I just found out that Lee Breakiron, a good man and a scholar of Howardian things, died suddenly on March 29th. This is what his daughter, Kensi Michelle Miller, posted on Facebook a few hours ago:

"It is with a heavy heart that I share the sudden passing of my father Lee Breakiron this past Sunday March 29th 2026 at the age of 77.
My Dad was not just my parent, but a friend, mentor, ally, caregiver & so much more. His loss has left a gigantic hole in my life that is impossible to fill. (…)

In lieu of flowers, if you wish to honor his memory, please consider a donation to the Robert E. Howard Foundation, a cause very close to his heart."

The REHF was, indeed, something Lee believed in deeply, as Rusty Burke noted this evening:

"Lee was a great guy, a Howard fan's Howard fan. For several years now, he has produced the quarterly newsletter for the [Robert E. Howard] Foundation and done it well."

If there is any sort of 'stereotype' regarding Robert E. Howard fans and scholars, Mr. Breakiron probably wouldn't fit totally within the 'rules'. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Phd. in Astronomy around the same time he discovered the fiction of Robert E. Howard. He would go on to work at the United States Naval Observatory.

After collecting all things related to Robert E. Howard for over thirty years, Lee decided to get a bit more serious about his REH fanhood/scholarship. That was when I first met him. He joined Frank Coffman's REHeapa online journal in 2008 and then REHupa in 2009.

Meanwhile, Mr. Breakiron was getting published in the public, ‘dead tree’ world. He started off with a bang, appearing in Dennis McHaney’s all-star anthology, The Man from Cross Plains: A Centennial Celebration of Two-Gun Bob Howard. He went right from that to being published in the pages of Leo Grin’s legendary The Cimmerian journal. Lee would go on to be published in other respected Howardian venues like REH: Two-Gun Raconteur and The Dark Man. All such appearances can be found here.

It was during this period that Breakiron was designated a “Featured Attendee” at Howard Days 2014. The powers-that-be were paying attention.

Lee also did invaluable work for the Robert E. Howard Foundation. Initially, he was filling in for Damon Sasser on the REH Foundation Newsletter. That was in 2016. Damon bowed out for good after one more issue. From then on, Mr. Breakiron was the sole editor for the REHF newsletters until their suspension in 2023. The full series can be found here.

While Lee was all-around a gifted scholar of Howardiana, he was the undisputed king--by his own hand--when it came to scholarship regarding the history of Howardian fandom and literary criticism. He'd read and collected all of it during the decades before he strode into the REH scholarship arena.

The fact that there is no central database of such things was--and remains--an issue in REH scholarship. Countless articles have been written, and theories espoused, because the authors didn't know of previous writings already addressing the same issue or soundly refuting their claims, mainly because they didn’t even know such things existed.

Reinventing the wheel just isn’t efficient or helpful.

Mr. Breakiron sought to prevent such redundancies and wasted efforts by way of his "The Nemedian Chronicles" series, which began in REHeapa and carried on in REHupa almost until the present day. A Herculean task, but one he gladly shouldered. Many of Lee’s great “Nemedian Chronicles” can be found here at the REHeapa website. Just go to the lower left side of the screen and click.

Lee’s demeanor might best be described, perhaps, as ‘courtly’. While no extrovert, he was always gracious and perfectly willing to discuss things Howardian. In that regard, he reminded me a little bit of Glenn Lord. He was certainly that way when I expressed my admiration for him and his work at several different Howard Days. Now that he’s gone, I am especially glad I did so. If you admire/respect someone, tell them. You never know what tomorrow may bring

I wasn’t the only one who benefited from Mr. Breakiron’s scholarship and courtly temperament. This is what REH scholar, Dierk Guenther, had to say in remembrance:

“[Lee Breakiron] helped me greatly during my PhD research on Robert E. Howard by generously sharing materials from his personal archive, and I will never forget his invaluable support.”

Sword-and-Sorcery scholar and friend of the DMR Books Blog, Brian Murphy, shared this memory of Lee:

“…as I began researching and writing Flame and Crimson I came across his “Nemedian Chronicles” electronic newsletter and discovered that he had an entire run of the legendary fanzine Amra in his possession.
I wrote to Lee to obtain copies of a couple key issues I desperately needed for research, and he proceeded to send me the entire run on CD-ROM. I thanked him profusely and credited him in the acknowledgements.”

As I said, Lee Breakiron was both a gentleman and a scholar.

There is about a two-week period starting around the last week of March and continuing on through the first week of April that, statistically, is perilous for scholars and hardcore fans of Robert E. Howard. There was Steve Tompkins in 2009. Then Miguel Martins in 2014. Then Chris Hale in 2021…and now Lee Breakiron. I’m not sure what to say about that, other than you should let your loved ones know that they’re loved. There may be no tomorrow.

Rest in peace, Lee.