[ryanmolden]

>any manager who leaves a company without being escorted out in handcuffs is going to be "leaving for great things" according to all concerned.

That may be true, and would perhaps be applicable to this case, if Eric were a manager. He is not. He is (was) a Principal SDE. This means he writes code and likely has lots of input into high level architectural/design decisions. Any influence he had over the actions of others is likely due more to respect for his technical acumen than any kind of managerial title. I suspect the closest he would come to being a manager would be any mentoring (official or unofficial) that he did, which is likely more effective than being someones official boss :)

[joe_the_user]

Sure but isn't the point that he is high enough on the "totem pole" that diplomacy needs prevail over all else?

It's not their particular authority over others but their general importance to the company's image and the company's importance to their image which incentivizes everyone to use euphemisms in the situation of a departing of manager. It seems logical that the case of a Principle SDE would be similar.