Richard Alf, one of the co-founders of Comic-Con died on January 5th, 2012. Alf was 59 years old and was suffering form pancreatic cancer.
"Alf fronted a few thousand dollars to pay for the convention for the first three years and gave other co-founders rides in his car." -Mike Towry, fellow co-founder of Comic-Con. When they started the convention only 300 people attended, they had no idea that their little convention would grow to have over 125,000 attendees.
Along with help building, what is now the biggest comic book and pop culture event in the world, he also opened a comic book shop, The Comic Kingdom, in San Diego back in the 70's.
A memorial was put up on the official Comic-Con website saying:
"On behalf of the board of directors, staff, committee and volunteers of Comic-Con we mourn the loss of our friend Richard Alf, and send our heartfelt sympathy to his loved ones.
As one of the original founders of our organization, he was instrumental in creating Comic-Con as an event that sought to highlight the contribution of comics, science fiction, film, literature, and the greater popular arts and bring them to a wider audience. His achievement is even more remarkable when we consider that he was only 17 years old when he and a small group of friends undertook the great adventure that would become Comic-Con.
Today is truly a sad day for all of us."
-Comic-Con International
He truly will be missed.
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