RIP DAT - and FYI.

The world and the gaming community has lost another gem, one which might have been returning to us.

Many others have posted wonderful recollections of his work, including this rare picture.   I've never seen that one before. Thank you.

I feel forced to add what is in part conjecture.  If bringing up other topics into your gaming offends you, I won't apologize. I think this story shows how your different worlds are connected.

Trampier seems to have died from cancer which was only discovered in his recovery from a stroke.  I can't say for sure, but according to this article, the vast majority of taxi drivers (Trampier's occupation) don't have health insurance.

Two years ago I lost a cousin to cancer which had grown to an advanced and nigh-untreatable stage because he never got health exams because he did not have health insurance.

I won't say that Trampier would still be with us if he had health insurance (he might have) or that health insurance and the resulting accessible care would have saved him.  But accessible care does save people's lives.

Whenever I see benefits to raise money for figures in various communities due to health problems, I try to give.  But it turns my stomach at the necessity for this.

We prematurely lose artists of all stripes because we as a society do not provide for each other what every other industrialized nation provides to all its citizens.

We lose other artists whose work we never get to see because they are stuck in creativity stifling jobs so they can have security for themselves and their families.

A social safety net for all allows people the security to take risks for their lives and their work.

I hope that as we toast Trampier as an artist, a gamer, a worker and a person that we can also remember that this tragedy and so many others might not be necessary.

Thank you Dave, you were gone too soon.


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