Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 09:26:33 -0700 (PDT)
From: Rich Lynch <rw_lynch at yahoo.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Bruce Pelz: Aug. 11, 1936 - May 9, 2002
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

--- Michael Walsh <MJW at mail.press.jhu.edu> wrote:
> >From the SMOFs list . . .
> I am without words.
>
> >>> hazel at BOSTONBADEN.COM 05/10/02 01:29AM >>>
> Bruce Pelz: Aug. 11, 1936 - May 9, 2002
>
> Bruce Pelz, Fanzine Archivist, Fanhistorian, Fellow
> of NESFA, Worldcon
> Chair, "The Elephant," Fandom's Institutional
> Memory, passed away the
> evening of May 9th, 2002.
>

I am truly at a loss for words, and I don't want to be
because Bruce's friendship has been one of the
constants in the nearly three decades I've been
actively a science fiction fan; he was someone I
looked forward to seeing, more than anybody else, at
worldcons.  Living a continent-width away, our paths
crossed only too infrequently.

Bruce's presence over the past two decades has been a
huge influence on my interest in the history of SF
fandom -- in 1989, Bruce convinced me to take on
editorship of the "A Wealth of Fable" project (the
book was eventually published in time for the 1992
Worldcon).  Even before that, Nicki and I decided to
publish MIMOSA, a fanzine dedicated to fan history, in
large part because of Bruce and other fans interested
in preservation of our past enthralled us with
entertaining and interesting stories about fandom's
past eras; many of these stories were then only
fragilely preserved in the memories of those who were
telling the stories (and many of them still are).  We
regret we didn't try harder to get Bruce himself to
write more about his decades in fandom -- Bruce only
preserved one of his stories in print for us; it's in
our most recent issue:
http://www.jophan.org/mimosa/m27/m27p48.htm

It's getting so that every time that I meet up with an
old friend I haven't seen in a long time, I feel I
need to treasure the moment because there's a chance
there might not be another time.  I never thought this
about Bruce, though -- he was a rock, a constant,
someone who's presence I always took for granted.  I
cannot for sure even remember the very last time I
spoke to him in person, though it was sometime during
the Philadelphia worldcon.  It was probably when we
went to dinner on the Saturday night of the
convention; he was ailing from leg pain and moving
very slowly.  I remember that we shared about an
hour's worth of conversation, on topics ranging from
places in the world we wanted to go back to (he was a
world traveler in his final years) to what we thought
would make good fan history projects in the future
(including my still incomplete 1960s fan history).  It
was there that he told me the story that he later put
into print for MIMOSA.

Bruce's passing is truly the end of an era.  I think
he will be remembered as one of the most important and
most influential fans of all time, and certainly as
one of the most active.  The list of his activities
and accomplishments is enormous, covering almost every
activity imaginable from convention running to
costuming to fanzine collecting to organizing.  He was
active in fandom in six different decades.  He was
truly a fan for the ages, and now he belongs to the
ages.

I already miss him very much.

=====
Rich Lynch
==========
MIMOSA web site: http://jophan.org/mimosa/
1960s Fan History Site: http://jophan.org/1960s/

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