[.....] My biggest concern is not only this, but also Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin. The project is too tied around him. o if he dies (God forbid) or something bad happens to him, you expect ETH's market prices to go all the way down the drain in an instant. It's likely ETH will become worthless after this.
I disagree. It's true that he's the only one left out of the co-founders and he remains the major face of Ethereum but there are many people in the background that will keep the chain going even after he's out of the picture. Many brands have survived such situation because they were able to build a solid community of users and I think Ethereum will be the same.
[....]Will it be possible for ETH to become decentralized again?
Back to POW? I doubt that.