We are deeply saddened to share the news that Ryan Weaver — a cherished member of the Symfony Community, a tireless educator, and a friend to so many — passed away after a long and courageous battle with brain cancer.
Ryan was more than just a contributor to Symfony: he was a voice, a teacher, and an inspiration who made the framework, and the wider PHP world, more approachable and fun. His passing is an immense loss to our community.
Ryan’s Symfony Journey
Ryan joined the Symfony Core Team over a decade ago and quickly became known for his ability to simplify even the most complex concepts. He authored documentation, contributed features, and advocated tirelessly for a better developer experience.
Many of us first met Ryan through his work at SymfonyCasts (formerly KnpUniversity), where he brought Symfony to life with humor, clarity, and contagious enthusiasm. Through his teaching, he helped countless developers around the world learn Symfony — and fall in love with it.
His Teaching and Impact
Ryan had a gift for making Symfony fun. He believed that coding wasn’t just about syntax and performance, but about joy, creativity, and community. His videos, talks, and blog posts combined deep technical expertise with storytelling and a touch of silliness that made learning unforgettable.
If you’ve ever smiled while debugging because of a funny comment in a tutorial, or if you’ve felt a spark of excitement while building something new in Symfony, there’s a good chance Ryan played a part in that.
Beyond the Code
Ryan wasn’t only a teacher and developer — he was a friend. He made time for people. Whether you were a new developer just getting started or a fellow Core Team member, Ryan treated you with kindness and respect.
He cared deeply about lifting others up, and that spirit of generosity will remain part of the Symfony community forever.
Our Community’s Loss
Ryan’s passing leaves a hole in our hearts, but his legacy lives on in every Symfony app, every developer who learned from him, and every moment of joy he inspired in our community.
We encourage everyone to share their memories of Ryan — whether it’s a favorite talk, a video that inspired you, or a story of how he helped you personally. Together, we can celebrate the incredible life he lived and the impact he had on us all.
Thank you, Ryan, for everything. We’ll miss your humor, your kindness, and your boundless enthusiasm. Symfony wouldn’t be what it is today without you — and we’re better people for having known you.
💙 Rest in peace, Ryan.
Supporting Ryan’s Family
The best way to support Ryan's family long term is to subscribe — or continue subscribing — to SymfonyCasts.
Celebration of life services for Ryan will be held on Sunday, September 7, 2025, from 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. at WildWood Family Farms at 7970 Snow Ave SE, Alto, MI 49302. (Families with children welcome). In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations to be made in Ryan's memory to his son's educational and custodial funds through GoFundMe. More details are available in Ryan's Obituary.
We love you Ryan, Leanna and Beckett!
Condolences to Ryan's family and loved one :-( truly one of the most cherished member of community
This is a sad day for the entire Symfony community. My thoughts and love are with Leanna and Beckett.
We miss you Ryan. Your legacy will always be with us. Hugs and love for you Leanna and Beckett.
Not you Ryan, not you! I am so saddened by this news. Condolences to Ryan's family.
This is a very sad day for the Symfony community. Ryan was the kindest and most enthusiast person I’ve the opportunity to meet. My thoughts are going to Leanna, Beckett and their loved ones 💙 We’ll miss you a lot :(
We love you Ryan, thanks for everything! We will never forget you and your teachings.
I was shocked to hear of his passing. He was a key figure in my early Symfony journey through SymfonyCasts and helped me overcome beginner struggles. My heartfelt condolences and may he rest in peace.
I can’t believe it! Ryan was a very nice and devoted person! The most famous voice in the SF community and the best teacher He did a lot for #PHP, he did a lot for the open source community, always responded to comments in the best possible way, even if they came from the worst people. Condolences to his family and to the Symfony community!
Ryan's legacy in and outside of Symfony will be as big as his heart was in life. We'll miss him dearly.
Rest In Peace Ryan, courage à la famille...
We will miss you a lot, RIP ♥
You've been so brave in your battle my friend. Rest in peace ❤️ Love you Leanna, Beckett, hugs and love for both of you
RIP Ryan, I'm glad I could chat with you in Chicago earlier this year. You were an inspiration to a lot of people, your body may be gone but your soul will live forever
Sad to learn this. RIP Ryan.
Thank you for all you gave to us.
RIP Ryan your humour came across in hundreds of tutorials
What sad and painful news to hear!
We remain deeply grateful for your teachings, your contributions, and the unforgettable impact you made on our community.
