We received the following: On Tuesday, January 13th, 2004, we lost one of our more recognized and respected Origins Game Masters, John Holtz, who died at age 44 of a brain tumor, at St. John's Hospital, Springfield, IL. John was one of the true scholars among us. Born April 25, 1959, in Elkhart, Indiana, he had a bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame and M.A. and M.L.S. degrees from Indiana University. John was an associate professor of library instructional services, at Brookens Library at University of Illinois, Springfield since 1989. John served as a reference librarian with much expertise in history and other duties such as chair of the Library Program Department from 1991-93 and in 2000-2001. John had a passion for subjects related to military history. For many years he shared this passion and enthusiasm with others as a Game Master for the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society (HMGS), the Historical Origins Team (HOT), and numerous other clubs and groups. John was exemplary at teaching, entertaining, and educating through the use of Historical Miniatures Gaming. As far was we know, this is the first time since the inception of the HOT program that we have lost one of our own. Over many years of selfless service, John earned our respect and admiration. At Origins 2002 John twice hosted several historical miniatures wargames, including the Napoleonic Battle of "Dennewitz 1813" (twice) using Volley and Bayonet (V&B) and "Bereka River, May 1942" a WWII wargame using Command Decision III (CDIII). Again in 2003, John presented "Last Grasp at Moscow, Dec 1941" using CDIII. John's close friend, Frank Chadwick produced both the CDIII and V&B wargame systems, and John was a significant contributor for their development. John's events at Origins were always popular, and always successful. Frank Chadwick shared "John had the academic credentials to be either a military historian or a librarian, and chose the later. When a historian friend of his asked him why he made that choice, he replied that being a librarian left him with more time for wargaming." John Holtz was one of the best of the best and he will be sorely missed by all of his fellow HMGS and ORIGINS Game Masters. Back to 1st Quarter 2004 List of News Items Back to Master List of News Items Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by Coalition Web, Inc. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com