Robert Weinberg
(August 29, 1946 – September 25, 2016)
Bob Weinberg attended his first meeting of the Eastern SF Association in 1963, discovered the club offered something he liked, and became active, eventually becoming the club's president in 1968. Maintaining an interest in the pulp magazines which formed so much of the basis for what we read today, Bob published 14 issues of the fanzine, Pulp, from 1974 through 1980. He also published Weird Tales Collector.
In 1968, Bob began publishing readers guides to the works of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, eventually expanding both to book length and publishing additional guides and books about the pulp magazines and the authors who wrote for them. 1973 saw his publication of WT50, an anniversary tribute to Weird Tales, a magazine to which Bob would acquire the rights in 1979 and help revive. He was editor-in-chief of Arkham House from 2009–16.
Bob was a collector of science fiction and fantasy art from the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s, and worked to preserve art which otherwise might have been lost. His interest in art collection also led to him writing A Biographical Dictionary of SF & Fantasy Artists (Greenwood Press, 1988).
Beginning in 1976, Bob began serving as the co-chair of the Chicago Comicon, then the second largest comic book convention in the United States. He continued in that position for 20 years before it was sold to Wizard Entertainment. During that time, Bob also chaired the World Fantasy Convention 1983 and the 16th World Fantasy Convention and in 1978 he co-chaired the first major Doctor Who convention in the United States.
Bob also wrote his own books, both non-fiction and fiction. His first novel, The Devil's Auction, was published in 1988, with more than a dozen novels and collections to follow. He worked with Martin H. Greenberg to edit and publish numerous anthologies beginning in the 1980s.
Not content to write his own books and monographs, run conventions, and collect art, Bob also, for several years, ran the mail-order Weinberg Books. Bob offered advice to Alice Bentley when she was setting up The Stars Our Destination, a science fiction specialty bookstore in Chicago from 1988 through 2003. In 1997, Bob sold his mail order business to Alice.
He was married to Phyllis Weinberg. They lived in Chicagoland for many years.
- Entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
- Tribute in Scientifiction: The First Fandom Report (New Series #49, 3rd Quarter 2016).
- Website.
- Lost Fantasies [mid-70s]
- Morgan Smith [1970s] (for N'APA)
- Pulp [1974–80]
- Weird Tales Collector
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 1983 -- Lamont Award
- 2001 -- Sam Moskowitz Archive Award
- 2005 -- World Fantasy Convention 2005
- 2005 -- Astronomicon 2005
- 2012 -- Chicon 7's Committee Special Award for service to the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres.
Person | 1946—2016 |
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