By Evelyn C. Leeper: Mark R. Leeper passed away on February 22, 2025. His end was very peaceful; one moment there was a breath, and the next there wasn’t.
Mark was born in Chicago in 1950, and has lived in Chicago, West Virginia, Ohio, Massachusetts, California, Michigan, and for the last 47 years, New Jersey.
He received a B.S. in mathematics from the University of Massachusetts in 1972, an M.S. in mathematics from Stanford University in 1974, and an M.E. in electrical engineering and computer science from Stevens Institute of Technology in 1982. While at Stanford, he had a paper published in aequationes mathematicae (Vol. 10, Fasc. 1, 1974) on which he had begun work as an undergraduate, “An Odd Solution to the Functional Equation P((x+1)/2)=exp P(x)”.
He was employed at Bell Laboratories in Holmdel and surrounding locations for 23 years until his retirement in 2001. After retiring he ran a free drop-in math tutoring session twice a week for a dozen years at the Old Bridge Public Library, and when he had to leave for health reasons, it was continued by some of the students he had tutored.
For many years, Mark had been the longest-running film reviewer on the Internet, regularly publishing reviews since 1984, and being a member of the Online Film Critics Society since 2014. His first science fiction convention was Boskone VI (1969) and he attended dozens of conventions, serving on panels about film, and also leading origami workshops at many of them.
In 1978, Mark and his wife founded the science fiction club at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, which existed until their retirement in 2001, and then continued to produce THE MT VOID, a weekly zine featuring Mark’s editorials and film writing. It was published continuously over 46 years, with over 2300 issues.
Mark traveled to about five dozen countries and published several lengthy travelogues on-line.
He leaves behind him his wife of 52 years Evelyn, sister Sherry, brother David, and many cousins, nieces, nephews, godchildren, and friends.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to the UMass Amherst Foundation, for the Leeper Mathematics Scholarship.
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I’m so sorry, Evelyn.
All my sympathies, Evelyn
Evelyn,
May his memory always be a blessing and a continuing inspiration to you, your family and his friends as well…My deepest condolences to you.
Chris B.
May Mark’s memory be for a blessing.
Very sorry to hear this; I remember him from the good old Usenet days.
Mark’s byline was on MT VOID reviews as recently as February 7.
Evelyn, I’m sorry to learn this news. I have fond memories of Mark’s fan essays and travelogues, and of seeing the two of you at conventions. May his memory be a blessing. +
My sympathies on the passing of a worthy fan.
Looking back I think Mark R. Leeper was the first fan writer I read in science fiction. I found MT VOID when I was publishing a Batman fanzine during college in around 1988. I asked Mark for permission to reprint an article.
That fanzine lasted one issue but I’ve been a fan of the Leepers ever since. It was always nice to see a new MT VOID or look for reviews of a film and see his name in the list.
My condolences to Evelyn and the rest of his loved ones and friends.
Damn.
(That’s too young.)
Very sorry to hear of this.
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I’m much saddened to learn of Mark’s passing. Requiem æternam dona ei, D[h]omine, et lux perpetua luceat ei.
Oh, Evelyn, I’m so sorry.
The “Leeper Mathematics Scholarship” at the University of Massachusetts. Well, that’s an excellent cause.
I thought I wrote something here yesterday, but it seems to have disappeared. Well, here goes again.
I knew Mark and Evelyn when they were active in the UMass Science Fiction Society. They were part of the active group that took over UMSFS shortly after I graduated, and they were very active. IIRC Evelyn was treasurer for much of that time. Mark was president for part of it. They were both math majors and later worked as mathematicians at Bell Laboratories, even sharing an office at one point, and both were active con-goers for awhile. Evelyn was twelve times a Hugo nominee for Best Fan Writer.
The first time I met Mark and Evelyn was when I came out to UMass for a visit in the fall of 1968, and they were part of a group that I drove down to a theater in Springfield to see 2001: A Space Odyssey. I believe they were both freshmen at the time. At their first Boskone in 1969, they needed a place to stay, and I took them home to my parents’ house. On my later visits to UMass, I stayed in Mark’s dorm room, where he had a spare bed. Over the years, I have been very happy to know them both.
At my age (I’m about to turn 80), losing friends this way seem to be increasingly common. I guess it’s the downside of a long life.
Very sorry, Evelyn.
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