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BGonline.org Forums
Herb Gurland, Former Giant, Passed Today
Posted By: Paul Weaver
Date: Tuesday, 5 May 2015, at 3:18 a.m.
Herb was born in Connecticut and grew up in Bridgeport. He went to college at Northeastern University in Boston and majored in accounting. He remained in the Boston area and worked as a CPA for the IRS. He retired about ten years ago. I believe he was 64 or 65 when he passed earlier today. He had both a rare skin disease and a serious case of prostate cancer.
When he was younger, he was a serious chess player, but sometime in the 1980s he switched to backgammon. He was on the 1993 and 1995 Giants' List. His nickname was "Propmeister" and he was on the right side of propositions far more often than not. He won the New England Backgammon Club Player of the Year Title seven times, a record that rates to stand for a very long time.
A quiet and private person, Herb lived his life by high moral standards, as is the case with the vast majority of backgammon players I know.
I met him at a tournament in Vermont in August 1990 and he eventually became my best friend in the backgammon world. We had literally thousands of phone conversations about backgammon positions. He was stronger with the cube than I was and I was stronger with the checkers, so we taught and learned from each other over the years.
I had a ticket to fly to Boston tomorrow for a final visit with him. I was going to take him to his favorite restaurant and tell him how much his friendship had meant to me. I will still make the trip, but only for his memorial service. I will sorely miss him.
More info may be available in a day or two on http://www.nebackgammon.org/
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