Yep. He's really become a good friend of mine, even though I have had him as a lecturer for many of my courses. There has never been that sense of a divide between him and his students that some other professors in my department enforce in order to protect their sense of status. Extremely interesting and charismatic man.
He called me in person and told me what the situation was and that he was going to personally find another professor in the faculty to oversee my work. I didn't know what to say. He shouldn't feel the need to do that. I told him I would be more than willing to deal with that side of things, but he insisted that it was his obligation to ensure that my project still receives the proper resources and assistance from the faculty.
After that call, I was honestly misty-eyed and incredibly angry at the circumstances that are basically taking this guy away from the world. Second-hand smoke, I guess. Imagine killing your child by your own smoke. He's been asthmatic for years because of it.