Ackerman Tributes All Over the Net

Forry Ackerman touched the lives of hundreds of fans, writers and filmmakers, and many are saluting his memory by telling their favorite stories about him.

bobgable’s posterous retells Walt Willis’ really funny story about a cross-country trip with Forry Ackerman

Robert J. Sawyer shares warm memories of meeting Forry, and a cherished visit to the Ackermansion:

I remember Forry’s wonderful kindness to a young writer he’d never met before. And I remember, all over his mansion, portraits of his deceased wife Wendayne, and how he spoke repeatedly about her with so much love.

First Fandom president Joan Marie Knappenberger’s obit on the SFWA News site incorporates several classic Ackerman chestnuts:

His stories of his life’s adventures were legendary, and his puns were fabulous. He once told me that he had read every last word in every book in his collection. When he got a new book for his collection, he would open it to the last page, and read the last word.

Forry’s passing has been noted on lots of major media sites, not the least of them Time Magazine, whose research revealed what we all know ain’t so, about who originated “sci-fi”:

If he didn’t coin the term “sci-fi” — Robert Heinlein used it first — then by using the phrase in public in 1954 he instantly popularized it (to the lasting chagrin of purists, who preferred “SF”).

Update: Bill Warren adds, “There’s an interesting tribute to Forry on the Ain’t It Cool News website, including Forry’s comments on his own death. The Classic Horror Film Board has a topic devoted to Forry’s demise.”