Roger Alan Modjeski (RAM) 1951 - 2019


It is with great sadness that I announce Roger A. Modjeski passed away peacefully in his home in San Pablo, CA after an 12 month battle with cancer. Roger started Music Reference in 1981 and later RAM Tubes, The Tube Audio Store, and The Berkeley HiFi School. For more than 38 years he tirelessly ran his business and designed some of the most unique and well received audio components in the industry. Right until the near end Roger was working, designing, and teaching until he physically was unable to continue.

The link below will take you my playground where I have posted my tribute to Roger (click ENTER after the page loads):

http://www.electrafidelity.com/

Fare thee well my friend.
clio09
@rpeluso you are quite welcome. That amp should provide you with many years of enjoyable listening.
Roger's service was held yesterday at St. Joseph Cemetery in San Pablo, CA. We had quite a nice turn out for the event. Among the items interned with Roger were his trusty voltmeter and an EML 45 mesh plate tube. A number of friends from Southern California showed up to pay their respects. One in particular recounted the story of when he and Roger toured the Ei Factory in Yugoslavia when they were negotiating a large tube purchase. At one point during the trip they were taken by a local to an island which had a church on it. In the church was a 600 year old pipe organ and of course, after receiving permission, Roger just had to play a Bach piece on it. A number of musical selections were played, all selected by Roger, including a beautiful instrumental of Pancho and Left and an amazing version of Blue Bayou. At the end of the service all the attendees rose and gave Roger a rousing standing ovation. I think that king of shocked the funeral folks a bit.

I also want to offer thanks to the San Francisco Audio Society for providing us with the usage of their event room for for the reception. A few of the members of the group were also very instrumental in making the event a success, so thanks to them as well and you know who you are. There was food and drink aplenty (the RAM branded cookies were especially a big hit) and they had one of Roger's lectures streaming on the projection screen. More Roger stories were told and we reminisced for a few more hours. A sad, but really great day.
I can picture Roger is reminiscing with Saul Marantz and Sid Smith, sidling up to Julius Futterman to tell him all about the new OTL, or perhaps getting into another argument about tubes with David Manley. Wherever he is just became a much more interesting place to be now that Roger is there.
Great posts, one and all. Damn @rpeluso, I am green with envy! I need to rob a bank (just kidding F.B.I. ;-) . That leaves two I guess. What a time to be broke. ;-(