Prince Sirki Claims Fandom's Main Man

Our beloved Uncle Forry--Forrest J. Ackerman--has passed on at the age of 92.

While some of us are at a loss for words at this time, thankfully others are not. Therefore, we will leave it to FJA's friend and caregiver Joe Moe, plus his devoted friends and fans at the Classic Horror Film Board, to put our feelings into words...

Dearest friends.

At 11:58 last night. Thursday Dec. 4th. Forrest J Ackerman passed away quickly and peacefully. I am struggling to give you this information between bouts of profound grief of the sort that you will all be experiencing at the sight of this news. I will give you more details as I'm able. For now, trust me when I tell you he left us gently, in complete lucidity and with as much dignity as any of us could have wished for our beloved Uncle. Thanks for all of your support. We'll talk again soon. Love, Joe Moe

That of course is very sad news. But 92 years is a long life, especially if one has lived his life as well as Mr Ackerman. He was able to make his passions his life work, something not many people get to do. --catmandu7

In a way we should find some comfort in that this news did not just arise out of nowhere, and we all knew that Forry was not well. So there was a lot of time for everyone to collect their thoughts, and to be able to let the Ackermonster know that he meant so much to so many, and that he had many fans who cared. That's really a very special thing, that he got to experience that sentiment. It's always sad to see someone pass on, but when someone has lived a full life of 90+ years and had a good time, this makes the situation somewhat easier to bear. --Joe Karlosi

Without Forry, a lot of us would have been different people... --Scoundrel

The best I can say is that he left knowing he was well loved. --Jelly Roll Norton

I knew this would come someday, but I never wanted it to be today. --blackbiped

So today begins the first day of my living in a world without a Forrest J. Ackerman. That is going to take a lot of getting used to. I don't like it already... --GhostofChaneysLiver

A sad day, following so many happy ones. I think we'll be alright. --Jimchig

Goodbye, dear Uncle. The impact you have had on my life is profound. --Frank Dietz

Truly an end of an era. At least we had Forry this long and he lived his life to the fullest and to the end ... and he did it (to paraphrase the song) "his way." --Don Glut

David "taraco" Colton of the CHFB conveys this message from horror historian and author David J. Skal:

Forrest J Ackerman gave me both my childhood and adulthood. In the early 1960s, there was no home video of any kind, and the only way to access the old classic monster films was to wait for them to sporadically show up on television, or, better yet, read "Famous Monsters of Filmland," where the creatures came to life and cavorted every time you turned the page. Every eight weeks I haunted the local drugstore newsstand with rapt anticipation. His playful use of language and awful puns taught me more about writing than any English class. Ackerman's impact on American popular culture through his influence on major filmmakers like Spielberg, Landis, Dante, and others is inestimable. -- David J. Skal

(Thanks to Frank Dietz and David Colton for the photos. Read and contribute your thoughts to the FJA tribute thread at the CHFB.)