It is with great sadness to hear of the passing this morning of Dick Oslund. Dick was one of the greats here who would often help and share with others just for the asking. Dick was a longtime pro who worked the school market nationwide and was a true entertainer from his days back in the military. Even in retirement his contributions here on The Magic Café were more than generous and was always trying to help others and pay it forward. Condolences to his family. RIP my friend.

Correction, it was actually yesterday.

Dick was such a wonderful friend. Always helpful and generous. He always regaled me with his amazing stories of himself and a young, fresh, yet to be famous Doug Henning when he and Doug were visiting Abbott’s and Doug drove an old, broken down van that was so bad they needed to push it...

I wrote a huge article about Dick Oslund's adventures in the November 2016 edition of MAGICSEEN. If you want to read some very funny stories about Dick Oslund and his well-known magic friends, you might want to track down that British periodical. To the best of my knowledge, about 90% of that material had never appeared in print before.

I corresponded with Dick Oslund since about 1973. To me, he was one of the most underrated magicians out there.

He will be missed.

Mark Walker

RIP old friend, magic is not the same without you. You have brought joy to many children throughout your life.

I never met him, but he was the ‘real deal’ when it came to a professional approach to our little craft.
He will be missed for his candor, knowledge , and generous spirit.

Thank you, Dick, for your generosity. May you rest in peace. When I am no longer SPAM, it will because of all the encouragement you offered. Ars longa, vita brevis. May your book and video keep your memory alive.

Dick's funeral will be tomorrow (Saturday, Dec 7, 2019) in St. Anne's Church, Escanaba, Michigan.
Here is a website at the funeral home where you can leave a tribute to Dick or a messages for his family:
https://crawfordfuneralhomes.net/obituar......-oslund/

Jim

Thank you Jim.

Dick was one of the last of the kind. He and I used to bust each other's chops here as we both knew each other two well. We could give a punch line before the other came up with it.
He stayed with me once while he did a show in town. I got to see the real work of a school show. It was a fine tuned machine that only came after years of working. His articles on other school magicians in Kid Stuff 5 is a priceless reference. I am so glad that Dick finally got his book done. I wish though it could have been proofread a little more. Photos are misidentified and sometimes the writing does not do Dick justice. But at least we have something solid of his to look back to.
Down the road buddy. Follow the arrows.

I THINK he told me some of the errors in the original printing were corrected in a subsequent reprinting.

Julie

I was expecting a communication from Dick and it seems our letters passed in the post. I was starting to worry as he hadn't been on here for too long and so I finally relented to my fears and googled and found out this most upsetting news. Oh Dick! ..he was such a generous soul, often misunderstood yet always offering assistance and advice and getting a real kick from seeing the information he gave to beginners being put into action. He taught me a few things and I only 'met' him this year. I gravitated toward him as he was such an open and honest, genuine kind of man. The best kind.
There was so much more we had to do. So many unsaid conversations.
I am truly hurt tonight.
His last letter ended with a sentence on how he was now totally in remission from cancer.
Life kicks like a mule.

That's true. I know because he sent me the earlier one for nothing, guessing I'd figure it out from my vast experience in magic reading We had a nice email conversation. We go back a ways, indirectly, because I started in magic in Ann Arbor Michigan and Dennis Loomis was a good friend when he lived there.

No. This cannot BE! Oh man. Such a loss! No wonder he didn't answer me...I am devastated...he was a TRUE friend!



Doug

I am sitting here reading this thread crying.

This is the first I've heard of Dick's passing......I expected to hear from Dick's sister, Mary, if anything ever happened to him.

Those who know me and knew Dick, know that he and I were like brothers, joined at the hip. Dick was my mentor for the past 30 plus years, and we were very, very close.

Dick was SPECIAL. And he was a magnificent ENTERTAINER. In fact, Dick probably FORGOT more about entertaining people than most entertainers ever learn!And an all-around good guy. We traveled together often, and he had GUTS. When his ROAD SCHOLAR book finally came out, Dick listened to me and I helped him market it, and establish price points for him. I remember Greg Bordner telling Dick and I "I can't believe how many copies of your book we sold!"

Dick spent countless hours with me here at my home, with me absorbing his sage advice, and to my kids he was "Uncle Dick".

One of the most cherished moments of my life was one day when I went up to visit Dick in Escanaba Michigan shortly after he was released from the hospital years ago, and I took a few books to give him and tricks to show him to brighten his spirits, one of which was David Regal's Linking Finger Rings, and I did it right in front of Dick's face..........at the finish......during the visual "un-Link"......Dick exclaimed "WOW!"

I've seen Dick observing countless magicians performing, and to the best of my knowledge, this was the first time I have ever heard him go "WOW!" watching a Magician perform.

My brother is in Heaven now.

RIP Dick. A kind and generous soul, he shared with me a nice way to close the color changing silks effect.

Me too. Again...
Doug

Sad news indeed..! See ya on the next lot Dick!

Was he sick for some time? It seemed very unexpected since he was so active here.

He was diagnosed with Cancer from his posts here on the Café, within the past 2 years. He was in the VA hospital twice from what he posted. Most likely found out to late, and the VA is no good at giving good services.

The VA did save my life, but it was with only a few days to until the end. And the discovery was by a total accident, even though I told them I was having dizzy spells after a short walk, for 10 years. They would not perform any tests.