Not sure where to post this but a friend of mine just informed me that ALi Bongo passed away this morning. I have no ohter details at this time but will later today or tommorow.
he will be missed!

sam

I knew him for years and am greatly saddened by the news

Simon Lovell

Here is wath was posted on the Magic Circle site :

I am very sad to announce that our President, Ali Bongo, passed away this morning 8th March 2009. He had suffered a stroke a few weeks ago but seemed to be recovering when he came down with pneumonia earlier in the week..

He was an active President who attended every YMC workshop and his presence and his input will be sadly missed by all of us.

A very sad loss and he will be missed.

Ali Bongo was a cool dude!

He was the kind of guy who made everyone feel welcome and part of something. For all of his success within the magic community, never once when I was around him did he come across as elitist or better than me. He was a gentleman. And he talked to you regardless of where you were on the totem pole - which is more than can be said for magicians I've met without half of his accolades.

When I was growing up there was a magic book at my public library that I checked out all of the time - it didn't teach magic tricks so much as it profiled famous magicians around the world. That was where I first heard of Ali. Meeting him at my first convention was memorable because he was this legend I had read much about, and yet he was such a genuinely nice and real person.

When I took a friend with me to her first magic convention, he is the first 'big guy' she met. We crossed paths on a staircase where he made a funny little comment to us. It was later that I told her who he was and what he had done. And he made an impression on her as well.

We weren't friends, and I know that he wouldn't know me from Adam, but I feel a personal association to Ali Bongo because he always treated me like we could have been old friends. Conventions won't be the same without seeing his glasses, his suits, and his smile. He will be missed.

Magic has lost a very bright light! I will miss him very much.

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