I was just sent a message from a friend of (Szym) Frederic Szymkiewiez that he had passed away yesterday due to a heart attack. Frederic was a really nice guy and an avid card collector. He will be missed.

My deepest condolences go out to his friends and family.

Oh no, what horrible news, i met him at a show once years ago, seemed like a nice guy, tragic thing to happen.

Frederic was always a joy to trade with and he seemed genuinely happy to have met like-minded people for the hobby he loved. He will be missed.

Always extra sad to lose a fellow collector.
Back when I used to make it to comic-con, I always tried to figure out a way to send him a little something, the last time in a giveaway in memory of Bill DeFranzo.

Rest in peace, Frederic...

That was good of you to do that. In his posts over the years he was always trying to keep up with the odd promos, the ones you could get only at shows or in dvds. It's tough enough to do that in the lower 48 but imagine what it's like an ocean away. Like you, he seemed to have a large, wide-ranging collection. He once said he had over 62,000 cards but had no idea how many sets.

He once spoke for those outside the U.S. perhaps not being comfortable writing at length in English (that thread about various members writing articles on the forum about sets we knew well) but his English was excellent and seemed to make fewer errors than I have and I was born here.

It is sad to hear of another collector's passing. Szym lived in a different world (country, language, cultural mix) than most of us but he was willing to meet us more than halfway by speaking our language. He asked for help sometimes and was also willing to help others. He might have been a little confused with some of the slang but it sounded like he enjoyed his time here. I hope his family learns that there are people they don't know who are sad to hear of his passing.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by chesspieceface:
Always extra sad to lose a fellow collector.
Back when I used to make it to comic-con, I always tried to figure out a way to send him a little something, the last time in a giveaway in memory of Bill DeFranzo.

Rest in peace, Frederic...

It has been a while since we trades (years in fact)but I remember getting into a fantastic discussion about the challenges of him collecting out of the US and my trying to collect in Mississippi. Sorry to hear of his passing.