March 27, 1946 - January 13, 2018

NIA #9274

Dear friends,

It is with a heavy heart I must announce my father passed away last Saturday night due to sepsis and kidney failure brought on by this year's flu, as well as a weakened immune system due to his age and battle with leukemia two years prior.

Many of you in the Western region likely got a chance to meet him at the various shows and swap-meets over the last five years. It was always quite humorous to hear the surprised reactions from others when my father would tell them that it was I, the young teenager, who was the real collector and, in jest, that he was "just the man behind the wheel". Although it was indeed I who originated the passion for insulators, he shared it so energetically that you would believe he'd have been collecting for a lifetime. As time went on, he amassed an impressive collection of his own and developed a personal taste for oddly shaped and foreign glass.

Outside of the hobby, my father had been a beloved junior high school teacher for the Orange Unified School District for more than ten years, an incredibly talented engineer and test driver of competitive vehicles, and was the successful proprietor of Torino Motor Racing in Orange, California from 1974 (officially incorporated in 1986) until his forced retirement due to illness in 2015.

Even in the most dire of times, he always maintained his trademark wit, good disposition, and charm. Nothing could shake who he was. A lot of who I am today is because of it. And above all else, it's what we're going to miss the most.

I want to thank everyone in the community who had a chance to meet my father. He had a phenomenal time trading both insulators and stories with every single one of you. Although he won't be here in person anymore, he will always be here in spirit.