What an amazing person Jeff Warner was. We couldn’t start anything like this without saying that. Our brother, Josh, said it best when he said that Jeff would never want anyone to write or read that. But F it. He’s dead. And if you knew him, he’d probably respect that introduction.
Jeff had two families. His blood relatives, who enjoyed time with him and saw past his self-proclaimed misanthropic, iconoclastic, and curmudgeonly self for the amazing person we knew he was. And his Science Fiction family, for whom he worked tirelessly year in and year out for at least 42 years. In fact, some may say he’s the definition of a SMOF. And it’s ok if you don’t know what that means; he’d assume most of you would have to look it up.
Jeff’s greatest passion was his love of science and science fiction, as well as founding and creating science fiction conventions. Science in general was his favorite thing in the world. He loved the truth about science. He loved the exactness of it. He studied it at every possible angle, because that’s what he did in life, he examined everything, he picked it apart until he understood everything about it. But as much as he loved the exactness of science, he loved the fantasy of science even more than that. To be able to escape into a fantasy for just a while where he could make up anything he wished and have it come to life in a science fiction forum.
But, Jeff had other interests, most notably racing cars. He himself raced on dirt, ice, and in demo derbies.
Jeff also had a unique sense of humor and world view. He wrote notes on “from the desk of Jan Howard Finder” stationary. He wore shirts like “The Star-Bellied Nietzsches had stars upon thars.”
If he were to describe himself, he would say that he stands accused of being a president emeritus of the Science Fiction Forum, being a professor of auto-didacticism, witnessing a “Panel in the Pool” on dry land, writing panel blurbs for cons he does not go to, being a not-so-recently-published author, and committing the SMOF hat trick of co-founding 3 SF conventions. He pleads both diminished and excessive mental capacity. “Geek, Nerd, and Dork? I’m a triple-threat!”
We hope that all of the people touched by Jeff continue to think about the thoughts he put in their minds, whether it be for science or fantasy. He made the world a better place for those who knew him. Rest in peace, rest in peace, and know that you did deserve all of what has been said because of what you did and the difference you made for others.
In lieu of flowers, go to (or volunteer at) a local sci-fi convention, watch some original Star Trek, learn Klingon, read some sci-fi books, do something you love, and live a life where people are pissed off when you’re gone and then amazing memories flood their minds.