Rest In Peace, Rory Root

I woke up this morning to some downright shocking and incredibly depressing news: Rory Root, owner of Comic Relief in Berkeley, CA passed away yesterday, shortly after falling into a coma Saturday. Condolences to his family and employees have flooded in from across the industry. Paul Levitz, editor and publisher of DC comics had this to say on Newsarama.

I have known Rory fairly well for about five years through our interaction on some industry message boards like the CBIA and ComicsPRO but had only come to know him more closely in the last two or three years. I would always make it a point to spend time with him at industry meetings because he universally was willing to share his vast knowledge of our industry and had excellent suggestions for, well, everything. Many other people knew Rory a lot better than me, and seeing the outpouring of feeling has had a deep emotional impact on me.

Rory was too young to die. He was a major figure in this business and his departure leaves an emptiness that will not soon be filled. I miss him already.

Rest in Peace, Rory, we all miss you.

-Ben