Today I received the sad news that Richard Stupple has passed away.
On a personal note, Richard was a great encouragement to me.
We met after my performance at the Cleveland IBM convention in
2004. He then invited me to England to present at the British Ring Convention.

Richard did a lot for magic, and was a very kind man.
He will be missed.

1) I included Richard's comments in my magic convention testimonials
page here: http://showmethefun.com/SMTF/Conv.%20Quotes.html

2) Here is the email sent out by Maria Ibâñez, Pres. of SAM:

It is with a deep and sad heart that I report on the passing of Richard Stupple, MIMC. Just received the following note from Rob Cox, Examination Chair of The Magic Circle --

"Just a short note to let you know that Richard Stupple passed away
peacefully earlier this morning. This was not unexpected and probably
a release for him but it is, nonetheless, very sad news. His wife,
Mary, is not accepting any calls at the moment but I will let you
know any further developments."

It was only last month that Jay and I spent a great deal of time with Richard and wife Mary both in London and at the British Ring Convention in Southport. Who could have imagined that he would pass away so soon. While at the Magic Circle, I presented Richard with a Presidential Citation along with commemorative coins and he was very touched and emotional when he received them - in turn he presented me with book #5 of 100 published for the Centenary along with coins of The Magic Circle and other gifts. A kind and generous man, he and Mary were there on our last evening in London and took us to dinner after the meeting at The Circle to bid us farewell for our trip home.

The magic world is much poorer this morning with his passing and we pray for Mary at this time of loss.

That is a big shame

What did you think of my home town Tim and how did you find the kids?

I loved Southport, at least what I saw of it!

The kids and families were great.
The convention organizers brought in a bunch of school kids so I would have a realistic audience for my school show performance and lecture.
After that, I was party of the public family show at the theater in town.

That was also a ton of fun, especially working with some of the other UK acts.
I loved working with Safire.
I don't know if many US magicians are aware of them, but I thought they were fantastic.

Again, I am very thankful to Richard for initiating all of that, and for all of his service to the IBM.

Oh No! I was very sad to hear the news of Richard's passing. I had the opportunity of meeting him and his wife several years ago. In fact, he was one of the judges at my first magic competition in which I won. I'll never forget his kind words afterwards and it helped pave the way in my magic career.

My condolences to his family and friends.

Chrystal