Rest In Peace Rich Hasty

I was very saddened to hear of the passing of our good friend Rich Hasty, who died suddenly and unexpectedly in his sleep on Monday, July 14th.

Rich was a big part of our lives. He directed the Greater Vancouver Gentlemen of Fortune chorus for three years, and in the process he taught me a great deal about music and about life. He was in a sense larger than life. During that period, Rich was on everyone's mind in the barbershop community here, perhaps more than anyone else. He was always getting things done and always making waves, and he made our lives more interesting and more worth discussing while he was around.

I remember being Rich's Assistant Director in the GOF, and working closely with him for several years. I remember singing tags with him nearly every week after rehearsal.

Rich was a good friend to Realtime, arranging several charts for us. One was Anthem, which we recorded in 2004 on the Four Brothers album. When we sang it for him in person for the first time at the Louisville convention in 2004, we asked him how he liked it. He said it was "champion stuff", and that praise meant more to me than I let on.

Rich Hasty's time here was too short. He had a lot left to contribute to his wife Kristen, his kids Matthew and Abigail, to the Barbershop community, and the world. He was 41.