Fan Todd Frazier was found dead in his apartment on the morning of February 9. From the 1990s, Frazier was an assistant editor for Ed Meskys’s fanzine Niekas and in 2007, Belknap Mill had an exhibit of Meskys and Frazier’s art collections. Frazier was a frequent attendee of Boskone and Readercon, as well as worldcons.
Astronaut Janice Voss (b.1956) died on February 6 after a battle with breast cancer. Voss served as a mission specialist on five space shuttle missions between 1993 and 2000. Flying two missions each on Endeavour and Columbia and one on Discovery. Following her in-space career, Voss worked as the Science Director for the Kepler Space Observatory and Payloads Lead of the Astronaut Office Station Branch.
Engineer Roger Boisjoly (b.1938) died on January 6. Boisjoly worked for Morton Thiokol in 1986 and warned NASA that due to falling temperatures, the O-Rings on the space shuttle Challenger could undergo a catastrophic failure and urged for them to cancel the flight. The next day, his predictions came true when Challenger exploded 73 seconds into its flight.
Actor S. William Hinzman (b.1936) died after a battle with cancer on February 5. Hinzman made his debut in George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead where he was the first zombie on screen and subsequently made a career out of playing zombies. He had the title role in 1988′s Flesheaster, and often was cast in roles like “The Experienced Zombie” and “Romero the Zombie.”
Actor Ben Gazzara (b.1930) died on February 3. Gazzara, who was perhaps best known for his non-genre roles in Anatomy of a Murder and Run for Your Life, also appeared in a handful of horror, fantasy, and sf films, including Believe, The Neptune Factor, Too Tired to Die, and Christopher Roth.
British fan and author Samuel Youd (b.1922) died on February 3. Youd, who published fiction under the name John Christopher among others, wrote “The Tripods” series and “The Sword of the Spirit” trilogy. He became active in fandom in the post-war years and began publishing fiction in 1949. He won the Guardian Award in 1971.
Brazilian comic book artist Al Rio (b.1962) died on January 30, possibly a suicide. Rio, whose full name was Alvaro Araújo Lourenço do Rio, worked on Gen¹³, Dungeon Siege, X-Men Unlimited, and DV8. his art also appeared on album covers.
Author Ardath Mayhar (b.1930) died on February 1. Mayhar, who won the Balrog Award for a poem that appeared in Masques 1. She wrote more than 60 novels, frequently using pseudonyms and spanning many genres. In the 1990s, Mayhar and her husband owned The View From Orbit Bookstore in Nacogdoches, Texas. In 2008, she was chosen by Science Fiction Writers of America as their Author Emeritus.
Director John Rich (b.1925) died on January 29. Although best known for his work on The Dick van Dyke Show and All in the Family, Rich’s genre credits included two episodes of The Twilight Zone several episodes of the ghostly comedy Nearly Departed. He also worked on MacGyver.
Actor Ian Abercrombie (b.1934) died on January 26. Abercombie was known best to recent audiences as Elaine’s boss on Seinfeld, but he has a long history of genre roles, including providing the voice of the Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious on The Clone Wars. He has appeared on The Wizards of Waverly Place, Star Trek: Voyager, played Alfred Pennyworth on Birds of Prey, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Flash, and was in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. His other voice work includes Green Lantern, Rango, and The Batman.