RIP, Peggy Rae Sapienza

Saw these tweets this morning:

I regret to inform you of the passing of my mother, Peggy Rae Sapienza, '98 Bucconeer #WorldCon chair, '07 Nippon North American Agent… — Laudato Si at a Social Distance 🐝 (@EricPavlat) March 23, 2015

… co-chair of #WorldFantasyConvention (#NebulaAwards) for #WSFS for the last few years, mother of 2, grandmother of 8, wife to John. — Laudato Si at a Social Distance 🐝 (@EricPavlat) March 23, 2015

Surrounded by her loved ones, she died at 5:50 local time following complications from valve replacement surgery. We all miss her greatly. — Laudato Si at a Social Distance 🐝 (@EricPavlat) March 23, 2015

Indeed she will be missed. When I was president of SFWA, I had the good fortune of working with Peggy Rae on the Nebula Awards Weekend, and I can attest that she was one of the good ones. She knew what she was doing, and she made it look, if not easy (running conventions is not easy) then at least manageable. I do remember that at one point during my tenure as president I made the off-hand comment that after a certain date I would be turning my attention more to the Nebula Awards, and getting a polite but pointed note from Peggy Rae asking “what exactly does that mean?” To which I responded something along the lines of, “it means that I will do nothing to get in your way but will back you up when and if you need it.” Which appears to have been the right answer all the way around.

She was also the Fan Guest of Honor at Chicon 7, the Worldcon at which I was the Toastmaster, and never was there a fan more deserving. From the bio note on the Chicon 7 site:

She ran Programming and Special Events for ConStellation, the 1983 Worldcon in Baltimore. She ran Exhibits, Registration, the Dealers’ Room, Information, Press Relations and the Newsletter (the “Second Floor Division”) with Fred Isaacs for Noreascon III in 1989 in Boston. She also conceptualized and managed the ConCourse for which Noreascon III was known. She served as Vice-Chairman for ConFrancisco, the 1993 Worldcon in San Francisco. Her many accomplishments in fandom were crowned by her serving as Chairman of Bucconeer, the 1998 Worldcon in Baltimore. More recently she helped Japanese fandom bring the Worldcon to Japan in 2007 and served as their North American Agent.

Those are some excellent accomplishments for which anyone could be proud.

Finally, I’m happy to say I considered Peggy Rae a friend, and deeply admired her competence and her cheerfulness in being so. If Peggy Rae was running things, basically, I felt in safe hands.

All thoughts to her family and friends today. She’ll be remembered not only by them, but by all of science fiction fandom.