Thoughts About the Loss of Dave Conz

Last Saturday, one of my homebrew club's members, Stephen, arrived at our meeting and announced that Dave Conz had had some type of accident and had passed away. I should say at this point that Stephen was the only one at the meeting that had ever met him (myself included). My only connection to Dave is that he was a friend of a friend. But his influence was far reaching. Some months prior, Stephen learned of Dave's interest in homebrewing and all things beer, and added him to our club's Facebook page. Although I wasn't aware of the stretch of his influence at that time, I was always curious about who this aggressively sideburned  and contagiously smiled individual was. Despite not having had the pleasure of knowing him, all in attendance raised their glasses in honor of the newly departed homebrewer. Later, when the newest Basic Brewing Radio episode popped up on my Facebook newsreel, I began to understand the gravity of Dave's passing.

Dave Conz had a very broad and eclectic academic background, spanning from engineering to the social sciences, and taught courses at Arizona State University on the influence of alcohol on culture and vice versa.  But his involvement covered much more than that, as he appears to have been a true renaissance man. I'll not belabor an introduction, as others have done a fine job of listing Dave's interests and accomplishments. What I will say, however, is that I find it a peculiar feeling to regret not having known him. Sometimes in life we encounter people that we might never have met were it not for our various circumstances, goings on, and risk-taking behavior (you know, like telling a stranger, "hello"). Lately, I've been meeting several people with whom I share similar interests. But I didn't meet Dave Conz, even though we were only separated by 2 degrees of separation at most. From what I've learned about him since his death, I think I would have really enjoyed his company and outlook on life.

I refuse to speculate about the cause of Dave's death or it's possible motivations, but would simply like to consider the layers of loss produced by it. I think of the loss of those closest to him, his family and friends. I think of his colleagues and students, those who will no longer learn from him directly. And I think of the rest of us, who did not have the fortune to have known him, and cannot possibly feel the same kind of loss as those that did. The phrase, "you don't know what you're missing" comes to mind. I have only a glimpse of what I may have been missing, but it's enough to make me genuinely sad, nonetheless. This is the kind of influence I want to be able to have on those I know, or almost knew, when I pass. Hopefully, this will not be for a very long time, but one never knows. May you rest in peace, Dave Conz.

Dave with Charlie Papazian, Godfather of homebrewing.

Here is a Youtube video tribute to Dave for which I cannot take credit, but it shows more of that infectious smile. (Some of you ONUers may know or remember the woman with him in some of the photos.)

I close with a poem by Charles Baudelaire called Get Drunk

Always be drunk.
That's it!
The great imperative!
In order not to feel
Time's horrid fardel
bruise your shoulders,
grinding you into the earth,
Get drunk and stay that way.
On what?
On wine, poetry, virtue, whatever.
But get drunk.
And if you sometimes happen to wake up
on the porches of a palace,
in the green grass of a ditch,
in the dismal loneliness of your own room,
your drunkenness gone or disappearing,
ask the wind,
the wave,
the star,
the bird,
the clock,
ask everything that flees,
everything that groans
or rolls
or sings,
everything that speaks,
ask what time it is;
and the wind,
the wave,
the star,
the bird,
the clock
will answer you:
"Time to get drunk!
Don't be martyred slaves of Time,
Get drunk!
Stay drunk!
On wine, virtue, poetry, whatever!"

Always remember how you got WHERE you are, and are becoming WHO you are.
Be Fermentive, my friends.