Very, very sad news.
Joe Drabyak, a bookseller at Chester County Book & Music Co., West Chester, Pa., for 16 years and president of the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association, died Friday night. He had been diagnosed with kidney cancer earlier this year.
A memorial service will be held this fall.
Already this weekend many people remembered Joe:
Acting NAIBA president Lucy Kogler of Talking Leaves, Buffalo, N.Y., in an e-mail to NAIBA members: "All of us on the NAIBA Board are better at our jobs as directors and as booksellers because of Joe's tenure and especially because of the leadership shown during his presidency....
"To say that Joe was one of the people who, if you are lucky, comes into your life and makes it larger is to understate his full impact. He was a teacher, and so very skilled, that we didn't know that lessons were taking place. We learned patience, kindness, generosity of spirit, humor and love--of books, of life, of family and friends. Many of the authors who met him recognized this about him, too, and paid tribute by naming characters after him....
"We will miss him every day. We will invoke his memory whenever we are together. We will laugh at all his enthusiastic and creative ways of having non-author events. We will look toward the direction of our own beliefs and thank that creator for having given us this man."
Chris Kerr of Parson Weems: "Joe was an exceptionally kind, open person; happily and enthusiastically committed to connecting readers with books. Lucky was the rep who had a title Joe chose to endorse; he could sell hundreds of copies of anything he believed in."
Larry Portzline of Bookstore Tourism: "He was an absolutely wonderful guy, and the book world will miss him. He was an early supporter of Bookstore Tourism and a real believer in my mission. I'll be forever grateful for that, but more than anything I'll miss his friendship, his warmth, his wild sense of humor, and his vast knowledge of books. He's gone much too soon."
Len Vlahos of the American Booksellers Association: "He was a great bookseller and a great man, and he will be sorely, sorely missed by all of his friends and colleagues."
Carl Lennertz of HarperCollins: "I don't know if many people know this but Joe sent in the first ever Book Sense nomination, and when I told him a few months ago that Neil McMahon names a cop after him in the manuscript he just sent in, Joe said that makes eight times there's a character named Drabyak in a book! That's just one testament to what he means to the book community, especially to all the authors' books he's handsold. The name, the passion, that smile will live on."
Craig Popelars of Algonquin: "I can't count how many times over the last few months where I've had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes thinking about Joe. Hillary Jordan told me that she has a character in her forthcoming novel named Congressman Joe Drabyak. I went to the Chester County site and flipped through the staff picks and every other title was an Algonquin title that Joe handsold the hell out of. Joe's passion for our books was pretty much my marketing plan for everything that Algonquin published. Screw a New York Times ad, let's just get Joe to read the damn book!"'
Stephanie Anderson, WORD: "I met Joe sitting in a hallway during my first NAIBA conference; he introduced himself, asked where I worked and what I'd read lately that I'd loved. It wasn't until the next day when I saw him speak at an awards ceremony that I learned he was the president of NAIBA and therefore should have been way too busy and important to have been stopping in the hallway and asking some random bookseller what she thought about the fall lists. Except that Joe was never too busy or important for anybody, especially if they had a good book to talk to him about. I didn't know Joe as well as I would have liked, but we still found a chance to talk whenever we were at the same conference. He always had two questions for me: 'What are you reading lately that's good?' and [in reference to tattoos] 'Any new ink?' "
Susan L. Weis of breathe books: "I think this man read more books than anyone else on earth, and he was mentioned in at least half a dozen! Joe's passing leaves a huge void not only in the in the bookselling world, but in hearts of many lives. People just loved Joe. His love for books and music was so infectious. And he was as great a storyteller as he was a book pusher!
"I will so miss being greeted by his devilish laugh as he did a little disco dance and showed off his New Age expertise by calling me "Chakra Kahn-Chakra Kahn" and inquiring about my Aura and Karma. I am so glad I was able to spend time with him in July, as he held court in the cafe of Chester County Books and Music. He was an angel of a man and I feel so blessed to have known him."
Eileen Dengler, executive director of NAIBA: "Joe always said he was fortunate. He had a loving wife whose own career enabled him to be a 'kept man' and to pursue his bookselling career. He felt fortunate not to be a store owner, so his focus wasn't on payroll but on books and getting them into the right hands. He was a career NAIBA man, serving as a conference speaker every year as well as on the board for eight years and as our president for the past four years.
"Joe loved his bookselling community; he loved the authors, he loved the customers, he loved his fellow booksellers, he loved the publishers and reps who brought him all those great books. I hope this season we can embrace those same things in our own lives and enjoy them with a new fervor in Joe's memory. Just because we can.
"Even if you didn't know Joe Drabyak, there is a Joe inside us all and a Joe inside all our stores. Joe's enthusiasm was infectious. His mind was always racing for ways to promote books in a fun and creative way; to help the new author. We all miss him."
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We at Shelf Awareness remember Joe as a gracious, warm, generous, funny, sly, incredibly well-read man who loved books, authors and talking about books and authors. He always gave "good quote," and sometimes quietly tipped us off about books he adored that he thought weren't getting the attention they needed. He was a joy to watch presiding over meetings or speaking at panels or introducing authors--all of whom so obviously had deep bonds with him. He took great pleasure in having the floor and was both informative and entertaining. He found humor in most any situation, and as he slowly told a joke or threw a funny line into a presentation, he tried to hold back a smile but usually it formed just as the audience understood what amusing path he had taken us down.
Joe had a previous career that explained some of his showmanship: he was an arts and entertainment administrator who produced many concerts, including, as he proudly mentioned to us several times, the first public performance of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
He enjoyed life in many ways: he introduced us to Conundrum wine, a delicious white vintage that we have always and will always associate with one of the finest men in bookselling.--John Mutter