From: "Ted White" <twhite8 at cox.net>
To: "WSFA members" <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Harry
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 00:11:04 -0500
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rich Lynch" <rw_lynch at yahoo.com>
To: "WSFA members" <wsfalist at keithlynch.net>
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2003 11:37 PM
Subject: [WSFA] Harry

> Some sad news: my friend Harry Warner, Jr., died
> yesterday at his home in Hagerstown, Maryland. The
> news has been circulating in various Internet
> listserves and on rasff all day.
>
> Harry was one of the most famous science fiction fans
> of any and all decades, and had been active as a fan
> since 1936. He might not be a familiar name to many of
> today's fans, though, because he didn't have (or
> desire) Internet access, or, for that matter, a
> computer. Not only that, he hated large crowd scenes,
> and preferred his contact with other fans in groups of
> two or three at the largest. If you wanted to meet
> him, you had to go to his home. Small wonder he became
> known throughout sf fandom as the "Hermit of
> Hagerstown."
>
> There will be some kind of graveside service in
> Hagerstown on Friday, and I'll likely go there for
> that. Tomorrow I'm supposed to call a lady at the
> Hagerstown newspaper who's doing his obituary -- Harry
> actually worked for that newspaper for many years,
> mostly successfully keeping his fan activities unknown
> from his fellow co-workers.
>
> One other thing about Harry that's worth mentioning is
> that he was both a collector and a fan historian -- I
> edited one of his fan history books (A Wealth of
> Fable, which won the Hugo Award in 1993 for Best
> Nonfiction Book). His attic is supposed to be
> jam-packed with old fanzines, many of them extremely
> valuable to collectors and other historians. I know
> Harry was meticulous enough to leave a will, but since
> I was one of the people who knew him best, I feel it
> will be my responsibility to make sure his collection
> is not disposed of as trash by some overzealous
> realtor. (As far as I know, he has no living
> relatives.)

Harry left his fanzines to the UC Riverside (California) collection in his
will.

--Ted White