R.I.P. Chris Rifkin.......

[LarryD]

Chris Rifkin passed away yesterday of pancreatic cancer. Many of you know him from the boards, Prog Power and other........ No one should be taken that way.
He befriended me many, many years ago - when I raved about his first CD way back in the 90s, and he never forgot that. I will play that disc called Eye of the Storm in his honor today .... R.I.P.

[venidominefan]

So sorry for your loss, Larry.

[introclaus]

Chris will be missed. Always greeting me at PPUSA with a big hug every year. Such a sweet guy taken away way too early.

I’ll play some Riverside and Persefone in his memory.

[nvandyk]

It was a sad day indeed.

He told me about it a couple of months ago and asked me to keep it quiet. I tried to support him as best i could. It was detected late and in any event pancreatic is a particularly vicious and awful version of an already terrible disease. The end came very quickly -- he was still feeling good two weeks ago even though he knew he had limited time.

We all know he could be a bit of a goofball and the running joke of me running from his oppressive attention gave us all a good laugh from time to time. But while he maybe didn't take social cues as well as we might all like to do ourselves, he was fiercely loyal to his friends and had a huge heart.

I'll genuinely miss him and PP won't be the same without his presence.

My choice will be some Marillion in his honor. Cueing it up now.

I hope all of you and yours are well -- I'm really barely participating online any more (has added years to my mental health haha) but I do think of you guys fondly and will stop by more frequently here.

[introclaus]

It was a sad day indeed.

He told me about it a couple of months ago and asked me to keep it quiet. I tried to support him as best i could. It was detected late and in any event pancreatic is a particularly vicious and awful version of an already terrible disease. The end came very quickly -- he was still feeling good two weeks ago even though he knew he had limited time.

We all know he could be a bit of a goofball and the running joke of me running from his oppressive attention gave us all a good laugh from time to time. But while he maybe didn't take social cues as well as we might all like to do ourselves, he was fiercely loyal to his friends and had a huge heart.

I'll genuinely miss him and PP won't be the same without his presence.

My choice will be some Marillion in his honor. Cueing it up now.

I hope all of you and yours are well -- I'm really barely participating online any more (has added years to my mental health haha) but I do think of you guys fondly and will stop by more frequently here.

Thank you for stopping by Nick - you’ve been missed.

Couldn’t agree more with what you said. Chris was one of the very first people I ever met at PP.

You, more than anyone, know what Chris dealt with at the end here, and I’m happy to hear he had you to confide in and talk it over with.

Yes, Marillion, anathema, riverside and persefone are the bands I always associate with Chris, so they’ll all find themselves into my rotation this weekend.

[Bear]

Hey guys, long time..Yeah this sucks. I also spoke with Chris in late October early November about it, I also dont say anything out of respect for his wishes. , his spirits were great and he sounded like his was going to be able to get to PPUSA this year...I am pretty saddened by his departure...

The last thing he posted tp me on FB was I announed I am getting married to my lady a few weeks ago and he was the first person to thank me and Marissa and wish us well!

F#ck Cancer!

Bear

[nvandyk]

Hey guys, long time..Yeah this sucks. I also spoke with Chris in late October early November about it, I also dont say anything out of respect for his wishes. , his spirits were great and he sounded like his was going to be able to get to PPUSA this year...I am pretty saddened by his departure...

The last thing he posted tp me on FB was I announed I am getting married to my lady a few weeks ago and he was the first person to thank me and Marissa and wish us well!

F#ck Cancer!

Bear

Amen to that, Bear. And yeah, that was Chris. He had his opinions and would disagree — sometimes kinda clumsily. But at the end of the day he was a kind hearted guy who wanted people to be happy and was genuinely glad when things went well for others.

On that note, Bear, CONGRATULATIONS! That’s wonderful news, and I wish you both many many years of happiness and good health!

[Bear]

Thank you Nick,much appreciated. Looking forward to your new music! Lets all raise a toast for Chris! I ll never forget him chasing me around PPUSA 1.0 with his walkman trying to get me to listen to his F5 CD and wanting me to play it on my show...

Bear

[outprogged42]

Hey guys, long time..Yeah this sucks. I also spoke with Chris in late October early November about it, I also dont say anything out of respect for his wishes. , his spirits were great and he sounded like his was going to be able to get to PPUSA this year...I am pretty saddened by his departure...

The last thing he posted tp me on FB was I announed I am getting married to my lady a few weeks ago and he was the first person to thank me and Marissa and wish us well!

F#ck Cancer!

Bear

Amen to that, Bear. And yeah, that was Chris. He had his opinions and would disagree — sometimes kinda clumsily. But at the end of the day he was a kind hearted guy who wanted people to be happy and was genuinely glad when things went well for others.

On that note, Bear, CONGRATULATIONS! That’s wonderful news, and I wish you both many many years of happiness and good health!

Nick, I don't recall ever meeting him, but I've seen him interact with us in the PPUSA forums and your depiction of him is the kind of person I imagined him to be. I always admired your close friendship and knew he was important to the PP fold, and that he will be much missed.

(As a side note: I did not make it to PPUSA 2022, the first one I stayed home from, and won't be able to come this year either as I'll be out of the country. But I was glad to see some videos of you on stage with Ray bringing out some old classics! Glad to see you around and kicking and I love the new song. Andrew)

[AllMediaReviews]

Sorry to hear about this. I definitely spent some time with him at ProgPowerUSA, including when chatting with Johan H from Pain of Salvation. I'll never forget after telling him about my radio show on KFAI, he just gave me a copy of his band's cd "Eye of the Storm" and he described it as "Trans Thrash," which sounded/sounds rather incongruous, but actually kind of worked.

Very sad to hear. RIP.

[Mardoch]

Oh, damn...

I didn't know him super well but we talked briefly at many PPs. He always came off as kind of a huge goofball, which was endearing. I'll definitely throw on some Riverside today.

[Sparky]

Wow. Pancreatic cancer can die in a fire. My wife (and my kids) suffer from hereditary chronic pancreatitis, which makes them prime candidates for it. My wife is getting scoped next week as part of her yearly screenings. She's also a research nurse in one of the country's premiere endocrinology (pancreas) groups. They're going to get there - someday. Not early enough to save Chris and all the rest, though. RIP, dude.