I learned only yesterday via Elayne that Leah Adezio was in the hospital and not expected to pull through.
I was shocked and stunned. Now I have received word that she passed away last night of liver and kidney failure.
Leah was an artist, wife, mother and friend. When I moved to New York 12 years ago she was part of the core of the then-New York Friend of Lulu chapter. I also knew her from various online message boards. She swiftly became the kind of friend you could share anything with. We had many convention adventures together across the US, staffing the Lulu booth, lugging the “blue bongos” and or just hanging out eating cheese at the wonderful Lulu clubhouse that Elyane made available.
Sadly, I hadn’t seen Leah much over the last few years, as conventions are now a place where every minute is spoken for without much time to catch up with old friends. I ran into her at Wizard World Philly a few years ago, and she told me her husband had died suddenly. She seemed sad, understandably but seemed to be dealing with it with a great deal of dignity and wisdom — two words that definitely applied to Leah in all things.
She had a hard life. Her brother died violently, and that had affected her deeply. She loved her two kids dearly and talked about them all the time, but they weren’t always perfect and that caused the usual heartaches, also.
As an artist, Leah never had a big break, but she kept at it. She took her art and her comics seriously, and I remember once when she got to collaborate with Nick Cardy — she was over the moon, as any one would have been.
Through it all she was a mensch and a friend, someone who always reached out or had a laugh. I can’t imagine that there is anyone whose life she touched who isn’t going to miss her terribly.
More remembrances: Peter David, Colleen Doran, Elayne Riggs. UPDATE: Another remembrance by Tegan, talking about Leah’s love of all things Aquaman.
Also, memorials from Johanna and Jen Contino.
Heidi, I didn’t know Leah but I’m very sorry that you’ve lost a friend.
I roomed with Leah once when we staffed the Friends of Lulu booth for a con in Philly. We had a wonderful time and she was a great gal with lots of wonderful stories. I hope that there is an afterlife with all the ones you love in it – she deserves it more than anyone I know…
Thank you, Heidi. I will have my eulogy for Leah up this evening.
Leah was a big fan of Aquaman, and especially Aqualad. The Aquaman page has gone to black in her honor.
I’m so incredibly saddened to hear about this. I’ve known of her for several years, although we never met.
I had the pleasure of meeting Leah when I joined up with FoL in the late nineties. Though I saw her infrequently over the years, she was always warm, friendly and gracious. She’ll be missed.
Oh no!!! Sweet Leah…. what a dear. This is such a shock. Leah was a big part of my first overwhelming San Diego con. She had a heart of gold and was always so affectionate and open. God bless, Leah.
I met her only briefly, but she was one of those names that cropped up over and over any time people were talking about women and comics. Too bad she’s gone too soon.
Leah was definitely a big-hearted person and very giving. I remember going in a group to dinner to the Panda Inn with Nick Cardy the first time he was a guest at San Diego, and she was just thrilled to be there and beaming to be enjoying Chinese food with one of her idols. It’s a night that Nick still remembers fondly as well.
Leah did a lot for Friends of Lulu in the 1990s and helped make it the fun and valuable organization it was during that period. We will all miss her.
Jackie Estrada
Jackie, the picture you took of Nick and Leah (and John and I) at the Panda Inn is on my Aquaman website.
http://www.eskimo.com/~tegan/aqua/blog/2007/01/requiem.html
Leah was one of my first online friends, a dear, sweet, saucy woman who I never got to spend as much time with as I would have liked. I treasure the couple of conventions we were both at…and my memories of her.
We’re just losing too many good people.
Tony
I didn’t know Leah, but I’m sorry to hear this. It sounds like she was a great person that’s going to be missed.
I remember having many conversations with her back when Compuserve was a powerhouse. She was a regular in the weekly Wed night comic book chats. Such a lovely woman.
RIP Leah
Heidi —
Thank you for your tribute to Leah. She had been friends with both my wife Lori and me since our days together in the APA TitanTalk and although we weren’t keeping close contact in recent years, the news of her illness and passing affected us quite deeply.
Charles Skaggs
I’m just going to say what will probably be repeated many times because it’s true…she was a pretty amazing lady. It’s a shame she had to go so soon.
Leah was a sweetie, brimming with enthusiasm and good intentions. It saddens me much to hear this.
Thank you for spreading the news, Heidi.
Unless I’m misremembering, that picture of Leah pretending to strangle Tony was taken at the Mid-Ohio Con (and in the same room) where I first met Leah in person. We only ran into each other sporadically at conventions over the years, but it was always a pleasure to run into each other at a show.
She was always so energetic and full of life that it’s hard to believe that she’s gone.
Despite all that she’d been through, she was still a warm and open person, who always seemed to have a smile to spare.
She’ll be missed by everyone who knew her.
PDS
Leah was an amazing, kind, fun and friendly woman, as lovely as she was lively. I am glad to have known and worked with her, and will dearly miss her.
