I just learned of Chuck's passing this morning via the email from Nelsonica US. I searched for obits in the Nashville and Los Angeles-area newspapers but didn't find anything from November 12th onwards. If anybody can find an obit, please email me at
mark@markrushton.com.
Chuck and I emailed every month or two over the years. He had worked for about 20 years with Nissan/Infiniti Motors, and moved to Nashville recently when the company switched their headquarters to there from the LA area. Over the summer he had a hip replacement, but had just purchased a home with a half acre lot. I joked with him about how he'll need to buy a riding lawn mower now. He seemed happy in Nashville, even though he had grown up in LA and spent many years in the suburban Chicago area. I know he was a big fan of country music, as well as rock, so Nashville would have suited him.
I only met Chuck once, in 1997 when I was living in Houston. Some people you don't have to meet to know you can trust them, and Chuck was one of those people. When I got tired of managing the web site after I had children, Chuck offered to take it over and keep it running, but we always kept in touch about things. When the SoS guys were going to make a web site with Bill, Chuck called me up to ask if it was OK to give the billnelson.com domain name to them - even though Chuck's name was on the account! He was so sincere.
Chuck had many health problems over the years, as Bill mentioned. When he was living in Chicago he was regularly in and out of the hospital, and he had told me that on a couple of occasions he nearly passed away.
Chuck had told me on a number of times that his illnesses had made him depressed, which is understandable, but his love for Bill's music always got him out of the worst parts.
He was such a fan. Chuck collected so many things Nelson-related. When I no longer needed the many things I had acquired in building the initial billnelson.com web site, I shipped him a giant box so he could read and enjoy it all. Even recently, he was emailing me about the Global Village acetate up for auction at Holyground.
Thanks, Bill, for such a nice tribute for Chuck.