Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-29414935-20171217021721/@comment-2175012-20171224022440

No. The only indication that he could still be alive is that whole backwords message he said. Even then, "axolotol" is just a codename that Hirsh uses for discussing potential spoilers. I feel that he is certainly dead, and there isn't that much of a foundation to list him as presumed deceased.