This leaves a real hole in the cosmos. Leah’s humor and force of life were astonishing, even as she grieved her husband.
I met her through a support site for young widow/ers in 2003. I went off on a widow’s diatribe about Marshmallow Peeps, and she most enthusiastically joined in devising bizzarre and awful things to do to the sweet and colorful things. She regularly provided updates on the whereabouts of the Peepmobile and apparently incorporated Peeps into one of her Faire outfits.
I joined Leah one afternoon at the PA Rennaissance Faire where she was in full garb and totally in her element. We sprinkled M&Ms at the memorial garden her friends had planted there for her husband David.
She totally answered my geek side, absent since my own husband’s death. News of her passing shocks and saddens me, and I can only offer the deepest of condolences to her sons and her brother.
“This journey is ended. Another begins. Time to rest now.” (jms, sleeping in light)
Gotta say I’m shocked speechless to hear this, haven’t talked to Leah in years. I knew her husband died a few years ago and dropped her an email expressing my condolences at the time but other then that we lost touch. I had no idea she was so sick. I didn’t know Leah that well, we used to hang out at cons and work the Friends of Lulu booth together back in the day but then the demands of “real life” came along and I stopped going to cons or FOL meetings as often. I wish I had known her better, or been able to see her one final time before she passed, but it was not meant to be. Above my desk as I type this is framed drawing of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fighting Vampirella, with Buffy wearing an “I Luv Angel” button and the words “and of course Buffy wins” on the bottom. Leah drew this for me at a White Plains con we were hanging out in. I don’t remember how this drawing came about, whether it was something I suggested or just something Leah draw on her own and gave to me, but it has always been one of my most treasured possessions. My sincerest condolences to go out to her family and loved ones.
Like Charles, I first met Leah during my time in Titantalk. We would talk for hours about comics, the APA, and our lives. I met my wife Lindy via Titantalk and when our first daughter was born, Leah sent us a drawing of the three of us. I still have that drawing along with others that she sent to the APA and me personally. Like others, I lost touch with her over the years but did speak to her in November 2006. She sounded like her old self and we picked up right where we left off. She never even hinted that she was sick. She was a wonderful woman and a gifted artist. She is already greatly missed. My heart goes out to her 2 boys as well.
wow. this is shocking. I haven’t talked to her in a couple of years really, we used to communicate on a yahoo group for titans fen, and were in Ttalk together. I didn’t know about her husband passing although I did see her at a con in Boston not long after her brother’s. she made me a lovely drawing. she was unfailingly nice to me. my heart goes out to her children.
I have been friends with Leah, I know her as Sandy, since I was four years old. Though her and I only spoke on our birthdays conversation was as if time had never passed. I went to the hospital and stayed overnight with her before she had gone into a coma. We laughed, cried and talked about things that happened in our past. You should here some of the stories. I realized from speaking with her that she has become such a part of so many peoples lives, it was breathtaking to me. She always opened her heart to anyone who needed a shoulder and I am so proud to say what a dear and loving friend and sister she has been to me. I will miss her so much. She dedicated a song to me one year “The wind beneath my wings” by Bett Midler from the Beaches movie. She said that I was the wind beneath her wings but she was so wrong. She was and always will be the wind beneath my wings… I Love you Sandy.
I also knew Leah from TitanTalk in the 1990’s – her enthusiam was often contagious and a pleasure to be around. What a shock this news is. Best to her family & friends.
Hi, I don’t know you, but I do know Leah. She was my aunt. Her brother was my father. And sadly I didn’t get to see her much after she moved away 3 years ago. I’m glad people got a chance to know her. And I’m glad I got a chance to tlak to her just a day before she died.
It is with a very heavy, heavy heart that Leah’s sorority sisters from Duquesne are finding out about her death today, May 20,2008. We are all deeply saddened.
Leah was one in a million. Her heart was so big. I felt terrible when I learned of her husband’s death just a few years ago. You see, I have a college aged daughter who was diagnosed with epilepsy.
We were all enriched at Duquesne by knowing Leah. Our sorority was the recieptent of one of the finest women I have ever known. She is in my heart and prayers.
Love and respect in Epsilon Pi!
Gina Ehrhart
AGD/Alpha Omega Chapter/Duquesne University
It is with a very heavy, heavy heart that Leah’s sorority sisters from Duquesne are finding out about her death today, May 20,2008. We are all deeply saddened.
Leah was one in a million. Her heart was so big. I felt terrible when I learned of her husband’s death just a few years ago. You see, I have a college aged daughter who was diagnosed with epilepsy.
We were all enriched at Duquesne by knowing Leah. Our sorority was the recieptent of one of the finest women I have ever known. She is in my heart and prayers.
Love and respect in Epsilon Pi!
Gina Ehrhart
AGD/Alpha Omega Chapter/Duquesne University