In Memoriam RIP Buffaloed

[Tim Calhoun]

RIP Buffaloed

 

[Zman5778]

Took me a couple of days to process this. RIP Joe.........you will be missed. Not only by the HF community at large, but especially on this board.

 

[Woodhouse]

Well, shit. A bit stun-locked by this news. Joe had a great sense of humor and put in tons of hours of behind the scenes work for the forums. Besides his humorous public posts, I could always count on him to throw a quip into the most mundane admin conversations we'd have too. He will be missed. Condolences to his sister, family, and friends.

 

[bruinsfan1970]

RIP Buffaloed, you will be missed and condolences to his entire family.

 

[neelynugs]

condolences to all you guys here (and of course, to his family). i had a few interactions with joe, and he was always a fine gentleman. RIP.

 

[Butt Ox]

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

He commented on our jazz discussion a few weeks back, on my Dolphy comment in particular. Seems like he was a fan.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Huge loss. Major RIP

 

[Butt Ox]

He commented on our jazz discussion a few weeks back, on my Dolphy comment in particular. Seems like he was a fan.

Big ears, and a quick wit. Legend.

 

[Buffalo Norsemen]

Condolences to his family, and friends.
Life is short, love and live every day like it's your last and don't take any sh*te from anyone.

 

[Dr Pepper]

I just heard the news, RIP Buffaloed.

Often considered him as sort of the "elder statesman" of HF, the man was around longer than most of us and was definitely well-respected.

 

[Lou is God]

I posted this on the Mod board but I know you and I shared a lot of the same history.

Great tribute Wally. We've lost a lot of great people recently who helped make this board what it is, first Fugu, then jfont and now Joe. All gone to soon. RIP Joe.

 

[Chainshot]

Great tribute Wally. We've lost a lot of great people recently who helped make this board what it is, first Fugu, then jfont and now Joe. All gone to soon. RIP Joe.

I had missed that jfont also passed. Holy crap, I'm so sorry LiG. I know you two were close.

 

[Lou is God]

I had missed that jfont also passed. Holy crap, I'm so sorry LiG. I know you two were close.

Over past Xmas break, liver cancer, took him less then two months after it was diagnosed. Just heartbreaking.

 

[Gee Wally]

Jesus was a great, great guy. Heartbreaking is right.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Wow. Just...wow. I'm here to pay my respects.

It is literally impossible to consider the history of the site without this man. Yeah, back in the day, technically HF was a subset of Hockey's Future and Ken McKenna ran the whole thing after the Taylors and Shane Malloy left, but in terms of the HFBoards forum itself Buffaloed ran the whole thing. Unless you were/are a moderator or admin here, you actually may not have realized how incredibly much he involved himself into each and every aspect of this place but from a few years of experience on the moderator side I can tell you he was extraordinarily invested into the running of this place. To put it bluntly, he put his heart and soul into each and every bit of HFBoards for at least two decades. I don't know where this place will go without him. His impact was impossible to overstate.

Rest in Peace, brother.

Over past Xmas break, liver cancer, took him less then two months after it was diagnosed. Just heartbreaking.

Jesus was a great, great guy. Heartbreaking is right.

oh for f***'s sake jfont had passed too? God damn it.

 

[brian_griffin]

Over past Xmas break, liver cancer, took him less then two months after it was diagnosed. Just heartbreaking.

Same for my uncle (liver, several years ago). Both liver and pancreatic cancers can be fast and with depressingly low survival rates. No bueno. I'm sorry.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

He was posting here not much longer than a week ago. Still a bit shocked.

I didn't know him personally, but with his style and wit, he was the kind of poster you felt you did know. His was a welcome, calming presence on a site where discord too often rules the day.

Maybe a small tribute to his memory would be to ask oneself, before hitting Post on that confrontational, snark-filled message, "what would Joe do?" and reconsider one's words.

 

[Fenway]

I just got a message from Joe's nephew who it turns out lives in the Boston area.

He wanted us to know this his Mom has read this thread and it has brought her comfort.

 

[Alicat]

Reading all of the posts has me in tears. It makes you realize just how much of a family we are and not just on our team specific boards. Buffalo fans please reach out if you need anything. You have always been incredible to us on the Bruins board in times like these. We may be division rivals but when it comes to Buffaloed, we are family.

My thoughts go out to Joe’s family. He was an incredible and generous man and no matter how much you skirted the line at times, he would be stern but never mean.

May he and Fugu watch down on all of us.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

I just got a message from Joe's nephew who it turns out lives in the Boston area.

He wanted us to know this his Mom has read this thread and it has brought her comfort.

EDIT: misread the post, my bad.

Hopefully we can at least help to some degree although we feel just as powerless as everyone else.

 

[Ralonzo]

RIP.

Led me gently away, by example and by interaction, from being an acid-spewing razor blade hurricane troll to hopefully a better board member. Thanks and Godspeed.

 

[tsujimoto74]

Joe didn't want his illness to be a distraction to the board and he made that clear to the staff.

He did not want the board filled with get-well messages which explains why he never said anything on the Sabres board.

He was hospitalized in early May for what was believed to be a COVID-related issue and he was progressing well and then in late May, he dropped the bomb on his prognosis

He made it clear he had a plan in place to keep the board 'in good hands'.

He continued working tirelessly on tweaking our new software and was more worried about the board handling free agent frenzy than himself as that is the way he was wired. He did hint to staff that things were not going well.

His treatments intensified on July 25th and the last time he was online was August 2nd.

The owner of the board plans to do something in his memory and is in touch with his family.

The owner would like some input from the HF Sabres community on how to proceed. Our initial thought is to do something with the Sabres Foundation.

Community | Buffalo Sabres | Buffalo Sabres

The official National Hockey League website including news, rosters, stats, schedules, teams, and video.

www.nhl.com

I pledge to keep you updated.

I think the Sabres Foundation is a wonderful idea.

 

[dasaybz]

I'm so bummed out reading this just now. I've been on this site for a very long time and every post he made had some humor or empathy. Really awesome guy to chat with all these years. This really sucks.

 

[Chairman Maouth]

Hey, everyone.

I worked here as a moderator and administrator for quite a few years until about three years ago. I was never an admin for this forum and I don't think I ever posted here so you may not know me.

I was saddened to hear of Joe's passing and I want to say a few words about Joe.

We have lost a lot of good people over the years, including former lead administrator and my mentor, Barbara Stephenson (Fugu). Now, we've lost Joe. That's the top two HF'ers taken by cancer in less than four years.

I got to know Barb very well, as I know Fenway also did, but I'm honestly not sure if many people outside of the Sabres forum ever got to know Joe very well. My impressions have always been that Joe kept to himself and rarely if ever mixed work with pleasure. One thing is certain though. Joe devoted a substantial part of his life to HFBoards, over 20 years worth. He kept this community afloat for all of us to enjoy and for that I am extremely grateful.

Rest in peace, Joe. You gave us this home, and we are all here because of you. Thank you.

CM