Howard DeVore

(May 26, 1925 – December 31, 2005)

Howard DeVore (aka Big Hearted Howard) was a longtime Detroit-area fan, collector and huckster, who started collecting in 1936 and became active in fandom in 1948. When he went off to fight in World War II, he padlocked his collection in a room in his parents' house to ensure it would be safe, and took the key with him. (Smart man...)

His infamous garage in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, a den of fannish splendor, was jammed full of fanzines, books, pulps, repro equipment and fannish memorabilia. He stored the inventory of the Fanzine Foundation and the WSFS Banner.

He was scheduled to be the Fan GoH at L.A.con IV, the 2006 Worldcon, but died before the convention.

He described himself as a "huckster, first-class" and was known as Big Hearted Howard ... but don't let the name fool you... (He was called “Dirty-Trick DeVore” in The Game of Fandom.)

Starting in 1948, Howard was a member of the Michigan Science Fiction Society (The Misfits). He founded the Morgan Botts Foundation. He attended every Midwestcon from its start. His wake was held at Midwestcon.

Active member and sometime Official Editor of the Spectator Amateur Press Society (SAPS), and also an active member of the FAPA and the Pulp Era Amateur Press Society (PEAPS). Until 2005, he was the Election Results Teller and fanzine mailer for N3F, and also a member of First Fandom. He received a Neffy Award in 2006. He was also a longtime member of CAPA.

He was head of publicity for the 1959 Worldcon, Detention after announcing that "there will be a Worldcon in Detroit over my dead body." At opening ceremonies, they dragged his apparently lifeless “corpse” across the stage.

A few year later he was Associate Chairman for Detroit for the 1966 Worldcon, Tricon, a joint bid by Cleveland (where it was held), Detroit, and Cincinnati. He was one of the founders of Marcon. He was a member of the Detroit in '82 Worldcon bid and then Detroit in '85 NASFiC bid.

He regularly attended meetings of the W3F in the 1970s, despite being decades older than most of the college club’s members.

He owned a letterpress and used it to print various gag calling cards and placards, including Tucker’s infamous cards.

With Donald Franson, he produced several editions of their book on SF/fantasy awards, the latest (The Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Awards) was published by Advent in 1998. The book was a nominated for 1999 Best Related Book Hugo. He published the fanzines Collector, Grandfather Stories and Harpies. He co-edited Ompalog for OMPA.

He was active in the Science Fiction Oral History Association. He appeared in the video Faans.

In mundane life, Howard worked for the U.S. Postal Service.

More reading:

• Reminiscences about Howard.
• “The Further Adventures of Midwest Fandom” by Howard DeVore, Lynn Hickman and Roger Sims.
• Photo, Howard, right, with Fred Prophet, at Tricon, 1966.

Awards, Honors and GoHships:

• 1971 -- Lunacon 14
• 1974 -- A² Relax Icon
• 1976 -- Concave
• 1977 -- Marcon XII, Contraption
• 1980 -- Novacon
• 1985 -- Contraption, Kaymar Award
• 1990 -- Windycon XVII, Midwestcon
• 1996 -- 24 and Moore
• 1999 -- Vintage ConFusion
• 2004 -- Detroit Science Fiction Hall of Fame at ConFusion
• 2005 -- Marcon 40, First Fandom Hall of Fame
• 2006 -- L.A.con IV, Neffy Awards - Fan of the Year (for 2005)

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Person

1925—2005

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