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| Curt Bench | |
Curt Bench, the founder and owner of Benchmark Books who specialized in collecting and selling rare Latter-day Saint books, died August 17, Deseret News reported. He was 68. "He was the bridge-builder," the Bench family said. "He saw and believed in the true good of people. He believed the greatest thing we can do is to help one another."
Bench started his career with Deseret Book in 1984 before launching Benchmark Books in 1987. For the last three and a half decades he kept his business going by taking care of customers, playing detective with rare books, befriending prominent authors and historians and hosting events.
"I think more than anything, he loved everyone and everyone loved him. He accepted people. He was nonjudgmental. He expressed concern for them when they had struggles," said author and historian Richard E. Turley Jr. "He was an expert in his field, but he was more than that. He was a friend to many, many people. I think that his death comes hard, not just for the loss of his expertise, which is difficult to replace, but especially for his loss of love and friendship, which is irreplaceable."
In an obituary published on the bookstore's website, Bench's family wrote: "Curt's wealth of knowledge and accomplishments are too numerous to count but he was passionate about words, books, limericks, humor and laughter, turquoise and especially people. He loved unconditionally and built bridges and offered his hand to any that struggled, with a listening ear and no judgment. We will miss him every time we look at a sunset, and miss his texts telling us to go look at the sky."
The King's English Bookshop posted on Facebook: "Our bookselling hearts are broken this week as we mourn the unexpected passing of Curt Bench, longtime owner of Benchmark Books here in Salt Lake City. A true bibliophile, he was quick with a smile and an interesting story and our faces lit up whenever he came to our store. We will miss him very much and hope that he has plenty to read in Heaven."