Goodbye to Founding Furry Mark Merlino

Goodbye, Sy

2/20/2024

Mark Merlino (left) with husband Rod O'Riley, receiving the Good Furry Award Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.

A giant of the furry fandom passed away last night at his home in Garden Grove, California. Sy Sable (Mark Merlino) died with his husband, Rod O'Riley, by his side after battling Stage IV liver cancer that also led to his having a stroke.

It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of Mark's role in the fandom. Along with another late giant, Fred Patten (1940-2018), he founded the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization in 1977. The C/FO was primarily interested in bringing Japanese anime to America, but it also can be viewed as the precursor of the furry fandom because the Los Angeles chapter of the C/FO was the birthplace of furry.

In 1982, he created Tiger's Den, the first BBS dedicated to furry. Next, he cofounded the first furry convention, Confurence, which had its first gathering in 1989 in Costa Mesa, California. When Confurence shut its doors in 2003, Mark started Califur the next year, which ran until 2018. Finally, Mark and Rod created the first and oldest furmeet in the world: The Prancing Skiltaire house party, which was based out of their home. When he wasn't working on conferences, Mark traveled to other conventions, giving talks about furry movies, TV, and the fandom in general.

I am so fortunate that I was able to meet Mark on several occasions. It was at the Prancing Skiltaire in 2008 that I encountered my first fursuiter in person, and although I was already a furry by then, I was hooked after that. My dear friend Bart Swaim, took me to that furmeet, and it was also at that time that I met another important furry, Bob Hill (d. 2018), the first fursuiter.

Mark was a kind, knowledgeable, generous, and sweet man. His passing is a great loss to the fandom, and he will be missed.

[Update March 28, 2024] The memorial service for Sy Sable is now available on YouTube.

7 Comments

Robert Jensen

2/21/2024 08:37:21 am

I met Mark in the Summer of 1970. We were both 18 and attending a meeting of the Orange County Astronomers. I'd been to Mark's parents house many times and say him coming up with his character Skilltaires and Sy Sable. Before that he'd show me books and films on ferrets and minks.

Mark and I were both avid animation fans going back to when our age was in low range of single digits. I was at some of the early get togethers with people of like mind. It was the group that became C/FO.

Mark and I went up to LA to attend a meeting where Osamu Tezuka was guest of honor. One of the members presented Tezuka with a beautifully made statue of Astro Boy.

I helped Mark pick up items from all the film and animation studios in LA for the animation exhibit he put together while at Cal Poly Pomona. At the time it was the largest animation exhibit ever to be held on the West Coast. This show led to the creation of a department at Disney to preserve their heritage. Before this they'd throw out historic pices,cells etc to make room for newer items.

Mark was the most brilliant person I ever met, and I've know some smart people with IQs in the 150s. More than once I saw Mark go from knowing nothing on a subject to being able to talk at a level with professionals in the field, within 6 months.

To my regret we drifted apart over the decades but managed to stay in touch. The last time I saw Mark (and Rodney) in person was when they were traveling to Colorado and stopped in Utah to pay me a visit. We talked on the phone after that but most communications since were through FB and IG.

I've only made a handful of true friends in my life and Mark was the longest lasting at nearly 54 years.

G. Remy link

5/28/2024 04:11:26 pm

I never knew or met him in real life, but had I been aware of his existence, I would have definitely addressed him about all the hell I endured in the fandom and my biggest issues with it, chiefly, the politics.

Grubbs Grizzly

5/29/2024 03:59:17 pm

How can you judge him so harshly when you say yourself you never actually met the man. Seems like an unqualified opinion to me :( I knew him. He was a kind man and without him we seriously would not have the fandom.

Bandit the Raccoon link

2/21/2024 08:59:30 am

I am fortunate that one of my last (if not the last) conversations with him was to learn about how he met Rod, how The Prancing Skiltaire came to be, etc.

I could never thank him for everything he's done. He's affected so many lives in and out of the fandom and if not for him we all wouldn't be connected together in some way.

The Prancing Skiltaire was a safe space for me every month, there was always a warmth to that house, some of my best memories were made there as well as many great memories for several others who've had a chance to visit. He's truly a hero.

5/28/2024 04:10:07 pm

I have strong feelings about Merlino, but in the vastly opposite direction. I'm sorry.

Henry A. Smith

5/5/2024 05:05:50 pm

You met Osama Tezuka...oh my gawd! I am so happy for you but also very envious of you as well. Kimba was a life-changing point in my childhood and my whole life. I think I was a furry in my heart.even way back then in the 1960's, but meeting Kimba on the TV absolutely made the choosing of my personal fursonna in later years the proverbial "no brainer".

Mark and the Prancing Skiltare was and still is the best friend a furry can have; whether you are a new furry or a "well-seasoned" greymuzzle.

5/28/2024 04:09:30 pm

I'm really sorry he died, but given all the hell I endured in the fandom and his apathy towards that drama (mostly people constantly politicizing it, and as an autistic, it's one of my biggest triggers), I can't bring myself to mourn him at all, and can only hope that God has had mercy on him in the next life. Feel free to ban me or cancel-culture me, but that's just the God's-honest truth of how I feel.

Goodbye, Sy

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