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Bernie Zuber
Oct. 23rd, 2005 05:44 pmHaving to write obituaries is very depressing, but as soon as I read the news I sent a hasty one to trufen.net on Bernie Zuber. (I've since confirmed his age - he was born on the day FDR was inaugurated President, but in Paris, where his father worked at the U.S. Embassy - and a few other facts.)
Bernie was a major figure in Tolkien fandom up until the time he became ill around 1982. He'd been one of the best editors and writers active in the Mythopoeic Society zines in the early days around 1967-74, when they certainly needed some. Like most of the early figures, he dropped heavy involvement after that, though he still came to cons and other events which is where I met him. A little later on, he and Teny got sucked in to the job of running fan publicity for the Bakshi LOTR film - poor souls, they thought it would be good when they signed up - but Bernie turned straw into gold by converting the film fan group into the Tolkien Fellowships. He also assembled a small array of Tolkien experts to write and vet questions for The Tolkien Quiz Book by Bart Andrews, published by NAL in 1979, on which Bernie received co-author credit. This book was both accurate and imaginative; it was ubiquitous in Tolkien fandom for a while, because due to a distributor error everyone on Bernie's reviewer list got a box of thirty copies.
Then the bipolar disorder, which he'd long had but which had lain dormant, flared up badly and he disappeared from view, except for occasional people who'd see him on the streets of Pasadena, where he'd turn away if he recognized you. When he finally got the right meds and returned to occasional contact, he was a changed man. Still looked and talked the same, still intellectually curious and articulate, but much more low-key in his activities, much more willing to talk about his illness and the spiritual meaning that Tolkien had for him, and his artwork style had altered utterly: it was now psychedelic pastels. I liked it, but I could only find one piece in his portfolio that I thought would reproduce well on the cover of Mythprint: a portrait of Tolkien's imagination with the caption "In a hole in my head there lived a hobbit."
I think he had recurrent problems in later years - he would never show up at activities unless he was in top health - and I was only in touch with him occasionally. But I always liked his written contributions and his company. Farewell, friend.
Bernie was a major figure in Tolkien fandom up until the time he became ill around 1982. He'd been one of the best editors and writers active in the Mythopoeic Society zines in the early days around 1967-74, when they certainly needed some. Like most of the early figures, he dropped heavy involvement after that, though he still came to cons and other events which is where I met him. A little later on, he and Teny got sucked in to the job of running fan publicity for the Bakshi LOTR film - poor souls, they thought it would be good when they signed up - but Bernie turned straw into gold by converting the film fan group into the Tolkien Fellowships. He also assembled a small array of Tolkien experts to write and vet questions for The Tolkien Quiz Book by Bart Andrews, published by NAL in 1979, on which Bernie received co-author credit. This book was both accurate and imaginative; it was ubiquitous in Tolkien fandom for a while, because due to a distributor error everyone on Bernie's reviewer list got a box of thirty copies.
Then the bipolar disorder, which he'd long had but which had lain dormant, flared up badly and he disappeared from view, except for occasional people who'd see him on the streets of Pasadena, where he'd turn away if he recognized you. When he finally got the right meds and returned to occasional contact, he was a changed man. Still looked and talked the same, still intellectually curious and articulate, but much more low-key in his activities, much more willing to talk about his illness and the spiritual meaning that Tolkien had for him, and his artwork style had altered utterly: it was now psychedelic pastels. I liked it, but I could only find one piece in his portfolio that I thought would reproduce well on the cover of Mythprint: a portrait of Tolkien's imagination with the caption "In a hole in my head there lived a hobbit."
I think he had recurrent problems in later years - he would never show up at activities unless he was in top health - and I was only in touch with him occasionally. But I always liked his written contributions and his company. Farewell, friend.
