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It's a sad loss. He truly defined himself as a fisherman, and made his choices in life so he could do what he loved. He didn't have a family, but he wasn't a fishing bum or anything - he worked all his adult life and put his money away, wintered in Key West where he owned a trailer.
When I published his last book, we did it over the phone and via email - I never met him in person until last month at the Connecticut Surfcasters Assoc. On the phone he came across as very serene and that's how I found him to be in person. He was one of those soft-spoken guys with no bravado and nothing to prove.
He got short-changed on retirement years, but don't feel sorry for him as a fisherman. He got to experience arguably the best surfcasting there ever was as a member of the Curtis House crew that rented a big house for six weeks each autumn during the glory years on Block Island. Got 67?
He lived the life of a dyed-in-the-wool surfcaster and went out with his waders on, no doubt.
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