Dan Jezek, BrickLink Founder, Passed Away Last Week

Just as Jason and I are revamping our own site, and readying some new reviews, we found out the sad news that Dan Jezek, the founder of BrickLink, passed away last week.

Dan was 33 years old, and in his short life played a major part in expanding the LEGO hobby, especially among adult fans of LEGO. BrickLink is a cornerstone of the online LEGO community, and was founded over 10 years ago by Dan in order to meet a need that many AFOLs had – meeting up and buying, selling, and trading LEGO pieces, in an easy manner. Up until BrickLink (originally BrickBay), it was very hit-or-miss with buying bricks on eBay, and it was difficult to obtain exactly what you were after. Many of us remember having to buy a lot more than we wanted to in order to get specific parts. Along comes BrickLink and over 51 million visitors later, it is still chugging right along, and helping people find the exact pieces and quantities they need.

This was the statement issued by BrickLink.com:

We regret to announce the sudden and unexpected passing of Dan Jezek, owner and founder of BrickLink.com. Dan will be greatly missed by all of his family and many friends at Bricklink and around the world. A memorial fund is being set up and will be announced at a later date. If you wish to send condolences, you may do so via e-mail to condolences (at) bricklink.com and they will be passed on to his family.

The website will continue under the ownership of the Jezek family. Eric Smith, owner of Northstar Computer Systems, will act as BrickLink Administrator. Northstar has been the host for BrickLink for the past decade. The current BrickLink moderators for the various aspects of the site are all continuing in their roles. Troy Ceferatti is resuming his role as Community Overseer.

The site will continue operating without interruption and all Bricklink users – buyers and sellers – can be reassured that the policies and fee structures will remain as before. Please remember Dan in your thoughts and prayers.

Announcement: BrickLink

Memorial: BrickLink.com/DanJezek