My thoughts and prayers goes to your family.
RIP dear.
Sadly, not the news I wanted to read. Your smile and big heart will never be forgotten. My heartfelt condolences to Ryan’s family.
A really sad day, RIP Ryan 😢. Condolences to his family.
Thank you for your work and everything you gave to the community. Rest in peace Ryan. 💙
So sad. We lost one of the most beautiful souls in this world.
So many memories around Ryan. What an incredible person. He changed so many lives, including mine.
We love you Ryan. And we will miss you dearly.
I'm sorry to hear this. Way too young. I wish friends and family all the strength in the world in this hard times.
Ryan will be in symfony ❤️ for ever. Thanks for all you have done Ryan.
Sad news…😢 RIP Ryan. I learned so much from his tutorials. As someone who loves Symfony and works with it daily, I feel deeply saddened. His impact on the community will never be forgotten. In my belief, when you teach someone something, a part of you continues to live on through them — almost as if those you’ve taught carry your light forward.
Really sad, RIP Ryan, thank you for all your works.
Dear friend, thank you for all your work, for all your videos, workshops, documentation, contributions, bug fixes, advises, forum posts, blogs, comments, reviews, .... Thanks you for your kindness, optimism, energy and friendship.... RIP.
Thank you Ryan for helping all of the Symfony community grow as a whole. You are such an inspiration. You will be missed...
Thanks a lot Ryan for all you gave us! Rest in peace my friend and former colleague, it was a pleasure to know you and work with you. I would like to send all my love and strength to Leanna and Beckett and all your familly and friends. RIP.
Ryan cheered me up on some dark days, he was the smiling one, always optimistic and going forward, very humble yet extremely competent in all that he did, curious like a child yet very professional, big ball of great ideas yet very pragmatic. He was part of the most amazing people I've met and worked with in my career. It's a huge loss for our ecosystem, I can't imagine how hard it is for Leanna and Beckett. All my thoughts to them, he will be missed very much...
I was deeply saddened to learn of Ryan's passing. Thanks a lot for all your efforts to the community. I am inspired by your energy and positive mindset during your difficult times. Condolences to the family.
Ryan will remain always in our collective memory 🫶 A special person, a great man! Condolences to his loved ones 🙏
Sad news... RIP Ryan. Big thoughts for his family.
Condolences to his family. Thank you Ryan for your kindness and positivity, I will always have in mind my first interaction with you, very nice, polite and respectful. You were definitely a wonderful soul. Your voice will for sure resonate forever in the community Adieu
RIP Ryan. Thanks for being a good human being. It was a pleasure and an honour to meet you.
Very sad to hear about the passing of Ryan. He was a kind person who gave so much to the Symfony community... His contributions will not be forgotten.
Sad news, condolences to the family, thank you for all your work Ryan, RIP
Condolences to his family. Thank you Ryan
Such a tremendous loss for the community. Ryan inspired so many developers with his teaching and generosity. My thoughts are with his family and loved ones.
Ryan was one of the nicest persons I've ever knew and an outstanding programmer. He had a gift for teaching and he taught me how to be a better programmer until the very last. He also taught me about unconditional goodness, to do good even when other people aren't watching. My family is forever grateful and in debt to him and his family for their help in times we really needed it. I'm heartbroken because the world has lost an invaluable human and has become a darker place.
This is a very sad news to hear. We'll miss his incredible enthusiasm and his bright energy. Lots of love and thoughts to Leanna and Beckett.
Condolences to Ryan's family.
What a man he was. He did so much for PHP and the Symfony community. All my thoughts are with Becket and Leanna.
🙏
That makes me really sad. I loved his Symfony Casts.
Much strength to his family and friends. Rest in peace, Ryan...
Thank you, Ryan, for teaching me so much about Symfony.
Even though I never met him in person, his lessons and guidance had a huge impact on my learning.
My condolences to his family and loved ones.
çok üzüldüm. Eğitimleri inanılmazdı
i am really sad. Their training was incredible
Learning from his courses on KnpUniversity was such a pleasure when I first started exploring Symfony. I remember him and his wife from the SymfonyCasts stand on SymfonyCon in Amsterdam - very nice and positive people. Condolences to his family.
We will miss you
Ryan - your passion has driven my curiosity multiple times and you have shaped many steps of my career.
Thank you.
