A short note about Tugrik

As I write this, news is going around that Tugrik, one of the “old guard” of furry fandom, passed away. I haven’t been able to confirm this independently, but the source seems trustworthy.

Tugrik had chronic health problems in his last few years, but I never ascertained just what was going on; he and I had fallen out of touch, which is at least half my fault. Sometimes his infrequent social media posts sounded like things were getting worse; sometimes, including most recently, they sounded hopeful. I was hoping to get in touch with him again, finally, the next time I was in Portland, whenever that ended up being. (At this point, it’s high on my list of places to retire to.)

It’s hard to overstate how important Tugrik was to early furry fandom. He was one of the original FurryMUCK wizards, and provided hosting services for FurryMUCK—and other early furry websites, for that matter–for many years. Long before it became common, he did fursuit photoshoots at Further Confusion with professional equipment (and results). He loved being the infrastructure guy, somebody who might be behind the scenes but helped make things happen. While he wasn’t loud about it, he was extremely creative, too, from the projects he built for early Burning Man celebrations—one of which may well have been the first mobile hotspot—to the elaborate world-building for his monoceros species.

More than anything else, though, he was generous, with his time and his resources. The twenty years I spent in Silicon Valley very likely wouldn’t have happened without him; he not only offered a spare room at his house, he didn’t charge me rent until I landed a job. That literally changed the course of my life—so many things about who I am now, from becoming a tiki aficianado to understanding myself as nonbinary, sprung from my time out there. Most of my deepest RL friendships formed or deepened in the Valley. And he remained one of those good friends, even after I moved out.

So some night soon, I’ll raise a tiki drink in his honor—I’m not positive I’m the one he caught the tiki bug from, but I’m pretty sure I was a strong influence. You should join me—non-alcoholic is fine (and, let’s be honest, probably wiser). He was one of the quiet, too often unsung greats. He’ll be missed.