Jon Stopa
(June 30, 1935 – March 4, 2024)
Jon Stopa (né John L. Stopa), a Chicagoland fan, was active in running Advent:Publishers, he created covers for many of their books. He was a member of the University of Chicago SF Society.
He and his wife, Joni, were Fan GoHs at Chicon V. With Joni, he was a Fan GoH at ConClave VI.
Stopa met Joni Cornell at Pittcon in 1960 and the following year traveled out to Seattle with a group of fans, including Joni, for Seacon. In 1963, they married and lived at Wilmot Mountain, Stopa's family ski resort in Wilmot, WI, and began hosting Wilcon, a three-day long invitation-only relaxacon.
Throughout the 1960s, the Stopas entered and won many masquerades. Jon was responsible for publications at Chicon III and his picture, in costume, appeared in The Proceedings: Chicon III. In the early 1970s, the couple helped found ISFiC.
He was part of the Chicago: 1959, Chicago in 1982 and Bermuda Triangle in 1988 Worldcon bids and an agent for the hoax bid Say Da to Moscow.
Jon published a handful of short stories, beginning in 1957 with "The First Inch" in Astounding and ending in 1973 with "Kiddy-Lib" in Eros in Orbit. He participated in the Windy City writers’ workshop.
He appears as a bartender in the video Faans in a scene shot at the lodge at Wilmot Mountain.
Jon grew up at Wilmot Mountain and became a co-owner and operator of the ski area, which was founded by his father, Walter Stopa, in 1938. They were innovators in snowmaking, and Jon developed an improvement in air/water mixing on snow guns, making them more efficient. His design is still used on snow guns today.
Jon and Joni’s fanac was limited to the periods outside snow season, since they both worked at the ski area.
- Bibliography at ISFDB.
- Photo, with Joni Stopa, at St. Louiscon, 1969.
- Obituary.
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 1981 — ConClave IV
- 1991 — Chicon V
| Person | 1935—2024 |
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