By Rick Meints, President of Chaosium
Lou Zocchi deserves all the superlatives used to describe him. When The Chaosium began in 1975 Lou reached out to our company founder Greg Stafford to offer invaluable advice to a struggling business that needed all the advice it could get. Lou knew distributors, game stores, and the marketplace. Greg listened, learned, and found a mentor in a man who had a deep passion for an industry that at the time barely saw itself as anything more than a hobby business.
Lou and Greg both held a passion for the gaming community, so much so that Gamescience and The Chaosium were two of the five founding families of the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) when it started in 1978. They both wanted to share their hard-earned knowledge with newer companies; a foundational belief The Chaosium holds to this day. We are all us. We all succeed together.
I personally had little knowledge of Lou’s place in the gaming hall of legends until 2015. Greg and I were wandering the Gen Con Exhibitor Hall and ended up at Lou’s Gamescience booth where Greg introduced me to the “grandfather of gaming”.
While I had visited Lou’s “every expense spared” booth at Gen Con several years prior, something felt distinctly different. I never had the honor of talking to Lou at length, yet he heard me, and helped me. He knew of the challenges we faced getting Chaosium back on its feet, and how we should address them. Greg and Lou spoke effortlessly, continuing a conversation that had started decades ago. At best, I stood by hoping to be on the shoulders of giants.
A few years later at Origins Lou and I were both loading out our booths in the Marshaling Yard. Lou walked over to me, as his van was right next to mine, and said, “Rick, I need your help and advice.” Even though tired, I leaned in. The wise sage wanted something from me, an honor I felt I likely did not deserve. His words still echo with me to this day: “How do I find and open the gas cap to fill up this rental van?” I stopped and noticed my van and his were the same model, the same year, and we both stood on equal ground. Two tired guys trying to load up after a good show, get some food, and get home. I showed him where the gas cap was, he thanked me, and he turned back to his work. I thought he only knew my name because I still wore my show badge. I said “I remember when Greg introduced me to you at Gen Con.” Lou looked over his shoulder, paused but a blink, and said “We all miss him.” Now I say the same words about Lou: We all miss him.
Lou Zocchi possessed many talents. He promoted an industry before it was even remotely an industry. He believed in the power of our community, its excellence, and always had fun.
We shall not see his like again. The Chaosium remembers you fondly Lou, and wishes you Vale and Farewell.
Lou Zocchi possessed many talents. He promoted an industry before it was even remotely an industry. He believed in the power of our community, its excellence, and always had fun.
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