Most Senior Fan
Just as with Most Senior SF Writer, we can ask who is the most senior fan at various times. This could be eldest actifan in age or eldest in years in fandom.
Note that we're using fan in the proper fannish sense of being involved in fandom, and not in the mundane sense of liking sf -- there is no hope of knowing who liked sf at any given time. As a practical matter, we're also limited to well known fans as others have left little or no trace of their activities.
At the presentation of an award named after him, it was stated that Pat Terry had become recognised as the oldest fan in the world shortly before his death in 1970 at the age of 85.
N.b., to keep this list from growing without limit, please do not list people who entered fandom after 1950 or who were born after 1935. The idea is to celebrate especially long fannish careers.
| Born | Found Fandom | Died or Gafiated | Years in Fandom | Fan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1884 or 85 | ?? | d. 1970 | ?? | Pat Terry |
| Aug. 20, 1890 | late ’20s/early ’30s | d. March 15, 1937 | ~10? | H. P. Lovecraft |
| Nov. 12, 1899 | <1930 | g. 1930 | a few? | Warren Fitzgerald |
| Jan. 6, 1905 | mid-30s | d. February 29, 1978 | <45 | Eric Frank Russell |
| April 8, 1907 | 1949 | g. 1961, d. March 6, 2005 | 12 | Gertrude M. Carr |
| 1908 | May 1928 | d. February 11, 1979 | 51 | Ron Graham |
| 1908 | <January 1930 | d. 1971 | <40 | Allen Glasser |
| 1911 | <1930 | g. ~1943, ung. 1961, d. January 2, 1963 | >35 | Julius Unger |
| June 19, 1915 | <January 1930 | d. February 8, 2004 | >74 | Julius Schwartz |
| June 20, 1910 | <1930 | d. October 29, 2003 | >73 | Lloyd Arthur Eshbach |
| Feb. 19, 1912 | <October 1930 | d. July 17, 1979 | >49 | Walter Gillings |
| Nov. 12, 1912 | 1930-32 | g. ~1942, ung. 1990s, d. August 28, 1997 | ~15 | Conrad H. Ruppert |
| ?? | mid-30s | d. June 28, 1978 | ~45 | J. Michael Rosenblum |
| 1913 | <1935 | d. June 7, 1994 | ~60 | Will Sykora |
| Nov. 23, 1914 | 1931 | d. October 6, 2006 | 75 | Bob Tucker |
| Oct. 1, 1914 | Spring 1934 | d. November 2, 1990 | 56 | Don Wollheim |
| Jan. 22, 1916 | 1929 | d. September 25, 1984 | ~50 | Dan McPhail |
| April 5, 1917 | 1935 | d. September 23, 1994 | ~59 | Robert Bloch |
| May 1916 | late 30s | g. ~1950; d. Oct 22, 2016 | 15 | Norman F. Stanley |
| Nov. 24, 1916 | 1930 | d. December 4, 2008 | 78 | Forrest J Ackerman |
| Sept. 16, 1917 | <1940 | g. ?; ung. ?; d. April 17, 2015 | ?? | Art Widner |
| Nov. 30, 1917 | <1939 | d. November 28, 1998 | ~60 | John Millard |
| March 22, 1918 | <1936 | d. January 25, 2000 | >64 | Oliver Saari |
| Feb. 17, 1919 | 1936? | d. December 23, 2015 | >79 | Jack Robins |
| Nov. 26, 1919 | 1932 | d. September 2, 2013 | 81 | Fred Pohl |
| Feb. 14, 1919 | 1933 or '34 | d. September 18, 2016 | >82 | Dave Kyle |
| June 2, 1920 | 1935 or 36 | still active | >85 | Bob Madle |
| Aug. 8, 1920 | 1935 | d. June 28, 2008 | ~73 | Jack Speer |
| June 14, 1921 | 1938-39 | g. 1950s?; d. July 29, 2017 | ~20 | William L. Hamling |
| 1923 | 1937 | (still alive in 2020) | ?? | Bert F. Castellari |
| Oct. 29, 1923 | <1939 | g. 1957; ung. ~1987; still active | >51 | Erle Korshak |
| June 8, 1930 | 1949 | still active | >71 | Roger Sims |
| Oct. 3, 1931 | 1949 | still active | >71 | Ray Nelson |
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