From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Dropping like flies
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:40:50 -0400 (EDT)
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

"Michael Walsh" <mjw at press.jhu.edu> wrote:

> Farrah Fawcett
> Michael Jackson
> Bille Mays
> Gale Storm

You forgot Ed McMahon, who also died last week.  I was roundly
condemned in rec.arts.sf.fandom when I said I had only known of him as
the scammer who used to send me letters that falsely said I had won a
multi-million dollar sweepstakes.  He sent similar letters to plenty
of other people.  Several went into debt to fly to Florida to pick up
their winnings in person within the short deadline specified, after
they were repeatedly unable to reach anyone on the phone.  So I was
surprised to read in the obits about his TV career, which I had known
nothing about, and to see no mention of this massive fraud.  On
Googling, I see that he and the parent organization were sued for
millions, an the parent organization paid.

I was also condemned for expressing surprise that Jackson's death got
more publicity than Fawcett's.  I knew he was a famous singer decades
ago, and that he had been in the news more recently for being tried
and acquitted.

I guess I'm out of touch with popular culture.