Ray posted the following message to the Feistfans-l Mailing list earlier today. Some of the older members of the list might, from the time of Mureder in LaMut might remember when Joel was also a participant.
Subject: Joel Rosenberg
From: Raymond E. Feist
Date: 03 June 2011
Just got word I lost a friend and collaborator late Wed night.
Joel Rosenberg suffered a respiratory depression that caused a heart attack, anoxic brain damage, and major organ failure.
The following I posed on SFF.Net:
've known Joel and Felicia for over twenty five years. I've stayed at their house when I was in Minneapolis. They stayed in mine when visiting California. Love them both a lot. Watched Rachel and Judy grow from when they were tiny. Tragically, today would have been Joel and Felicia's 32nd wedding anniversary.
Canadian born, Joel was an American by choice and fiercely proud of being one. A man of strong opinion hardly does justice to his feelings on many subjects, politics, wine, food, religion, and how to be a great dad. He was passionate.
Mike Ford once opined that Joel was as good a friend as you could find if you were careful to avoid a few topics, gun control and Israel being at the top of that list, else you were likely to be engaged in a lengthy discussion on why Joel's opinion was the correct one and everyone who disagreed with him was either ignorant, misguided, or out and out evil.
The legal hassles Joel was enduring were a prime example of why there have been times when the label "Stiff Necked" applied to him like no other. The heart of the mater is Joel had a carry permit and insisted it was his right to go various places without leaving his gun at home. His difficulty stemmed from his bringing a gun to the city hall. The debate arose because there's an adjunct courtroom in the building and there is a law on the books that requires all firearms be surrendered at the door of a courthouse save those worn by court officers. Joel's opinion was that was only valid for that one room, and the DA argued it
covered the whole building. Joel was arrested on that charge and was pretty much leveraging everything he owned on that legal question. If you have the means and are so inclined, check out
That was Joel. No one was arguing his right to own firearms (and he had many, as well as a mini target range down in the basement). No one was arguing his right to carry (he had all the necessary papers). They were arguing over a matter of some distance, the size of a court and it's surroundings. It was exactly the sort of thing Joel loved, that demand that certain things be precise, not open to debate, clearly delineated.
Joel's heath has always been difficult, sometimes better, sometimes worse. He's had back problems as long as I've known him, exacerbated by weight problems. I knew he had some pulmonary problems along the way, but was ignorant of heart issues. Still, while profoundly shocked and saddened, I'm not very surprised,.
My heart hurts for Felicia and the girls. They were the loves of his life, above anything else, and he loved a lot of things: his friends, good wine, good food, good storytelling, and annoying the hell out of people he thought were wrong.
One of a kind.
Best, R.E.F.
