram's Head Big Muff, some channel-switcher pedal for a Sunn, and (still) one of my favorite pedals - a Sola Sound wah. I was probably 14 or so- and needless to say I was beside myself!
So... I know the feeling
Good luck with the project - that'll be a nice tribute
