Seems that I now have Pancreatic cancer stage 4 and am expected to leave here in 3 to 5 months.

With his inimitable sense of humor and typical understatement, Chuck thus announced his pending "departure," possibly within the year.  (He had received his diagnosis in August)  Chuck elected to not fight the cancer with the usual chemotherapy and radiation, instead to travel and spend the time taking care of his "bucket list."  This decision probably helped him to live longer, and immeasurably improved his quality of life.

I asked him how he felt, and he answered, "I haven't had so much excitement in ten years!"

He first travelled to Wyoming to go hunting with his son Kirk.  Thereafter he made some more trips to visit old relations and friends up and down the East Coast.  At home, he was very fortunate to have many friends and family close by, who were there with him up to the very end.

I was privileged to be able to visit with him numerous times over the past five months, up to last week, bringing him new medium format 3d slides to look at (his situation lit a fire under my butt to mount some slides), and also spending time reviewing his significant MF3d collection with him, and generally discussing matters related to 3D.  We even got to shoot a last photo session together, that we'd talked about for years, but had not been able to arrange before.  All the while, his health was holding up remarkably well!  Up until the last two weeks.

Chuck passed away peacefully last night at 11PM, with family and friends at his side.

I will remember him for his passion for slide film stereoscopy, and various technical matters related to this art, notably "mounting to infinity," which he taught me and others to embrace with enthusiasm.  He was also unflagging in his promotion of maximum on-film-deviations much greater than the accepted two or three mm, mounting "double-depth" when needed.  He demonstrated the feasibility and reasonableness of such depth ranges with many of his photographs, always with a subtle sense of humor, but also producing diagrammatic stereo slides to prove his point. 

 When he got into shooting medium format film, he helped me to get started and secured a place for me in a MF3d folio in which he was participating.  Over the years he never hesitated to come to my assistance with equipment or slide mounting needs.  We pursued numerous projects together, most notably our photography of the Bremo Bluff power station in 2012.

I will remember him for his focus on Newfoundland, where he had endured some military service in his youth, and to where he returned perennially to make photographs.  He has published a couple of stereo books on Newfoundland, and has been working on a "before and after" book matching vintage Newfoundland images with his own modern views.  Alas, this work remains unfinished.  I had the honor of mounting for him the MF3d slides of Newfoundland that he had shot last year - among which I found some very beautiful images.

Finally, I'll remember him for his epic storytelling, and his incredible memory for detail in those stories.  When we first got to know each other driving together to the NSA in Buffalo, NY, I suffered through hours and hours of stories told... but have long since come to cherish that experience!  His unusual facility with stories cannot be duplicated in any other medium, thus is irretrievably lost.

With a sad heart, I say good-bye to my dear friend.

My condolences go out to his family and friends.

Boris

––––

The only vital varieties of art are those which, of their very nature,

are an embodiment of the hidden urges existing

in the depths of human nature itself.

 - Sergei Eisenstein