Passing of our friend Brian Purrone

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1badf350
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Passing of our friend Brian Purrone

Post by 1badf350 »

It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I announce the passing of Brian Purrone aka “Oceanreels”. As you all know, Brian had one of the finest collections of reels in the world and was a regular contributor to the board. His expertise and friendly demeanor will be missed by all.
-Chris R.
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john elder
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Re: Passing of our friend Brian Purrone

Post by john elder »

So sorry to hear, Chris. He was a very knowledgeable collector and long-time friend to ORCA. He will be missed.

John
ORCA member since 1999
Honorary Life Member

Specializing in saltwater reels...and fly reels...and oh, yeah, kentucky style reels.....and those tiny little RP reels.....oh, heck...i collect fishing reels!...and fly rods....and lures
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Midway Tommy D
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Re: Passing of our friend Brian Purrone

Post by Midway Tommy D »

Holy Cow! What a shocker! Brian was a great contributor to the reel world. He will be deeply missed.
Love those Open Face Spinning Reels! (Especially ABU & ABU/Zebco)

Tom DeLong, NE
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Bill Muth
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Re: Passing of our friend Brian Purrone

Post by Bill Muth »

This is a stunner. Had several great interactions with Brian over the years, he was a class act. Thoughts and prayers are with Brian’s friends and family/
Wanted: Horton, Bristol & Meek reels, reel boxes, and catalogs!!!!
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Paul M
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Re: Passing of our friend Brian Purrone

Post by Paul M »

I am sad to hear this news. We were in contact a few times over the years and I once featured his reel collection on the ORCA Facebook page. It has been a few years since I last spoke with him but I recall him telling me that he was an avid collector of several things including toy trains. He will be missed, indeed.
Paul Manuel

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54bullseye
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Re: Passing of our friend Brian Purrone

Post by 54bullseye »

Sad news for reel collectors as he was a wealth of knowledge on a lot of reels Penn being his favorite ! If you ever looked at his website you could see he had a lot of cool stuff and many different brands and types of reels from big to small. I am proud to own a few of them! Like Paul said he collected a lot of different stuff through the years including Trains, Guns, Harley Davidson Motorcycles and finally reels and from talking with Brian he went all in 110% when he started a collection. He was an active member of this site and Alan Tani's site and probably others. He will be missed !!! John Taylor
joe klaus
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Re: Passing of our friend Brian Purrone

Post by joe klaus »

I don't know how I missed this thread. Actually, now that I think of it, I was out of the country on vacation. I just learned of Brian's passing this morning, and I was shocked. I could not let it pass without offering my condolences. I knew there was likely a thread on Reel Talk, and I used the search feature to find this one.

Brian and I were "good email friends", and we communicated frequently in sporadic spurts. I could always go to Brian for information if I needed, and he gave freely of his knowledge and expertise. He was in fact a class act all the way.

And we had many deals together, all of which were enjoyable experiences. It was strange to me in that I thought of Brian this morning during my walk, and said to myself that I would send him an email this morning since I had not heard from him in several months. And then opened my emails and found an email from my friend, Wayne Behrens, asking if I knew that Brian had passed. I am truly sorry that I have lost a good friend. I will miss him.
wrong99
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Re: Passing of our friend Brian Purrone

Post by wrong99 »

Brian lost his long-time battle with cancer, which he knew was killing him, but he was active right up until the end. He was a collector's collector, telling me last year that he was thinking about collecting boats, of all things. He will be missed by many. My condolences to his wife and family.
Mark
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m3040c
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Re: Passing of our friend Brian Purrone

Post by m3040c »

Very sad news. Brian and I communicated so many times over the years. We had an International triangle between New York, Oregon and Australia. Ray Hodges ( the Australian Connection)and I used to call him "Gunny" because he was a gun dealer before he got into fishing reels. He told us that he switched to fishing reels because it was so much less costly than guns. I knew he was ill, but, he told me he had it under control. This is a shocker.

I have been very busy and missed this post. I will miss his input, he was a collector that always added depth.
mike cass,,, if you can't collect it, it must be food
Heddonpal
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Re: Passing of our friend Brian Purrone

Post by Heddonpal »

Sorry to hear about his passing never meet him but did buy some of his reels. I ended up with his Spiral wind collection along with pat paper work. I plan on bring them to Tulsa for the reel and wine.
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