My best wishes are with Rory and his loved ones.

I am very saddened and shaken up by this news. I saw Rory almost every week without fail for the past three years, and he was the kindest, most friendly, most gracious, and welcoming person that I’ve ever met in the industry.

I’ll miss my two hour weekly chats with him. I hope that Newsarama will continue to update, because I know that many of us would like to do something for his family and friends if we can.

RIP, Rory.

I was among the original staff at Comic Relief soon after it opened in the late 80’s, and have always considered Rory a friend. A wonderful bear of a guy, so fair and compassionate. I’m truly saddened to hear of his passing…far too young.

I met Rory a few months ago at the ComicsPro meeting in Vegas for the first time. For a giant of a man, he was one of the nicest, most gentle people I have met. I was looking forward to seeing him again later this year and playing cards again. Sad day, and he will be dearly missed in this tight retailer community.

I apologize for not having a bigger eulogy on the site. I’m just a little…not here right now in light of this news.

I cnn’t really puii my thoughts togetyer right now.

Rory was dear friend who I was just thinking about just yesterday.

Comic-Con wiii not be the same this year.

Last year Rory mentioned how much time he was spending at Memorials…Couldn’t have imagined I would be attending his this year.

Rest in Peace my friend.

man, this is really sad news. rory was one of the good ones - he truly loved comics and always had an outstretched hand to new creators.

my thoughts are with his loved ones.

rest in peace, rory. you will be missed.

Every Wednesday I’d visit Comic Relief while in Berkeley working on Hellboy…
Rory was always very good to me when I’d visit with my own self-published comic…

This is sad news.
Comics were a better place when Rory was a part of it.

What a damn shame. I only had one meeting with Rory but it was a memorable one - around New Years 2005 I was staying with my brother in Oakland and my wife, my brother and I stopped into Comic Relief shortly before closing - the first time I’d ever been to the store. We were the only ones in the place aside from the cashier and Rory. Even though he was wrapping up after a long day of a post-holiday sale we weren’t hustled out the door like I expected but instead were treated like family - Rory taking his time to help us find stuff, talking comics and giving us plenty of time to browse. We walked out with a lot more than I had intended to buy, and my brother ended up buying his first comic book in ten years. Years later my wife still remarks about how he was the nicest “comic book guy” she’d ever met and how awesome his store was. I really wish I had made a return trip to his store and seen him again, but I’m glad I got to meet him the once. My thoughts are with his family and friends. We’re all poorer for losing him.

This is TERRIBLE news. I’m Rory’s shop every other week or so for our comics pilgrimage from work, and man, it’s going to be strange going in this week knowing Rory’s gone. He was an incredibly kind, generous man, always willing to extend a hand, always, ALWAYS pushing new talent and nurturing guys that were stuck in creative blocks. Lots of ideas, lots of charm, and lots of good will and spirit.

I’ll miss you Rory.

Damn. When I was a student at Berkeley, Comic Relief brought me back into comics (a hobby my older brother had shared with me in my youth). Now ten years later, I’m still collecting thanks to Rory and his crew. I didn’t know him that well (I was merely one of many pull-listers back in the late ’90s), but the news still hits home. My thoughts are with his friends and family, as well as everyone else touched by Comic Relief.

God, I didn’t believe this when I saw it. Rory was always one of the gods in retailing that those of us self or indie publishing loved and adored. Many of us wouldn’t (couldn’t) have stayed in the business without the help and kindness of people like him (and a straight shooter too). Was it really over 20 years ago I first met him at Comic-con? Oh, jeez. We’ll miss you.

I lived in Berkeley and Oakland for almost seven years from when I started at UC Berkeley and worked nearby after, and just about every Wednesday I went to Comic Relief and Rory was always around and was always happy to help me find something. I never talked to him much but he was an institution and I can’t imagine the place being the same without him.

Rest in peace, man.

I met him him many years ago and we spoke many times before and after the shop relocated to a few blocks. One of the friendliest person around.

Thanks for the memories.

Rest in peace.

Oh what a terrible loss. I remember when Shi first came out and Rory being such a strong supporter of my book and Indies in general. Over the years we stayed in touch and he was always there to offer advice with my annoying phone calls. I’m so sorry to hear this.

It’s just not fair.

RIP Rory.

This is sad, sad news.
I’ve known Rory for well over 25 years and, as folks here state, he was one of the kindest most gentle people on the planet.

