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Welcome to Richard F. Ganci's page 

where his many friends and seminary classmates celebrate the life and works 

of the amazing Richard F. Ganci 

[1945-2008] 

Obit published in the Telluride Watch

March 4, 2008

[Moderator Note: Excerpted from Art Goodtimes' column, Up Bear Creek]

 SAN FRANCISCO … Richard was one of a kind. He marched to his own drummer. He had a quick mind and a playful spirit. Inventive. Master of correspondence. Wildly funny. Though he could be witty and even chatty in person, he was by preference a hermit. He described himself as “a monk in the world.” Worked at simple jobs -- gas station attendant, counselor for disturbed kids, the longest as clerk in several bookstores. Rented small flats, sometimes in the basement of someone else’s home. Valued his privacy more and more the older he got … He wrote brilliant little epigrammatic poems that reminded me of the ancient Greek lyric masters – Callimachus, Archilochus, Meleager of Gadara. At one point, he tossed all his lyric gems in the trash, and took up painting. But a few of us had a collection stashed away. And for years I published his pieces in the Telluride papers … We shared an Italian-Irish heritage – an affinity that bound us as friends the first time we met. He taught me to be comfortable in my own ornery skin. That being out of step with the norms and embracing the hermetic were valuable traits that needed no apologies … I knew him for 49 years, and though we lived half a continent apart for most of that time, I always thought of him as one of my closest brothers. Just the mention of his name invariably brought a smile to mind … As one of our mutual friends said, “He was very different but completely lovable” (and one could have easily substituted “difficult” for “different”, but lovable still) … Or as another said, “I'm burning a candle for Gance right now. I toasted him last night. He possessed a kind of fearlessness in being EXACTLY who he was.” … Ah, Richard, ‘tis a different world without you.