Glen GoodKnight was born Oct. 1, 1941 in Los Angeles and died of natural causes Nov. 3, 2010 at his Monterey Park home after several years of poor health.
GoodKnight was an ardent fan of "The Lord of the Rings" author J.R.R. Tolkien and founded the Mythopoeic Society along with its flagship Mythcon annual event and Mythlore, the society's magazine.
In the late-1960s while a student at California State University, Los Angeles, GoodKnight organized a picnic in Highland Park in honor of "Bilbo" and "Frodo," main characters in "The Lord of the Rings." This set the stage for the Mythopoeic Society and decades of book collecting and active promotion of fantasy literature.
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"By reading and being absorbed in fantasy, we're not deserting the real world," GoodKnight told the Los Angeles Times in 1992. "We're trying to make it better by opening up newer and higher vistas."
GoodKnight grew up the oldest of three children and graduated from Verdugo Hills High School in 1959. He received a bachelor's degree from Cal State L.A. and was an elementary school teacher for more than 40 years.
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After a brief first marriage ended in divorce, GoodKnight married his second wife, Bonnie, in 1971 at the second Mythcon. The had a daughter, Arwen, who they named after a Tolkien character, and divorced in 1979.
"Tolkien simply writes a very good story -- the huge background and settings of his books really overtook me," GoodKnight told in the Times in 1992.
