Today Mark Merlino / Sy Sable passed away. You can still help his partners and loved ones by donating to the GoFundMe made earlier during his hospitalization.

I thought it would be nice to celebrate his life by stating some of his accomplishments within the furry fandom and American anime community.

In 1977, Mark was one of the founding members of the Cartoon/Fantasy organization. Which was a club dedicated to the viewing and discussion of many works including Japanese animation. The C/FO was one of the few places people could watch anime in this pre-internet time period. The mascot of the C/FO is a furry character designed by Mark, named Fanta.

Fanta is a member of an original species created by Mark in 1971, known as a Skiltaire. They are a species of intelligent aliens that resemble colorful weasels with antennae.

The furry fandom started in sci-fi conventions, where fans of anthropomorphic art and "funny animal" comics found each other and held room parties. Eventually Mark and his partner Rod O'Riley co-founded their own convention for furries, known as Confurence. This was the very first furry convention and it ran from 1989 to 2003.

Mark also owned and ran a "furry house" known as The Prancing Skiltaire. A furry house is a private home that may house several members of the fandom, or could be a place that hosts furry events and parties. The Prancing Skiltaire was both, all household members being furries who held monthly house parties among other events for the fandom. The monthly parties stopped only recently due to Mark's medical condition.

Mark has also contributed much to the fandom through writing and speaking. He has written fiction and non-fiction work for fandom zines and other projects. He has spoken at many panels throughout the years, discussing things such as funny animal comics and the furry fandom's history.

To get a deep dive into the furry fandom's origins and receive context on some of the feats listed here, please watch The Fandom: A Furry Documentary.

For even more information, click on the Wikifur links or browse the Confurence website's archive.

The information in this journal was intended to be brief and surface-level, where you can explore deeper in the links if you so desire. This isn't even all of the stuff Mark has done for the fandom in his life, there's much more that I haven't touched on. Please correct me if any of my information isn't correct.

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