Fare thee well….

Friends, I’m sorry to report the passing of Steven A.L. early this morning after a long illness. He was a good friend since we met at SUNY-Binghamton in the late 1980s. Steve was a committed political idealist, a fine teacher, and a great husband and father. He was 48.

I met Steve through student organizations as a freshman, and I soon joined him and the rest of the “Bellevue-Camelot” crew in many misadventures, both inside and outside our tabletop role-playing games. Those circles included our later wives Janice and Michele.

That cohort has many fond memories of Steve’s Halfling Thief “Branador the Bold,” Half-Elf Ranger “Mouse/Ereval” (who later became king of the Waletku kingdom in the “Vanished Lands”), and more.

Steve was also an avid cyclist, musician, world traveler, raconteur, sports fan, and all-around good guy. As others have noted, he was the most virtuous of all of us. He and Michele adopted a son Nathaniel, who is now 15. Our thoughts are with Michele and Nate.

Janice and I were fortunate to join our college friends in Brooklyn to see Steve one last time together two weeks ago. We watched the Monty Python final reunion DVD, and we expect to come together again for the funeral. I’ll pass along information on where you can send condolences once I hear more from Corbin.

Steve joins my high school Game Masters Bill B. and Ray C. and Boston-area alumnus Rob A.S. at that table in the sky. He will be missed.