I have so many warm, funny memories of long, rambling conversations (something Rory was infamous for), that big old ubiquitous silver coffee mug.

He was one of the good ones.
He will be sorely missed.

Jim Valentino

I never had the chance to know Rory, but the outpouring of emotions and experiences in the comments here from fans and pros alike couldn’t make it clearer that I am less for having missed out on the opportunity. My thoughts and prayers are with the family.

I can’t believe this has happened, Rory was one of the genuinely great people in the industry. Always willing to chat and giving little guys like me a shot. Thanks Rory; Rest peacefully.

I’ve been going to Rory’s store since I was a kid. Hell, if it wasn’t for Comic Relief I wouldn’t be a comics person. My last conversation with Rory was on Free Comic Book Day about how we both hadn’t cared about Captain America for years until Brubaker’s run, downtown Berkeley’s cast of characters and Paul Levitz being a class act right here on the Blog@.

I got a taste of what it must’ve been like to be him one year at APE. A pack of aspiring artists saw me helping Rory settle a deal for a bunch of books and suddenly it was assumed I had some kind of pull with the man. I was hit up by three small publishers in a row looking to get their foot in Comic Relief’s door. It was kinda a rush, but I also knew it would’ve taken its toll on a person.

I went into the store tonight and finally made up for not listening to his advice and bought Good Bye, Chunky Rice. He loved that book… and while I’ll never get a chance to talk about it with him now, I’ll… man, I’m gonna miss him. We talked about a year and a half ago about his mortality, he knew the end was coming down the pike. I thought he was going to be gone within that season, but when he was still going months later Rory stopped being mortal to me.

The store is his legacy, long may it stand.

I’m blown away! It’s sad that you often don’t realize the impact someone has had one you, until you have to use the word “had”. Rory respected me immediately - not that I wasn’t respected - but I was in awe of him before I had the fortune to meet him. His reputation (although I only knew that he was a knowledgeable and successful retailer) preceded him. I loved conversations with him, and didn’t get the coffee cup until I got to know him. And now, I’ll miss him. Those of you in the industry that I don’t keep some level of contact with, I hope you and your loved ones are all well.

I just keep thinking to myself “but he just posted here only the other day“. I never met the man in person, but whenever I saw his name online, I knew to value the opinion he was offering. What a gentleman, and what a loss for the industry and more importantly for his family. I hope many great creators are greeting him in heaven right now… I also hope the industry comes up with a long-term, permanent means to pay tribute to him–be it an award in his name or some other measure worthy of his impact and efforts for an industry he so clearly valued and enriched.

Unbelievable. Rory really was as good as everyone says, and he sure helped me when I put out my own graphic novel. I loved hunting him down at shows just to ask if he needed his tea refilled (it was always tea in that mug). A true giant of this industry- again, I just can’t believe it.

Crushed. Simply crushed.

Rory was a HUGE part of my career in the industry, but more importantly he was a wonderful friend with an open heart and mind about comics. I recall hand-selling my very first self-published comic to him on commission. I recall how he helped indy and zine creators. I recall how he told me I had to read Bone. I recall how he watched my daughter growing up. I recall him at WonderCon, Ape, San Diego, I recall him in panel-after-panel at conventions, I recall him setting me up at a hotel with his staff when my hotel screwed me over. I recall his home with books of every kind stacked from floor to ceiling in every room. A true bibliophile if there ever was one.

Crushed.

A true friend I last saw him at the CBLDF party in his store.
I always thought I’d just see him again.

I met Rory back at the American Library Association conference in 2001 in San Francisco. With his cup of water in hand, he and I talked a long time about comic books both inside and outside the convention center. He invited me to his store and I got to hang out with Rory and Charles Brownstein for a while while I drooled over how great his store was and later went out for Indiana food with some friends. Rory was easily one of the kindest and generous men I’ve met.

GodDAMMit….

I’m not sure what I can add to what folks have already eloquently stated here, other than to echo that Rory was an incredibly kind, friendly, and intelligent man. He was one of the “good guys” you hear about. As a retailer he was supportive, inquisitive, and challenging. He was a gentleman and a scholar and I’ll miss our encounters greatly.

My condolences to his family, friends, and loved ones.

Rory Root was such an open-minded retailer and generous man that he carried my own mini-comics in 1980, one of about three or four stores to do so. From the high-browed classic to the absurdly experimental, he loved comics. And they loved him back.

