Mark Merlino

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Mark Merlino
MarkMerlino.jpg
Merlino at Califur 3, 2006
Other names Sylys Sable, Sy Sable, Sy, Sylys Weezles
Born 12th May 1952
Date of death 20th February 2024
Profession or hobby Fandom organizer/influencer|, writer
Character species American marten
Website
http://www.skiltaire.net/

Mark Merlino, also known Sylys Sable, Sy Sable, or just Sy, also known as Sylys Weezles on Second Life, was a fandom organizer/influencer and writer who lived in Garden Grove, California, USA.

Biography

After a series of brain strokes for which Mark Merlino was hospitalized, it was discovered on February 9, 2024, that he had Stage IV liver cancer, found during a screening.[1] He subsequently passed away in his sleep, during the early morning hours of February 20, 2024.[2]

Fandom Involvement

Mark Merlino was recognized as one of the founding members of the furry fandom[3][4][5] along with his long time partner Rod O'Riley, at one point describing himself as the "Father of the Furry Fandom" at his Oklacon 2004 panel of "History of Fur".[6]

He became part of the fandom in 1971 by meeting science fiction convention attendees with an interest in animal characters,[5] was one of the founders of the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization (C/FO), and by 1985 he organized the first furry room parties, most notably at Westercon, which, due to their growing attendance, lead to the creation of a newsletter and two magazines,[clarify][5] He also maintains The Greymuzzle Archives.[clarify]

Mark owned the well-known furry household The Prancing Skiltaire, located in Garden Grove, California, where it hosted a myriad of meets and events, and monthly furry parties since 2005. He was also active on FurryMUCK and VRChat.

Fursonas

Mark had accumulated an enormous repertoire of furry persona characters and had a tradition of naming his characters with the prefix "Sy-". Some of them included the recom Sylys Sable, Sy the skiltaire, Sydney Fisher, and the silkies Sylvester Thomas and Syndy Skye (Sega the ratel was an exception). His representative species was the American marten.

Convention attendance

(*) GoH

Literature

As a writer, Mark was involved with several fandom periodicals, including Touch, In-Fur-Nation and Western Weyr (a Pern fanzine). He was a co-writer on the furry role-playing game Other Suns (which included his Skiltaire species), and had written non-fiction articles for FurVersion and New Horizons.

Mark's stories of the First Light Pride appeared in comic form in New Horizons, and were reprinted in Four Footed Furries, also published by Shanda Fantasy Arts.

Awards

Mark Merlino was co-winner, along with Rod O'Riley, of the 2022 Good Furry Award Lifetime Achievement.

References

  1. ↑ Help a True Fandom Original. post by Rodney Stansfield on GoFundMe. Retrieved February 9, 2024.
  2. ↑ Tweet by The Prancing Skiltaire twitter account.
  3. ↑ Who are the furries? by Denise Winterman. BBC News Magazine. Retrieved November 13, 2009.
  4. ↑ The Fandom: A Furry Documentary FULL MOVIE by Ash "Ash Coyote" Kreis. YouTube. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 #1 - Sy Sable (Mark Merlino), The Greymuzzle Archives. Podcast. Retrieved January 13, 2023
  6. ↑ Oklacon 2004 Event Schedule. Retrieved November 24, 2010

External links

This person is a WikiFur user: WikiFur User

Media

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