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I had been posting here for years, and so had he, not knowing who each other was. In one post I mentioned having attended Towers HIgh School, here in Decatur, GA. He inboxed me, and we figured out we knew each other. He had been a few years behind me in school, and he actually grew up in the same subdivision as my wife.
That began a decade long back and forth about music, comics, movies...etc. Deron was a blerd of the highest magnitude, and it was great. I thought I was into music....but that dude...
Especially 80s-90s R&B. We often traded music and he would hit me up with the most obscure requests, "Reg, do you have Cheryl Pepsi Riley's third album?" My responses were usually,"Dude, does anybody?"
There was some geeky nerdiness there, but dude was so passionate about stuff, that he made it endearing.
I didn't realize what a fixture of my life he had become until I started seeing the posts on social media trying to find his whereabouts. Deron posted on social media constantly. To the extent that I often wondered how he got day to day stuff done. He was a member of every jazz, neosoul, R&B, Black history, indie comics, animation, cinema, blerd culture, cosplay...etc. Facebook group imaginable. You could stumble onto something randomly and see that he posts there. So, when he had stopped, people everywhere were making, "Hey, has anyone seen Deron," posts.
I texted him, to no response. I knew something was wrong, but kept hoping he would just turn up, maybe saying, he had just taken a break from the internet...highly unlikely...
Details are still sketchy on exactly what happened. A family member simply posted on FB, thanking everyone for their concern, but letting everyone know that he was gone. The response is amazing; heartfelt posts from musicians, writers and artists from various genres, all of them expressing how he had touched their lives or their craft in one way or another.
That brother was truly loved. I can only hope he knew that when he left us.
Rest in Peace, Deron Edwards
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