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I’m devastated to learn of the death of Brian Jacoby, the owner of Secret Headquarters, a comics shop in Tallahassee, FL. Jacoby was admitted to the hospital last week with blood clots in both lungs and a leg, and he died suddenly on Thanksgiving night. Jacoby tweeted his health experiences and hospitalization on his Twitter account—painful reading now, but his humor even in illness is evident. The above photo is taken from his Twitter account.

Jacoby is survived by a brother and a 10-year old daughter.

Jacoby was a regular—perhaps even daily—poster here at the Beat, always with a ready opinion on any of the business topics I brought up here. His viewpoints often were the opposite of whatever I was arguing, but he offered his insights graciously and always contributed to the conversation with new information—an all too rare ability in today’s contentious times. I’ll really miss his voice.

A memorial for Jacoby will be held tomorrow:

My sincere condolences to Brian’s friends and family.

8 COMMENTS

  1. Shocking to read about this, like all the sad losses that have been happening lately…As a reader , I appreciated how Brian always educated and kept things classy on these boards by sharing his enthusiasm and passion of comics from what’s going on in his store. It was neat that a store owner that shared what he knew and explained things clearly to us as businessman and a fan who cared. He’ll be missed here for sure. You realize more how this is someone’s life’s work when its cut way too short . My condolences and thoughts.

  2. I’m shocked to learn of Brian’s passing. I have been a customer at his store for years. He was always a funny and fascinating person to talk to and joke with, and had an encyclopedic knowledge of comic books that was almost scary to behold. I will miss our long, rambling talks about the latest DC and Marvel x-overs, and our arguments over the merits of New 52 DC vs. Pre52 DC (we never did resolve that one). My condolences to his friends and family. He was a true comic book fan, a great supporter of new and interesting comic book talent, a wonderful salesperson (who always got me to try new series), and an all-around great guy. He will be greatly missed.

  3. I was so sorry to hear of his passing. I never met him in person, but I had many conversations with him online. Brian was a kind, generous guy, and I would have loved the opportunity to meet him in person and shop at what sounds like a pretty terrific, welcoming store.

  4. Devastating news to hear. His store was the first comic book store I ever entered where I didn’t have to prove my geekdom and actually felt welcomed. He created a place that was safe and welcoming to all comic book geeks and gaming geeks in our community. To say he will be missed greatly would be putting it mildly.

  5. Brian was always helpful and very funny. Several times I entered his shop while his daughter was present and I could tell that he loved her immensely. My heart goes out to her and to all of his family and friends. I will miss you Brian. Your shop put the other local shops to shame and your customer service skills were second to none. Thank you for all that you did for your customers.

  6. Words cannot describe how saddened I am by the untimely death of Brian Jacoby. He was a good friend and an even better person. I sincerely hope his loyal customers can somehow come together and take up a collection for his daughter to help pay for funerary costs and expenses. I still can’t believe he’s gone and he will be sorely missed by the entire Tallahassee comic collectors community. I also hope all his hard work in building Secret HQ into the best comic shop in town will not end. I am so sorry for his daughter’s loss. This is so unexpected and unfortunate I am still at a loss…

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