No, thankfully he is still very much alive. He was on Porcupine Tree's FOABP album in 2007 and released an album of his own in 2008. I agree, the guy is absolutely mind blowing.
You guys have some good names on this list, like Steve Howe. I was especially glad to see someone mention Alex Lifeson. The guy is a very underated guitarist, but I guess that would happen to just about anybody on stage with Geddy Lee and Neil Peart. But his playing has always been very tasteful in my opinion. If Rush had a shredder up there trying to compete against that rhythm section instead of complimenting them, like Lifeson does, it would just sound like complete chaos.
