http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thesouthern/obituary.aspx?n=david-trampier&pid=170356694&fhid=8429

this is going around the blogosphere, and seems legit.  Same age as Dave, and same location where he was a cabbie.

I am very sad.  Hopefully he is at peace

That is a shame.  I guess we'll never know what really happened to drive him off like that.

Very sad news if this proves true.

What I kinda find depressing is he apparently was a cab driver in Illinois.

To me, everyone involved in D&D in the early days should have been wealthy.

About as depressing as Louise Brooks (one of the great actresses of the 1920s) having to work in a department store...

Links dead.

There is an article elsewhere I read last year about a fans quest to find Trampier and apparently he did and talked about the Wormy comic and other things.

Apparently Trampier didnt think much of RPGs and there was a falling out with TSR over renegotiating pay so he quit. Why he quit art I havent heard. But I have known a number of popular artists who just up and quit and vanish.

I'll ping Tom Wham and see if he has heard of this. Likely. They are related.

I have a loved one who struggles with Paranoid Personality Disorder. It's a hellish, life-crushing, joy-destroying, and utterly poisonous mental illness. IF that was DAT's problem (as rumored), we can at least take a little bitter comfort in that his pain is over.

The link takes you to the main page. Then just go a few days ago instead of today's obit list.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;739297The link takes you to the main page. Then just go a few days ago instead of today's obit list.

No. The link took me to a blank page. Was able to backtrack it though.

Quote from: Omega;739298No. The link took me to a blank page. Was able to backtrack it though.

Ok. The page is a moving one.

His friend and brother-in-law Tom Wham (did humorous cartoons/illos for D&D way way back in the beginning, plus did the art for a lot of TSR board games) confirmed it, by the way.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;739302His friend and brother-in-law Tom Wham (did humorous cartoons/illos for D&D way way back in the beginning, plus did the art for a lot of TSR board games) confirmed it, by the way.

Tom also desighed the board games he illustrated. Awfull Green Things. King of the Tabletop/Kings & Things, Snits Revenge, etc.

I pinged him off a message but havent gotten a reply back yet. As predicted - hes probably swamped with those.

This is doubly sad as there had been attempts to get Tramp to collect his art and do a kickstarter or PDF/POD production before this.

Tom is at Gary Con right now. It's in full swing this week end.

Sad to hear. He was one of the early artists whose work I truly liked. RIP

Here is a more direct link to the announcement:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thesouthern/obituary.aspx?n=david-trampier&pid=170356694&fhid=8429

I'm very sad to hear of DAT's passing.  His work fired my imagination during my early years in this hobby.  I loved 'Emirikol the Chaotic' and the picture with the halfling and dwarves in the PHB.  Heck, I loved all of his work!  He was the greatest of the classic FRPG artists, in my opinion.

RIP, mighty Emirikol!

To say he was an inspiration to me is an understatement.  Notice something familiar with the cover art to one of my games?