Obituary of Bernd Schippan
Bernd Schippan
* 09-01-1946 † 07-02-2019
Again it is my sad obligation to say "farewell" to a long-term chessfriend, but a quite silent member of our small collector's realm. When I moved to Wuppertal in 1999, Bernd Schippan was a well-known (and renowned) chessplayer of master strength in the so-called "Industriegebiet".
However, I only noticed him as an ardent collector of valuable chess literature and especially of chess autographs, after the foundation of the Ken Whyld Association. In the early years of our association, we had many email exchanges about "market evaluation" and "prices", mainly based on David DeLucia's A Few Old Friends (2003). Laterly, I was often amazed by the "bidding contests", Bernd Schippan was involved at the auctions in Brunswick.
He was a modest little man, but not only a big fighter at the chess board. Unfortunately, friend Schippan's health was deteriorating since several years, and our contact was minized to fleeting contacts during the mornings of the Klittich auction. Only in 2018 I heard about a fire accident in his house, but fortunately his collection was not distroyed.
Another "big game hunter" of our community has passed to another sphere. Hopefully, Bernd will now be able to collect not only autographs of all his chess celebrities of the past, but his very personal impressions.
Michael Negele
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