Oh, how lucky were we that had him as a colleague, how graced to have known him as a friend.

I’ll miss the gigantic hugs and so much more.

Patty
xxx

This is such sad news. Rory was one such a kind man. I met him several years ago on a forum, don’t remember which one right now, but then in person at San Diego, and getting to visit with him, if only for a couple of minutes was something I looked forward to at every con. He was one of the first that let me know that he thought what I was doing was good and worthwhile back in the very early days of Rex Mundi, and that meant so much to me.

Safe travels, Rory, you’ll be missed, man.

So many stories of him and my favorite comic book store in the world (which was pretty much a giant brick Rory with comics inside it).

I’ll just tell one:

Way back when I was just starting out, Jimmie Robinson and I showed up at Comic Relief for a signing we were doing one Saturday… and Rory had completely forgotten that we’d scheduled it. But did this phase the one of most gregarious retailers ever? Nope. Instantly, he got us a table, some chairs and set us up right. Any other store and owner and this might have irked us but Rory’s domain was different… not ten minutes after we set up Dan Clowes, Adrian Tomine and Richard Sala walk in to get their weekly fix. So we got to give them copies of our books and chat with them about comics. A signing in reverse, if you will.

And it remains one of my favorite signings to this day, thirteen years later.

Such is the power of Comic Relief; such was the power of Rory.

He will be missed.

Rory was my co-worker when I first gained employment in the comics biz and we both toiled at Best of Two Worlds. He became my client shortly thereafter when I became branch manager for Capital City Distribution and he opened Comic Relief along with Michael Patchen…we were partners (along with many others: Joe Field, Mike Friedrich, Bob Borden, and John Barrett among them) in the founding of WonderCon… he was my employer (again along with many others) when I served as Recording Secretary for the Bay Area Comics Retailers group… and from every new perspective I gained of him, he remained a gentleman, a true professional and a friend. To say he will be missed is to state the obvious, to call him a visionary only marginally less so.

Even gods have their feet of clay, and Rory was fully human. His cavalier attitude toward his own health for much of his life dismayed those who cared about him. He could be exasperating in his quiet, patient insistence on receiving the very best efforts from his employees and distributors. Maddeningly reasonable were his unceasing requests for more stock, better access to information, better promotional tools… it was as if he was never satisfied with the market he saw before him, and he has undeniably left the comics medium a stronger, more vibrant place for his having been here to hawk the wares.

I had a dream last night: one last time Rory came to me with a list of ideas he had to promote comics to the masses. “In your copious spare time,” he began as he often had, meaning without actually saying, “I know you’re kinda busy but the only people who ever accomplish anything in this world
are the ones who are already too busy, I’ve got something that needs doing and it looks like you’re elected.” Rory, my friend, that copious spare time is looking more and more copious all the time…give me your want list and I’ll see what I can do.

I only found out this morning that Rory had died. His passing leaves a huge unfillable hole of knowledge, humor, gentleness and savvy. He passed on his knowledge and love of comics to his staff yet none of them are Rory…I always knew any time I walked into Comic Relief that no matter what else Rory was doing, he would take the time (usually a lot of time as others have mentioned) to talk with me about what was new and exciting in the comics world. Our association went back many years to my beginnings as a Teen Librarian in San Francisco creating a teen comic/GN collection, usually spending almost a whole day listening to him talk about all the things I just had to purchase for my library collection. I remember having to call my library and readjust the time at which I’d be back at work sometimes more than once because once Rory got started talking, it was damn near impossible to get him to stop - he was just that passionate about the work he was doing in bringing comic artists and teens together via the library. I saw him probably six months ago and he told me then that his health was not good. I was shocked at how his health had deteriorated in the space of time since I had seen him last. As others have said, he was never overly concerned with his own health issues. On those days when I would come to get his recommendations and annotations for the latest GNs, he’d have to take repeated breaks outside to smoke yet another cigarette, standing outside the store greeting everyone who walked by. Even after my library decided it was “cost effective” to purchase GNs through a vendor that would also do the cataloging, Rory always let me know that he’d be willing to give me as much time as I wanted to tell me about the GNs that I’d have to purchase elsewhere. He was just such a generous, gentle, smart funny giant of a man. He will be sorely missed and I hope that an award is given in his honor. I like the idea of his name gracing an award for new talent as he always promoted up and coming artists.