Richard Alf

Richard Alf (January 26, 1952 – January 4, 2012) was an American businessman and former comic book store owner who co-founded the San Diego Comic-Con International^[1] and served as its chairman beginning in 1970.^[2][3]

Biography

Personal life

Alf was born to Martha Alf, an artist, and Edward F. Alf Jr., a psychology professor at San Diego State University from 1963 until 1988.^[3] Alf was known for his height, as he stood 6-foot-6.^[3] He attended Kearny High School in San Diego. Alf studied music at the University of California, San Diego.^[3]

San Diego Comic-Con

In 1970, Alf teamed with a group of other comic enthusiasts, including Shel Dorf, Mike Towry, and Ken Krueger, to establish the first Comic-Con annual convention, then known as the San Diego’s Golden State Comic-Con.^[3][4]

Shel Dorf, who was 35 years old at the time, had conceived the idea for a comic convention, but lacked money and transportation to create the event.^[3] Alf, a then 17-year-old senior at Kearny High School, provided Dorf with both the money and transport, in the form of Alf's 1954 Volkswagen Beetle.^[3] Alf donated several thousand dollars to fund the convention for its first three years.^[2] He would be paid back after the convention.^[3]

The first convention, known San Diego’s Golden State Comic-Con, which was held at the U.S. Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego in 1970, was co-chaired by Alf.^[3] Alf became the chairman of the convention in 1971, while he was a music student at the University of California, San Diego.^[3] He used his ties to the university to move the convention to campus in 1971, offering discounted dorm rooms as housing for attendees.^[3] The dorm idea proved less than successful, as the university placed attendees on the same floors as quiet study groups, such as the Montessori.^[3] In 1972, Alf and Mike Towry co-chaired the third annual Comic-Con at the El Cortez in San Diego.^[3]

The convention, now known as San Diego Comic-Con International, is now an internationally known, four-day annual event held at the San Diego Convention Center.^[2] From its small beginnings, Comic-Con now attracts more than 125,000 attendees, with contributions from major celebrities and film studios.

Alf largely gave up his unpaid, volunteer positions at Comic-Con later in the 1970s.^[3] During the mid-1970s, he opened his own comic book store, called Comic Kingdom, in the North Park neighborhood of San Diego.^[2][3] He sold the comic business in the late 1970s and pursued careers in commodity trading and outdoor advertising.^[3]

In 2009, Comic-Con honored Alf, Dorf, Krueger, Towry and other co-founders of the convention.^[3] In November 2009, Dorf died in San Diego and Krueger died in upstate New York in the same month.^[3] Alf contributed to a special project by San Diego State University's library to document the early years and founders of Comic-Con with primary sources. According to Lynn Hawkes, a special projects officer at SDSU, "As a very young individual, Richard was not afraid to pursue his passions...He led a very interesting life and created something for the entire community that has been really wonderful."^[3]

Alf was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December 2011 after collapsing at his home in Serra Mesa, San Diego.^[2][3] He spent a short time at La Jolla Nursing and Rehabilitation Center before being transferred to the home of his friend, Earl Bookhammer, in Ramona, California.^[3] He died at Bookhammer's home in Ramona on January 5, 2012, at the age of 59.^[2][3]

References