I’ve been informed that Bill Cleary (BGG User Puffinge) passed away this morning. (I don’t use facebook, but if you do here’s the link).

I met Bill Cleary after he allowed a local gamer to bring me and Mrs. Tao as a “plus two” (sight unseen) for a weekend of gaming at his place (‘BillCon’) which occurred 2-3 times a year. A dozen-ish gamers would descend on Casa de Cleary. One perk of showing up as a married couple was that Bill magnanimously declared we’d get a guest bed and not have to sleep on the floor.

I met Alan Moon at BillCon and that’s how we got invited to the Gathering. Alan has just posted a note saying that the Gathering literally would not exist except for Bill (who prodded him into doing it), which means that not only do I directly owe my introduction to hundreds of gamers to Bill, but a good chunk of the gaming world was introduced to each other (indirectly) by Bill’s actions.

I’ve seen Bill almost every year since then … as the convention got larger I’d spend less time with him each year, but still chatting at least a few minutes here and there. But it was a far cry from the early years where we’d play together for days. Board games, party games, card games, video games (Bomberman!). Anything.

At one BillCon (they blur together in my mind) Bill played Celebrities partnered with a young man (possibly a college freshman?) and together they shared exactly zero common knowledge. Bill was a pop culture obsessive with an extensive Rock/Pop/Motown CD collection. The kid (Nate) had grown up without a TV and listened to classical music. Needless to say, their score was disastrous, but their team was dubbed “Geezer and the Fetus.” I remember thinking “Bill’s not that old, probably less than two decades older than us….” but it was funny, one of those jokes that might have been memes, if memes had been a thing.

20 years is a much bigger gap as the years go on, at least physically. But when I saw him earlier this year, he didn’t look great, but …. I didn’t think it would be the last time I’d see him, either.

I honestly don’t remember what we talked about.

RIP Bill.

Update — Created a BGG Geeklist in his memory.