Jack Weaver (1926-2019), Retired Fanac.org Webmaster

Jack Weaver & Laurie Mann at LACon IV, 2006. Photo by Melanie Herz

Jack Weave(Dec. 30, 1926 — Sep. 2, 2019)

By Edie Stern: Florida fan Jack Weaver was primarily known for his work as webmaster of FANAC.org, a role he held from 1995 until 2016. He was the designer, programmer and content manager of the site for more than 20 years, receiving an award at FanHistoricon 13 in 2016 for this accomplishment.

In the 1950s, Jack served in the Navy as a submariner. He later joined IBM as a customer engineer, and then moved on to hardcore programming. By the 1980’s he was working on real-time telephony applications. Jack was a member of the Wappingers Falls volunteer fire department until, in his words, he “lost an argument with a firetruck.” The resulting hardware in his leg caused considerable medical problems later in life as well as compromised mobility.

A long-time science fiction reader, Jack was introduced to fandom through Tropicon and SFSFS, the South Florida Science Fiction Society. In the 80s, he was a Tropicon mainstay, especially when it came to the physical labor of putting on a convention. He, along with Lee Hoffman, ran art show setup and take down. You can see many of Jack’s photos of Tropicon on the FANAC website.

Forced away from in person fannish participation by family medical issues, Jack continued to be a presence. In the mid-90s when The Fan History Project started, he got involved with the website. After his retirement from IBM, Jack personally wrote all the code to create the website pages, before standard software was available on the web. This code is still running today, and Jack’s last code drop was in January of 2019. He credited his work on FANAC with keeping him mentally sharp, despite the challenges of old age.

Jack is survived by his three children and many grandchildren. According to his son John, his death was painless and peaceful, and “He died the way he wanted to, in his own home, not a hospital room.”