What a beautifully written post, these words also really cover my feeling towards Ryan. I’m reading this with a heavy heart, how fast it all went. I still remember him announcing, like it was yesterday. I really loved his enthousiasm, his endless energy towards making the best of it, and above all his sense of humor in his battle as well as his coding. Ryan you will be remembered, not many people can really say they keep living on, but we all know YOU definitely will. Thanks for being part of all of our lives and we just a fraction of yours. All the love, warmth and strength for Leanna and Beckett ♥️
Thank you for everything, Ryan. Thank you for helping me with some PRs, I learned a lot thanks to you. You will remain in our memories.
My condolences to his family. Rest in peace, Ryan.
Thank you so much for everything you've given us Ryan. My heartfelt condolences to the family.
RIP Brother :( and condolences to the family. Will miss your humor teaching symfony :(
Thank you so much for your contributions. Your tutorials definitely made me a better Symfony Dev. <3
I joined KNPLabs in 2012, where I met Ryan – one of the brightest and kindest people I’ve ever known. You were always a role model to me, both as a programmer and as a person. Now I can’t hold back my tears. My deepest condolences to Leanna and Beckett.
I am very sad to read this... sad news... Thank you for everything Ryan, we will miss you!
I was so sorry and saddened to hear this. Ryan taught me so much about what I know about Symfony! His knack for teaching with such humor and clarity will be greatly missed.
Rip Ryan :'( My thoughts are with all his family
Rest in peace Ryan. One of the best teachers in the Symfony community — your lessons, passion, and good humour won't be forgotten. 🕊️
Very sad. I watched Ryan's fight. However, life had other plans. My condolences to the family.
Rest in peace, Ryan. The PHP world feels quieter without you, but the impact you made will keep echoing.
A huge loss. Ryan was an inspiration to the Symfony Community, a genius with wit and insight.
I had the good fortune of being an early client and got some one-on-one time with him going over code. Honestly, it was better than therapy. I left the tutorial session just feeling good and confident that all would be okay.
He'll be greatly missed.
I’m deeply saddened by the news of Ryan Weaver’s passing. He was so much more than a developer-he was a passionate teacher, a creative inspirer, and a true friend to the community. Through his humorous and clear explanations, he motivated thousands of developers and made learning Symfony a joyous experience. His ability to blend technical depth with warmth and lightheartedness will forever be unforgettable. My heartfelt condolences go out to Leanna, Beckett, and the entire family. Thank you, Ryan -you’ve enriched the Symfony community like no one else. Rest in peace.
Ryan, you've always been authentic in your love and joy for the world. Thank you for teaching us beautiful life lessons. I'll forever think of you whenever I adorn silly socks. And we'll all carry your legacy forward, until we meet you again on the flip side. Much love 💙
Thank you for all, Ryan! 🙏
Even though I've never met him in person, his loss is so saddening. I've learned so much from him. My heartfelt condolences to Leanna, Becket and his loved ones.
Ryan has brought a lot to PHP, through his hard work, his always friendly manner and his vision. He's an example to many of us. He leaves us with a lot of code he wrote and shared in open-source for at least 15 years, which we'll continue to develop with him in mind.
💙 Rest in peace, Ryan
My heartfelt condolences to all of you. Unfortunately, I never met Ryan in person, but he was a teacher to me for so many years. For me, it feels like a good friend has passed away. I will never forget Ryan.
Ryan was one of the reasons I started looking at the Symfony framework, and the exact one why I've stayed with it. From the very beginning until now, I have seen his amazing writing style on every Symfony docs page. SymfonyCon was always the highlight of the year when we could finally meet in person.
I’m so grateful to have known Ryan personally and to have learned even a small part of his huge knowledge. I always admired how much he loved running. I’m not a great runner myself, but every time I go for a run, I’ll remember him and try to go a little farther in his honor.
Thanks to Ryan, I’ve been working in the best team. I lost a piece of my heart with him. I wish I could find as many good friends in life as Ryan did in his too-short one.
rest in peace
Oh my... really saddening moment... 😔
What struck me the most the first time I heard Ryan in one of his SymfonyCasts videos was his enthusiasm, his passion, and the energy that radiated from every single word he spoke.
It was a real pleasure to follow his explanations.
A huge thank you to this great man for all his work, both through his courses and the various bundles he created.
The Symfony community has lost one of its most precious members today.
I am deeply saddened to hear of his passing 😔 and I extend my sincere condolences to his family ❤️🩹.
Rest in peace, Ryan. I’ll keep a little piece of Ryan in every one of my apps...
💙 Rest in peace, Ryan.