Comic-Con cofounder Ken Krueger passed away November 21 from a heart attack, reports Digital Spy.

While Krueger is best known for helping plant the seeds of the popular megacon by his work on the first Golden State Comic-Con in 1970, he had a long history in sf fandom before that.

Krueger attended the first Worldcon in 1939. He was a part of the group photograph taken at the Slan Shack that appeared in All Our Yesterdays, probably shot during one of the large fannish gatherings there during WWII, since he was living in Buffalo around that time.

Later, Krueger co-owned a bookstore in San Diego.

The Shel Dorf Tribute site has an excellent retrospective with some telling insights:

In the sixties and seventies, society in general looked down on science-fiction fans much more so than today, but even science-fiction fans looked down on comic fans. Not so Ken. He always made us feel welcome. Ken even went on to become an indie or underground comics publisher himself, publishing some of the first professional work of Scott Shaw! and John Pound.

[Thanks to Lloyd Penney for the story.]