I know you’ve reached your saturation point of pop culture knowledge this week – between the constant, blaring headlines over Justin Bieber’s purposefully bad behavior, Pharrell’s hat at the Grammy awards, Super Bowl ad speculation, and Vin Diesel’s viral dance video – but let’s talk internet meme here.

I was terribly saddened today to learn that Colonel Meow has passed away. My thoughts, of course, are with his owners as well as his many minions – er, fans. A great cat and a brilliant internet sensation have been lost to the world.

In his pre-internet history, Colonel Meow was found abandoned by the side of the road and subsequently rescued by the Himalayan and Persian Society (Marshall, January 2014). His feline companions must have made fun of the wild, grey fur he sported, but his human adopters loved him for who he was and positioned him to take over the internet: which he promptly did, by taking over as CEO of Buzzfeed.

Towards the end of his life, however, he suffered from ill health and his plans for world domination declined simultaneously (Colbert, January 2014).

Though other cats may try to imitate the Colonel’s great beneficence and impressively bushy fur, they can never be quite the same. Long live Colonel Meow!