On Sunday, May 25, 2014 at 5:05:18 AM UTC-7, guirl...@gmail.com wrote:
> It is with the greatest sadness, more than anyone can possibly know, that I have just learned, these many months later, of the passing Fred Maroth. Fred literally saved my life a year ago a particularly painful time, when during a visit to California I was subjected to unimaginable stress, hostility and abuse, and bore witness to it as well, thanks to the unexpected behavior of a malevolent nest of wing religious nut bags. The horror of all that triggered a major stroke shortly thereafter, a fact to which even my medical team attests, which nearly killed me. It also brought to an end my long career as a pianist. Were it not for Fred's extraordinary generosity, both spiritual and financial, I would most certainly have suffered a stroke much earlier and would have died. The man was a saint. It is because I have been so completely out of the loop for much of the last year, in hospital and physical rehab, that I have not heard of his passing until now. Neither words or any expression of gratitude, public or private, can even remotely begin to express the profound debt I owe Fred, who came so selflessly to my aid at a very dark hour. It has never escaped me that he did not have to do what he did, and that he did so without question and because he had such a huge heart. Certainly, it was a great privilege collaborating with him when I fought hard with Amadeus Press, the publisher of my five books, to award Fred the lucrative and exclusive licensing deal to use recordings from his catalog for inclusion on the CDs that came with my books. But upon reflection I know only one thing: in his absence I am now obliged to devote the rest of my life, no matter that it has been significantly shortened by illness and what the doctors tell me is another stroke already in progress, to giving back to Fred as much if not more than what he gave to me. I have no idea how or what precisely I'm going to do in order to achieve this, as a solemn and meaningful tribute to his life, but I promise all who loved him that I will. My condolences to his wife and family. - John Bell Young