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 notes here:

"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 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.

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.

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 misguided 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.

Rest in peace, Lee