Bob Crump passes away over holiday.

Bob was 57 when he passed away.

Well......'splains why I had not heard from him in a while. I always razzed him about living in Houston, as it was to neither of our likings. I escaped and lived to tell about it. Too bad Bob didn't.

People always ask "Why are all your friends such characters?"

Because life is more fun when you experience it with characters. We now have one less to share the ride with.

I would like to thank Brian and Fred for their efforts to help Bob. You both were friends when that was a difficult thing to be to Bob. Bob was my business mentor and I had hoped that we would be neighbors in Eugene. I can just see the big guy with a skinny hippie woman sitting on the front porch drinking Peets Fancy Ethiopian coffee together. RIP Bob.

JUST saw this and am shocked. Bob was a truly good guy. He will be missed by MANY.

I will relate a story that I hope will be of interest to more than just me. Several years ago, when I had gotten back into two-channel audio, I was visiting a shop in Berkeley, California. Two guys were in the shop milling about and talking to the guys working there. One said he was there to pick up a copy of Stereophile because he did not want it seen delivered to his house anymore. :-)

The two of them struck up a conversation with me and were very pleasant and offered me a couple of suggestions regarding some questions I had. At the time I thought to myself that these guys knew more than anyone in this shop, or most any shop I'd been in, for that matter. Very unusually, I did not introduce myself, nor did either of the two. When they walked out of the shop, the owner said, Great guys, huh? - or something to that effect. I said, yeah, do they live around here? He said, you didn't know that those guys were Bob Crump and John Curl?

Later, I had several conversations with Bob and he joined a "cartel" of four of us that pooled in money on a Wally Azimuth Tool when he could have just bought one himself.

RIP, Bob!

I first got to know Bob a few years ago, as we spoke on the phone after I purchased a Blowtorch from an original owner --- he called me to find out about the new owner of one of his babies. Since then we enjoyed time together at CES shows and Ribfest '04. My wife and I still recall how much fun it was to have Bob as our house guest for an entire day just listening, drinking, eating, and of course "having way too much fun". I know it was his time to go, but will always regret he was unable to move to Oregon for at least a few years. I've been grieving the loss of Bob all week, but tonight I'll celebrate his life at a Misty River concert here in Bend,OR. and I'd like to think he'll be listening in.

Jim Elmslie