Southwest Missouri fans of comics, sci-fi, fantasy, cosplay, and gaming are mourning the loss of the man who lead the area’s biggest pop culture convention, Visioncon.
Visioncon staff posted to social media that the organization’s president, Brandon Shane, died Wednesday at Mercy Hospital from COVID-19.
“Brandon was an amazing guy,” Larry Litle, founder of GeekyKool.com, told KWTO. “I got to know him over the years. He always made everyone feel important and welcome. I watched him work his butt off during Visioncon one year. He must have put in 16 hours straight on his feet. He still made time to talk to us about the convention and what we were doing. He will be so missed in the geek/ nerd community.”
Visioncon staff say they will continue the convention despite the loss of Shane. The 2021 convention held earlier this year was a virtual convention because of the pandemic.
Funeral and memorial information will be posted on the Visioncon Facebook page.
(Headline photo of Shane with actresses from the TV show Firefly courtesy Visioncon.)