I'm very sad to hear of Al's passing. Al was a member and valuable contributor to this forum since the beginning. After meeting Al we realized that we had a connection from the 70's. He was a professor at a junior college I attended. He looked me up in some old records and teased me about my grades and attendance. We became Facebook friends and kept in touch over the years. Often he would privately comment to me about something posted on the forum, especially during controversial debates. Al wouldn't publicly debate these issues but certainly had his opinions.
Ever since I met Al he had health problems but that didn't stop him from attending almost every ForumFest. At first he just had a cane and then later the walker and oxygen tank. When we had the ForumFest on the Mount I was very worried about him getting down the stairs to the function room. I turned around and there he was. He never let his health stop him from doing what he loved to do.
Take a few minutes to review Al's contributions to this forum. Here are links to his photos and blogs and if you search the Member list you can find his many forum posts.
RIP, Al. I'll miss you.
Al's Photo Gallery
Al's Blogs