William J. Widder, M.A., a long-time fan and scholar of Science Fiction, died last week at age 78, and SF fandom as well as the world at large has been greatly diminished by his passing.

I was proud to have called Bill my friend, and my last and fondest memory of him was sitting next to him at this year’s Hugo Ceremonies at Noreascon 4, with my arm around his shoulder, while they announced his name as one of the nominees for Best Related Book. His Master Storyteller: An Illustrated Tour of the Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard (Galaxy Press, 2003) did not win the Hugo Award, even though his work had already won over the hearts and minds of hundreds of thousands of fans worldwide. I remember whispering to Bill, while the other author accepted the award that should have been his, that we’d try even harder with the next book, and he said very simply, very humbly that it was a honor to have been nominated among such illustrious company.

That was the kind of man Bill was—a humble, respectful man with no delusions or expectations of grandeur. Of course, at the time, I didn’t know that there wouldn’t be a next book; we had just talked, earlier in the evening at the Hugo Reception, about the next book he wanted to write, and he had even suggested to me that we should collaborate on it together. Naturally, I felt honored that Bill Widder thought enough about me as a writer to make that invitation, for I had always felt in awe of him as this incredible author and human being. I didn’t know that this would have been the last time that I saw him alive and very well.

I was introduced to Bill Widder eight years earlier by Hugh Wilhare of Author Services Inc. at the 54th World Science Fiction Convention in Anaheim, California, and was thrilled to receive a copy of The Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard: A Comprehensive Bibliography and Reference Guide to Published and Selected Unpublished Works (Bridge, 1994) from Bill himself. The book was totally amazing, and was one of the best, most comprehensive works of its kind. Bill Widder must have spent years compiling all of the information in that book because there were full publishing histories and supplemental notes, summaries of nearly four hundred individual short stories, annotations, listings of Hubbard’s unpublished works of fiction... It was quite literally more than I had ever seen in any other book of its kind.

I remember writing Bill a fan letter, which was something that I didn’t often do, after I had finally gotten through his exhaustive study of the fiction of L. Ron Hubbard, and shortly thereafter, we became friends and colleagues. Bill must have thought enough of my opinion about his work because several years later, while Master Storyteller: An Illustrated Tour of the Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard was still in manuscript form, he sent me his latest, and asked me for my honest feedback. Naturally, I told him I loved it, and felt that it was in many ways superior to his previous work.

I also had the nerve, as an English professor from a public university in Maryland, to correct a handful of grammatical errors, errors in syntax, and sentence structure. We later laughed about it together, on one of my many trips out for the Writers of the Future event, but he also gently reminded me that he had run a news desk while he was in graduate school. Again, that was the kind of man Bill was—gentle but full of an unflappable sense of confidence that I had never known, or that I will likely ever know again.

Like David Kyle, Forry Ackerman, and so precious few others, Bill Widder was a dinosaur, one of those aging members of Science Fiction fandom who had read the pulp magazines in the 1930’s and had witnessed the early development of Science Fiction conventions. Bill told me once that, when he was ten years old living in New York City, he purchased his very first pulp magazine; the magazine was called Mystery Novels, and in it was a story by L. Ron Hubbard titled “The Death Flyer.” The story captivated him in a way that no other story he had read before it had, and he began following the fiction of Hubbard, from the mystery and adventure stories right into the early science fiction and fantasy tales that ultimately helped define the genre.

Later, in college, while working on his Master’s Degree at Columbia University (and also running the night news desk at the International News Service in downtown Manhattan), Bill Widder met Hubbard, and incorporated Hubbard in his Master’s thesis. Of course, Bill told this story to me, late one Friday night in 2003 after the Writers of the Future barbeque, in a way that only Bill could tell it, but it still bears repeating…even if only second-hand. He said that he had received a press release one night while running the night news desk, and the release told about Hubbard speaking at Columbia University’s library. In 1950, Hubbard was very well known as a prominent author and explorer, and Bill promised his editor that he would get an interview. Of course, on the day of the event, Bill Widder pushed through the enormous crowd of students who were gathered around the podium where Hubbard had been speaking. He introduced himself to Hubbard, and told him how much he loved his writing. L. Ron Hubbard smiled at Bill, and it wasn’t until Bill got back to the news office that he realized he had forgotten to ask him for an interview.

In the intervening years, Bill Widder continued to work in newspapers, then became a highly-sought-after public relations expert, and finally a motivational speaker. Bill never lost that sense of wonder that he felt in reading the pulps of the 1930’s and 1940’s, and turned to writing scholarship about science fiction. His two books about L. Ron Hubbard firmly cemented his reputation as an SF scholar. He was regularly sought by science fiction committees to serve on panels at SF conventions. In the last years of his life, Bill gave generously of his time to new writers, speaking annually at the Writers of the Future workshops about self-promotion and public relations. He also served as the keynote speaker at many of the Writers and Illustrators of the Future Awards banquets. Again that was the kind of man Bill was—a gentleman and a scholar, in the truest sense of both words, and someone committed to giving of himself to others.

In 2003, shortly after the release of Master Storyteller: An Illustrated Tour of the Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard, Bill Widder embarked on a nation-wide tour to promote his work for Galaxy Press. He made appearances at Barnes & Noble bookstores in Los Angeles, New York City, Honolulu, and many spots in between. But Bill was not just interested in promoting his own work; he saw the nation-wide tour as a way to reach new writers all around the country, and included stops at many universities as well. For two months, almost non-stop, Bill seized the opportunity to speak to students at the George Washington University in Washington, DC; Temple University in Philadelphia; the Old Dominion College in Virginia; the University of Oregon in Eugene and the Texas Pan-Am University. He appeared in English and Creative Writing classes, and briefed students on the scope and impact of L. Ron Hubbard's fiction and the L. Ron Hubbard Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contests as scholarship programs for new writers and illustrators of speculative fiction.

When often we spoke during the tour, Bill Widder never complained about how arduous the task was or how difficult it was to be away from his loving wife Beverly and his family, but always remained optimistic and upbeat. He felt like he was making a difference somehow in the lives of the young writers he touched with his words and message. We’ll never quite know what legacy Bill left behind or know just how many lives he affected. Again that was the kind of man Bill was—a humanitarian, a teacher, a mentor who hoped only that he could affect just one person’s life. Truly, he did far more than that.

At this year’s World Science Fiction Convention in Boston, I gave Bill a copy of an old Amazing Stories pulp magazine that I had found with a story by L. Ron Hubbard. (I had learned, only recently, that Bill Widder had generously donated all of his old pulp magazines that he had collected since he was a kid to the L. Ron Hubbard library in Hollywood, California.) The issue of Amazing Stories hadn’t cost me all that much, and wasn’t particularly noteworthy other than the Hubbard story inside, but I wanted to give it to Bill as a gesture of friendship. I said to him jokingly that he could start a whole new collection with that one, and that I would be on the lookout for others for him. Little did I know at the time that would be the only issue I’d have a chance to give him. Bill accepted the magazine from me with grace and humility because that was the kind of man Bill was—full of grace and humility.

On his way out of Boston on Monday, September 6, he left a message on my cell phone, wishing me a happy 50th birthday and promising that we would talk just as soon as he had recovered from all of the excitement of the Worldcon. We never did talk again, and today, having just learned of his passing, I am filled with a tremendous sense of loss. SF fandom and the world will never be the same without him. We have all lost a great scholar, a loyal fan who never lost that sense of wonder, and a tireless individual who gave so much of himself to others. And I have lost a dear friend. God bless you, Bill Widder.

-- John L. Flynn, Ph.D

Posted October 25, 2004