RIP - Tom Moldvay • Collecting General • The Acaeum

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RIP - Tom Moldvay
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grodog
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 12:19 am

Threads on ENWorld and Dragonsfoot mention that Tom Moldvay recently died: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=193922

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Last edited by grodog on Fri Apr 20, 2007 3:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Lordan
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 12:29 am

bummer

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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:03 am

As on another blog . . . a moment of silence, if indeed it is true:

A picture came to my mind now: an elf, a halfling, a human, a dragon, an orc, a stirge, and dozens of others, all with heads down . . . and off to the side, an artists' desk, an easel, and an empty chair, spotlighted . . .

(the thought reminded me of a cartoon, showing all the Warner Brothers characters that Mel Blanc did--Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, the Roadrunner, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, and many others--heads all bowed, while a microphone stood under a light with no one behind it)

Last edited by sleepyCO on Fri Apr 20, 2007 9:29 pm, edited 3 times in total.

bclarkie
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:23 am

Well, if this is true its very sad.

<Edited as this has been sadly been confirmed as true>

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -Neitzche

Last edited by bclarkie on Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Mars
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:27 am

This link seems to be somewhat reliable:

http://community.livejournal.com/textrp/

After reading Jeff's blog which is mentioned in the above link, it seem that he can't confirm this either. Here's Jeff's blog:

http://jrients.blogspot.com/

I'm going to guess that there will be an update soon with the scoop.

bclarkie
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:42 am

<Edited as this has been sadly been confirmed as true>

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -Neitzche

Last edited by bclarkie on Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:02 pm, edited 3 times in total.

grodog
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:50 am

James Mishler commented in the DF thread that he spoke with next-of-kin, and I emailed James to try to confirm things further.

I certainly hope this announcement is incorrect (I'm still surprised that Moldvay would have died 6 weeks ago and no one in the industry would have sent messages around on the various industry lists, at the time of death), and am happy to reverse judgement, but I do trust James' research in general.

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grodog
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 11:21 am

This morning, I emailed with James Mishler (editor for Comics & Games Retailer), who advised that he had spoken with Tom's sister, Rebecca. Based on what he shared, it sounds legit. More confirming details will be forthcoming soon, since James passed Rebecca's contact info to Frank Mentzer.

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Zenopus
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 11:29 am

Grodog: can you correct the spelling of his name in the thread title? It says "Molday" right now rather than "Moldvay".

bclarkie
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 12:56 pm

Well sadly, Frank Mentzer just confirmed the bad news over on DF.

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -Neitzche

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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 12:57 pm

Dragon damn well better give Tom Moldvay an obitiuary before it gets cancelled.

Xaxaxe
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:52 pm

Having worked in the magazine industry for a number of years, I will take a somewhat-educated guess that Dragon would farm out this type of obituary to a freelancer rather than have a staffer write it. Of course, that's assuming that anyone on the current Dragon staff has even heard of Tom Moldvay (rolling eyes icon goes here).

Actually, I can think of a number of members here who would be qualified to write such a piece. It might be worth it for interested parties here to contact Erik directly to help ensure that any obit in Dragon is done with the respect it deserves.

No matter how this plays out, though, it's a sad development. Go in peace, Tom.

grodog
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 3:53 pm

zhowar wrote:Grodog: can you correct the spelling of his name in the thread title? It says "Molday" right now rather than "Moldvay".

Oops, thanks for that catch, Zach!

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Badmike
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 5:42 pm

grodog wrote:Threads on ENWorld and Dragonsfoot mention that Tom Moldvay recently died: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=193922

What's shocking is that is took over a month to become public knowledge. Very puzzling.

Mike B.

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ExTSR
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 9:24 pm

Badmike wrote:What's shocking is that is took over a month to become public knowledge. Very puzzling.

Not puzzling.

Tom was reclusive. He passed away April 9, and was found later that week. (And the news is now out less than a week after that...)

He didn't want any fuss when he left, so there was none, and no obit has been published in the local print media.

Frank

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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 9:27 pm

zhowar wrote:Grodog: can you correct the spelling of his name in the thread title? It says "Molday" right now rather than "Moldvay".

Or is it spelled "Moldavy"?

Badmike
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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 10:15 pm

ExTSR wrote:
Not puzzling.

Tom was reclusive. He passed away April 9, and was found later that week. (And the news is now out less than a week after that...)

He didn't want any fuss when he left, so there was none, and no obit has been published in the local print media.

Frank

My misunderstanding....I thought Tom passed away in March, and we were only now finding out about it. If it's April 9th, that's not very puzzling at all.

Mike B.

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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 10:28 pm

These death and discontinued announcements are getting me down. Mr. Moldvay will be missed, even if he did not want a ceremony.

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

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