Greetings all.

Nicky Pessaroff, Editor-in-Chief of Pen world magazine reached out to me this weekend, enlisting my aid, saying:

"I'm putting the final articles for the June issue together, and as you know, we've lost a number of individuals who merit a remembrance: Dan Reppert,
Mike Quitt of Bertram's Inkwell, and your friend Giovanni Abrate.

It is this last individual specifically that I wanted to reach out to you about. Of the three, Giovanni is the one I knew by reputation
only--although that reputation was, of course, huge. I was hoping you could help me collect information on Giovanni's life, those he is
survived by, and of course and most especially, his work in the pen community. There is, of course, the wonderful biography of him on
Pentrace, but if there's anything more I should know about him, please do tell me."

Although I first came to know Giovanni perhaps 25 years ago as one of my customers -- and later through the great Pentrace pen -- our communication over the years was electronic-only.

I'm sure that many of you here knew Gio on a more personal basis, and could help Nicky with his tribute!

I'll pass on this thread to Nicky directly.

Regards,

Norman