Yekaterinburg mourns death of popular blogger Alexey Melnikov
In Yekaterinburg, popular blogger Alexey Melnikov, author of the projects «Yekaterinburg Afisha» and «Melnikov in the City», has suddenly passed away. He was only 34 years old. All day, the editorial office of E1.RU has been receiving questions from Alexey«s subscribers who cannot believe what has happened.
Unfortunately, the news turned out to be true. Alexey«s death was announced by his wife Marina, without providing details.
«I don«t think I»ve ever thought about death before. It always seemed to me that the number of my ailments would be the death of me first. But today, grief has struck. My beloved husband, father, and son has passed away. Inside, there is a void the size of a huge hole. And one question, why him, why now, why so early…. I have no explanations, they simply took away a very important part of me, from my daughter they took away a very important part of her life…. Today I mourn, I want to sob uncontrollably, to scream, to ask questions…. This is pain, it«s inside and today it»s tearing me apart… Because he«s not here, he»s gone», wrote Alexey«s wife.
Alexey Melnikov was known and loved by the entire city; in his memory, we decided to leave this page with many kind words from colleagues, loved ones, and subscribers.
Who was Alexey Melnikov?
Alexey was born and raised in Alapayevsk. He moved to Yekaterinburg to study at Ural Federal University (UrFU), and there he started working as a programmer—Alexey spent 12 years in IT. Simultaneously, he ran the page «Where to Go? | Yekaterinburg | Afisha» on VKontakte, which appeared in 2015.
«I was a simple student, I had no money. And it was unclear where one could go cheaply. At that time, there was no afisha in the city at all. I got interested, I decided to try starting on VKontakte, inspired by acquaintances who had gathered a group of 4000 subscribers. Back then, it seemed unreal to me», Alexey said in an interview with the podcast «Public Yekaterinburg».
Over time, the social media groups grew so much that Alexey decided to change jobs—he focused only on developing media. But he didn«t abandon programming—his knowledge helped automate many processes. Now, Alexey»s group on VKontakte has 120,000 subscribers, and his Telegram channel has over 80,000.
Alexey talked about free events in Yekaterinburg, filmed reviews of local establishments: from shawarma kiosks to elite restaurants. Subscribers valued him for his openness and sincerity. On December 15, hundreds of touching comments appeared in the chat of the channel «Melnikov in the City». The audience wrote words of gratitude to their beloved author.
It is known that Alexey Melnikov passed away on the evening of December 14. He suddenly lost consciousness in one of the residential complexes in the city center. An ambulance team performed resuscitation, but nothing could be done anymore. Alexey leaves behind a three-year-old daughter. The cause of death will be determined by an examination; the incident is not related to criminal activity.
«A Terrible Grief Has Occurred»
Below we have gathered messages from those who knew Alexey personally. The editorial board expresses condolences to the family.
«I«ve been crying all morning. I can»t believe it. At night, our colleague passed away: food blogger, reviewer, and simply a kind and good person Alexey Melnikov. We really weren«t competitors, but colleagues. We could turn to each other for help. Alexey was a very responsive person, a hard worker, and a wonderful family man. We attended so many events together. Our industry will miss you», writes on her page blogger Darya Borodacheva.
«Lesha. A terrible grief has occurred. He was kind, understanding. He gave us, Vlad and I, useful guiding advice that we listened to. A hard-working person who always put family and parents first. Our close colleague, we saw him recently. Just don«t want to believe this…», write bloggers Vlad and Vlada Podryazskies.
«I still don«t believe this happened. On Thursday, we were sitting at the same table, on Friday we were texting. We bloggers have formed such a community where we communicate with each other more than with our own friends. And such a bright, benevolent person has left us.
I deeply sympathize with Marina, Lesha«s daughter, mother, his friends. Lesha managed everything, was hard-working, diligent, and assiduous. And so, everything suddenly ended. After this, you think that life is like a matchstick. It»s never clear when it will go out. One needs to live for today, enjoy the moment, savor this life. Lesha knew how to do all this. And it«s so sad that such a good person is no longer with us», says reviewer Liliya Nizamova.
«I crossed paths with Alexey many times at establishment openings, he was a very bright person. I never speak in the past tense. Because he exists in the hearts and memories even of people who didn«t know him. It»s very unfair, such a short life, consolation is weak, but some people over 80 years don«t manage to bring good to the world, a beautiful daughter, positivity for others», writes sommelier Ksenia Tikhanova.
The editorial board expresses condolences to Alexey«s family and loved ones.
