Farewell, Kenji

I just learned that Kenji Kerins (kenji on this forum) died recently. While I never had the chance to meet him, I have corresponded with him via IM on LTH, Reddit, and EveryBlock, and he was always passionate, knowledgeable, funny, and kind. I'm sorry he's gone, and I'm sad I'll never have a chance to thank him for his efforts in person.

http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignit ... id=6592710

He is being remembered over on Reddit, in a thread on a forum he started when EveryBlock keeled over two years ago.

https://www.reddit.com/r/greatNWside/co ... _for_good/

I loved his feisty online posting and his sense of the absurd, I was lucky enough to meet him once at an LTH get together and I enjoyed his witty company. The world is a smaller place today, as jimswside put it "That sucks".

Hi,

Thanks for posting the Reddit link, I had tried to look for it earlier without success.

I was looking forward to finally meeting him at the picnic. From the comments on Reddit, he was a sweetie in person and trollish online. It really is a shame it will never happen.

I plan to attend the wake tomorrow.

Regards,

Hi,

I attended the wake and memorial service for Kenji this evening. From this family, long time friends, neighbors and references to good food and BBQ, Kenji lived a wonderful life.

Outside the funeral home, his neighbor was smoking meat on a smoker Kenji gave him. Next to his casket was his personal smoker built for him in Gary, Indiana, which looked like the top quarter of a 50-gallon steel drum. On top was a BBQ competition trophy. His BBQ teammates were there sporting their team t-shirt for the 'Inglorious Basters.'

In the refreshment room, there was homemade bahn mi made with smoked brisket produced on his smoker. Peach cobblers and bread pudding provided by Smoque. Kenji organized a BBQ event with Barry Sorkin as a judge. Thereafter they were great friends, a scenario repeated in many people's anecdotes of their interactions with Kenji.

His son and nephew recalled all the lessons learned from Kenji and his zest for life. His son related how his Dad could engage in conversation with just about anyone. If nobody was there, he could still carry on talking.

His daughter expressed the family's appreciation for all the people who came, especially those they never knew of before tonight. Kenji would talk about all his friends and their adventures, which nobody in the family knew existed. The needles in haystack arrived to offer their respects from Reddit, LTHforum and other real and virtual communities.

When I later introduced myself to his family, they all remembered hearing about LTHforum. His daughter recalled their recent visit to DankHaus for mrsm's quick pickle class. I had to admit I never met her father, though I was looking forward to finally meeting him Sunday at the picnic.

Like a lot of people who contribute to LTHforum and I have never met, there is yet a kinship for our shared passion for food that remains palpable via our interactions. Kenji was just like us.

Regards,

Thank you for this Cathy, lovely report.

Thank you, Cathy. I thought about going today but had to work. It's good LTH was represented. I especially appreciate the stories from the service. Kenji will be missed.

Tnx for representing us all C2. Kenji and I PMd a few times, and he seemed like a neat guy. A real LTHer.

Geo

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I attended the wake and memorial service for Kenji this evening. From this family, long time friends, neighbors and references to good food and BBQ, Kenji lived a wonderful life.

Regards,

Thank you for attending and posting your experience. I regret never having met Kenji but I always enjoyed his contributions to LTHForum. I'm glad to hear he was so loved.

I never had the opportunity to meet him, but always enjoyed his posts. My condolences to his family.