Obituary of Rolf Glenk
Rolf Glenk
* 12-12-1937 † 3-1-2017
An obituary by Michael Negele:
It´s always a sad duty to fulfil when a long-term chess friend passed away.
Rudolf (Rolf) Glenk (1937-2017) I met for the first time in Brunswick at the Klittich auction house in the beginning of this millenium. Soon after that, in 2002 I could visit his wife Helga and Rolf in their Franconian hometown Forchheim. This was also the year, when Jurgen Stigter had initiated the so-called "Amsterdam group", the nucleus of the Ken Whyld Association. Of course Rolf, who was already a passionate collector of chess books for decades, decided to be a founding member of our Association. Pretty clear, Rolf Glenk was more than just a member: He and his club mate Udo Güldner organized our wonderful annual assembly in 2004 in Forchheim:
In his professional life, the Nuremberg-born Glenk was a construction engineer by training. Till his retirement Rolf worked in Nuremberg in a leading position for the State Trade Licensing Office. He traveled quite a lot for these purposes, so to Canada and Chile. Naturally he used these business trips also to "hunt" for rare chess literature.
Rolf´s passion was problem chess, but also his beautiful and most cultured collection. Here his favorite subject was the Italian Chess Literature, and so he published a marvellous catalogue of this part of his collection: Hinter dem Schachofen - eine Schachbibliothek zum Schmökern: Italienische Schachliteratur (2008) ["Behind the Chess Oven" - a Chess Library to Browse.] But also his Scacchia ludus - Das Schachspiel: die deutschsprachigen Ausgaben (2015) is perfect proof of Rolf´s expertise and his diligent self-publishing.
Some of us will remember those nice christmas gifts, Rolf produced and distributed during the last years. The dedication to his collection offered Rolf hold and consolation in those years of fading health. In December 2016 I duly received his "Kachelofenprobleme" - second edition, and it is a sad fact, that this will be the last example of Rolf Glenk´s generosity. Thank you, dear Rolf for many interesting talks. Your books and booklets in my shelves will always remind me of your unforgettable dedication to chess.
Michael Negele