This is like the exception that proves the rule. He was an exceptional specialist. The reality is that there is a big demand for people willing to help direct

This is like the exception that proves the rule. He was an exceptional specialist. The reality is that there is a big demand for people willing to help direct/manage developers who are not great with their time, and to have some degree of vision and project management skills - with a dispationate outlook on corporate politics. The best people to do that are former/current developers since they know how the sausage is made. Because of this excess demand, and the higher efficiency of having a manager with more managerial experience, pay rates are higher for management than most development. I don't think developers become much more efficient as they get older, since they're often required to learn the newest frameworks (unless they're in a highly specialized field that has tools that last decades), whereas managers become significantly better over decades, and thus can justify higher pay rates.