It is preposterous to suppose that R.M. Vaughan’s death was anything other than a suicide, even if such has not been proven yet.
Update
(2020.11.03) Eldergay Suicides entry.
Confidential to Anna Mehler Paperny
Girl writer Anna Mehler Paperny demonstrated initial guts in pointing out the obvious. When challenged on her inability to search for or read these postings, even when provided with links to same, Paperny returned to her safe space of linking to articles about inequities faced by non-Whites and aboriginal criminals – and never acknowledged these articles’ existence.
I direct this downtown progressive journalist to the dek of Eldergay Suicides (emphasis added): “Older gay men, culturally unwanted and already the survivors of multiple holocausts, kill themselves with alarming regularity.” It would be better for all of us if Paperny quit pretending to care.
This is exactly the kind of ostracism that leads to suicides. But Ms Paperny is one of the good guys, so when her body count piles up, she’ll resume lecturing us on how societal meanness hurts everybody but the eldergays to whose deaths she contributed.
Indeed yes, Madame Paperny, you really are that pernicious.
R.M. Vaughan: Obituary
Innumerable copy errors and fuckups corrected from the original (PDF). New Brunswick is still incapable of getting its shit together.
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Richard Murray Vaughan.
Born in Saint John, N.B. on March 2, 1965, Richard was the son of the late Murray and Dorothy Vaughan (Loughery). He is survived by his older brother Paul (Lorie) of Nauwigewauk; his niece Tricia Shannon (Chris) of Kingston; nephew Ryan Vaughan of Saint John; and nephew Tyler Vaughan of Moncton.
Richard was raised in Quispamsis and, during his early years, spent his summers at the family home in St. Martins. After graduating from Kennebecasis Valley High School in 1983, he attended UNB Saint John, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in English. After a short period of time working odd jobs in Montreal, he returned to his home province where he obtained his master’s in English from UNB Fredericton.
Richard began his professional life as an artist shortly after moving to Toronto in 1991 with the help of the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, where he first found his voice as a playwright. From those humble beginnings [sic] until just days before his passing, Richard, better known as R.M. Vaughan, was a prolific contributor to Canadian arts and culture as a novelist, poet, and video artist. Richard was a well-known culture critic for the Globe and Mail and the National Post. Most recently Richard’s work brought him back to New Brunswick as Writer-in-Residence for UNB Fredericton, where he was helping to inspire the next generation of Canadian writers.
For those closest to Richard, he will be remembered for the handwritten letter and postcards, the quirky little trinkets that would arrive in the mail, and wonderful crafts he loved to make for all occasions, but especially for Hallowe’en.
Arrangements are under the care and direction of Brenan’s Funeral Home, 111 Paradise Row, Saint John. In keeping with Richard’s wishes, a private family ceremony will take place. A celebration of life for Richard will be held later; details to be announced. For those who wish, donations can be made to the R.M. Vaughan Memorial Fund, Development and Donor Relations, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, or to the New Brunswick Mental Health Association.
Recall that UNB has an endowment of $342 million and was Richard’s most recent employer, yet they’re panhandling from civilians for pennies.
Letter to UNB president
Neither University of New Brunswick president Paul Mazerolle (I went to school with a Brent Mazerolle) nor any of his functionaries bothered to respond to my postal letter of 2021.01.04 as follows:
I write to object to the low-rent and tawdry manner in which it treated a former writer-in-residence, R.M. Vaughan, and how UNB is treating Vaughan’s memory after his suicide.
That suicide was proximally caused by UNB. A press report holds that Vaughan’s writer-in-residence post lasted a paltry four months, not 12. Under the best circumstances, then, Vaughan had a third of a year’s salary to live on – then he was cast adrift. And adrift he was: Further press reports show that Vaughan got “booted” out of his apartment, then had to couch-surf with a friend (and in turn put up with that friend’s daughter).
With no income and nowhere to call home, R.M. Vaughan drowned himself. “Another eldergay successfully exterminated” is a harsh but accurate analysis, given that middle-aged gay men have spent their entire adulthoods dodging one attempted genocide after another (the closet, AIDS, and now “LGBT+”). Again, UNB is complicit in Vaughan’s death.
Now you add insult to injury by canvassing the public to contribute to a purported memorial fund. Don’t you think you should have paid R.M. Vaughan more money when he was alive, not least when he was in your employ? Isn’t UNB’s endowment worth $342 million?
Why can’t UNB put its money where Vaughan’s corpse is and contribute 250 grand or more toward a mental-health fund for middle-aged gay men? (Not “transmen.” Not females – eldergays only.) Why does everybody at UNB still get paid while the University panhandles the public for spare change? Why not do something that shows how much you want us to believe you valued R.M. Vaughan – instead of taking the lowliest course of action, which does nothing but betray how UNB really felt about him?