I am so sorry for the loss of your friend. I found furry back in 1999, and so many have either moved on to other interests or passed away. We're at the age where more and more friends and family pass on. We still got each other though! *Hugs*

OMG! I met Lionus here when I first joined way back in 2005 when I got my first computer... a lowly Apple Performa 6205 with blazing 75 mhz. We chatted all the time and I met him at Anthrocon in Albany in 1997. He was my older Lion dad... and I am saddened by this news. May he rest in peace.

Oh no! Lionus was one of the first fury friends I made when I first joined the fandom over 10 years ago. We often talked and had long conversations and discussions about so many things, and I always found him to be a very wise, insightful, kind guy who could be very witty at times. He was a great guy, and I missed him when he went radio silent for a few years and figured he had stepped back/left the fandom; I had no idea he was suffering from dementia and other health issues.

I feel very sad by this news, and if he has indeed passed, I hoe he rests in peace and is no longer suffering.

Huge condolences to you on the potential loss of your friend. Even if he hasn't passed, losing him to dementia is still rough for him and everyone involved. I don't think I ever had the pleasure of meeting him. Please keep us updated when you can get confirmation.

Bummer. Lionus was one of the first friends I made in the furry community. He will be missed.

I wish this is not true. Lionus was also the first one I had contact with in the fandom. The first to tell me what it has to offer and was the one who brought me to FA.
Thank you for everything Lionus.

I'm very sorry to hear...*hugs tight* Keep us posted plz.

Like many here, Lionus was one my earliest furry contacts, a great friend and we had many hours of conversation via MSN, emails, phone calls,etc. This saddens me and my mate, Dineegla. There is a special place on Wolf Mountain (he would know what I mean) for him and his adopted pack howl a dirge for him.
See you in furry heaven, my lion brother.
Muscle Wolf

*hugs* my condolences..

I just read this. I loved him so much. He kept me smiling when i needed it, The man had so much depth and wisdom. And he made me laugh. Especially for ALL the times he butchered my furname. But I’d gladly hear it one more time. From him. Rest In Peace, dear sir.

*sighs* I kept hoping he was OK. He was a dear friend and we got to be friends so fast it was a a bit scary. Rest in Peace Dear Friend. May your new journey be one of wonder an amazement.

Same, but from the info i gathered he as passed away recently..

*offers a hugs and sighs*

I always wondered what had happened. Traveled with him to Anthrocon 98, I kind of figured something like this may have happened as that was almost 25 years ago so adding those years on top of his age at the time I first met him, he would have been well into his 70's possibly upper 70's. A quarter century is a long time ago, I was just a teenager back then. Oh the funny stories I could tell, good memories.

I remember you from so many years ago! i know lionus had mentioned you when you went to Anthrocon back then. (either Albany Anthrocon or the one at Valley forge, (which was my first) I met Lionus at Anthrocon 2001 in Philly at the Adam's Mark hotel. When was the last time you spoke to Lionus?

Yeah I remember you as well, I kept in touch on rare occasion after 1998 by then met him just by chance again at Anthrocon in 2012. It's kind of funny in a way, my dad drove me to where he lived back in 1998 to meet him. He had a furry adult wallpaper set just as my dad came through the door and man did he move fast to change it lol.

I don't know how much he confided in you but for me he pretty much told me everything about his family. I think I met his son once on the way back from AC98 and he was really nice to me.

I last spoke to Lionus in 2014-2015. My life was going in a different direction which meant moving to the US but he wasn't very talkative and very withdrawn at that point and I chalked it to old age.

I spoke to his son not long ago on Facebook, which is when he told me of his dad's failing health & onset of dementia. The last times i spoke to Ron a few years ago i could sense his heath & cognitive awareness failing.. :(

I was starting to get that feeling around 2018. Used to keep in touch back in the beginning every night online thru ICQ I think it was at the time and MSN messenger. I would check his FA page and noticed he was no longer posting and by 2019 he had stopped faving art on FA. He must have been pretty close if not around 80 or so. It kind of hits close to home for me. Back in June I came back to NS as my parents asked for help. Two weeks after getting out of quarantine my father passed away. I ended up getting thrown into being in charge of everything and found out my own father was really struggling with dementia by 2018, never in my wildest dreams I thought my father would develop that. I had opened sheets of paper with my American cell number and e-mail address, I would unfold the pieces of paper and would find the same contact info written 7 or 8 times on the same sheet of paper. I really felt bad, later on I found out my mom knew but said nothing because there was no one else to help them.

I didn't even see the signs my own father would end up with a similar fate, by the time I figured it all out, it was too late, and yes it royally sucks.

On a side note, I don't really remember for what reason, but there must have been some overlap somewhere. Because whenever Lionus' name would come up or seeing him at Anthrocon years later, I always thought of you. I guess maybe the shared contact at the beginning and you went on to make fursuits and you are Canadian (at least I remember you being Canadian) so we both kind of had similar encounters.

Now that the hotel is gone, I can say, I was the one that started the whole jumping in the elevator at the right moment at AC98. By the end of the convention the elevators were stopping quite a distance off from the intended floor *snickers*

send hugs* The last time i seen Lionus was at Anthrocon in Pittsburg in 2007.

Pardon me; I'm trying to get Lionus's FA account memorialized. The trouble ticket I submitted almost a year ago, finally, got a response from staff. They are looking for some form of official documentation Lionus has passed away.

Do you have a link to an obituary, or news article, confirming his death so that his account is preserved as an "∞" account?

Dementia?! I… I'm floored. I'm in my early 40s and have been in the fandom since the late 90s. It's so difficult to grasp that he has passed on. I thought he was about my age. Was he, truly, a generation older? I hope, if dementia took him, it had the mercy to take him at the far candle burned out end of old age, and didn't cut him down while he was still in his middle years. If dementia is horrid, it's truly unthinkable when it happens in the young.

UPDATE: I am attempting to get Lionus's FA page memorialized with the little Infinity figure 8 symbol "∞". But I am simply just another furry with little cred or influence. FA staff have, finally, responded to my year old trouble ticket. They are asking for corroborative evidence in order for them to memorialize his page. If you have any obituary, or the like that corroborates his passing, it would be greatly appreciated in order to preserve his artwork on his account.

hugs* I can help you any way i can. Lionus was a core friend to amny of us. I will support you to get Lionus's page memorialized. Please contact me any time you need to!

I been trying to do thwe same too, as all of know Lionus (Ron) has passed on, but FA seems to not believe that without so-called "proof" while most older furs do not "out" to society or their family, their only proof of them is through us, their greatest & closest friends. I was told by his family. (non-furry) that he had passed away, but i can not post that info on behalf of his families privacy! but FA has that flaw where a fellow close fur-friend of a fellow-artist, fellow-fur friend, doesw not count here.

I'm coming in late but I will miss Lionus too. When I was starting out in my explosive stages on FA, he was always kind and sweet to me. I wish I had talked to him more.