In Memory

Dedicated to Micah Bleich

Black-and-white portrait of Micah Bleich, smiling, in a dark sweater over a white collared shirt.

In 2008, my friend Micah Bleich and I started Nerd & Artist (nerdandartist.com), a Flash-based tool that let anyone build their own website. Wix and the others hadn’t arrived yet, and we were sure we’d built something too good to fail. For four years we poured everything we had into that dream.

Nerd & Artist, 2008–2013

Nerd & Artist poster: Micah as the Nerd in glasses and a blazer, back to back with David as the Artist.

The Nerd & Artist site’s How It Works page, describing the Flash-based Site Builder.

Micah as the Nerd pointing to the Nerdy Stuff menu: SEO, blogs, RSS feeds, eCommerce and more.

David as the Artist pointing to the Artsy Stuff menu: custom designs, motion graphics, image gallery and more.

The Project Discontinued page: in a parallel dimension, this is an amazing site builder.

The Lessons We Learned page: work quickly, keep it simple and scalable, beware of feature creep, business is not art.

Micah once told me he was glad he’d met his wife, Cecily, before we got rich, so he’d never have to wonder whether her love was real. That was Micah: a dreamer with his feet on the ground.

Micah, eyes closed and mouth open, pretending to fall asleep on Cecily’s shoulder while she smiles at the camera.

We closed Nerd & Artist in 2013 and went our separate ways professionally, but we stayed close friends. On June 17, 2024, Micah and Cecily welcomed their daughter, Amelia. Fatherhood transformed him. I watched the Micah I’d known and loved find new levels of optimism, courage and devotion.

Micah, Cecily and Amelia on a hayride beside a cornfield, Amelia on Micah’s lap.

Micah had thrown himself into AI from its earliest days, and at the start of 2026 he began mentoring me. Then the lymphoma he had beaten years earlier came back. Within a few short months he was gone, leaving behind Cecily, 18-month-old Amelia, a grieving family and dreams he never got to finish.

GoodWord Sites feels like a strange, full-circle return to what Micah and I started: a website builder again, this time powered by the AI he helped teach me. In honor of our friendship and his family, 10% of GoodWord Sites’ net profits go to Cecily and Amelia, and an additional 2% goes to City of Hope, the cancer hospital that cared for Micah in his final months.

Micah and David smiling together on a rocky beach in San Miguel, the ocean behind them.

Thank you, Micah.

— David Barile