Rob Skiba, an influential figure in flat earth and Christian circles, has died of COVID-19, colleagues announced on Thursday. He had been fighting the virus since at least late August, when he began exhibiting symptoms after “Take On The World,” a biblical flat earth conference. “He has been sick since coming back from TOTW,” a Facebook friend posted in early September, adding that Skiba had been hospitalized for low oxygen levels. One of the country’s most prominent advocates of Flat Earth Theory, Skiba was also skeptical of COVID-19 vaccines and some of the illness’ treatments. On the first day of the Take On The World conference, Skiba authored a Facebook post suggesting that the COVID-19 vaccines were dangerous.

‘To those who disagree with my position on our current situation... One of us is right,” he wrote. “Unless YHWH miraculously intervenes, based on what I’m seeing/hearing, the one scenario that really does appear to be coming into focus is the likelihood that within I’d say 2 to 3 years or so... one of us will probably be dead. Truly, I take no joy in saying this, nor will I if I'm the one still standing.”

Skiba’s community memorialized him on social media. “Whether you agree or disagree with him on a particular subject, you can’t help but love his genuine, authentic, loving, disarming, comical approach to very polarizing content,” a friend wrote in tribute. “What a great teacher.”