In Memoriam: Budd Hopkins

[Gene Steinberg]

I've just received the sad news that Budd Hopkins died Sunday afternoon, August 21. I didn't know him all that well, but in my occasional discussions with him, he was always a gentleman.

You'll find the information at the Intruders Foundation site:

http://www.intrudersfoundation.org/inside.html

According to Leslie Kean: "Budd had been under hospice care for about three weeks, at his home in New York. The combination of liver cancer and pneumonia led to his death."

When Leslie recorded this week's episode, she obviously knew about Budd's condition and was under tremendous emotional pressure, but remained a trouper and did a great interview.

And let's please keep this thread civil, folks. There will be plenty of time in which to evaluate Budd's abduction research and its value to the field. We are for example, considering an episode on the subject in the very near future.

Thanks.

 

[mike]

Oh No......
This is terrible news

Regardless of what people think about him, he was passionate about this topic
I for one will miss him

 

[Kevin Daly]

I'll certainly keep it more civil than a certain co-host did when he decided his dislike of "Emma Woods" justified slagging off an entire country with sheep jokes, but I digress...

Budd Hopkins was an obviously sincere individual who was genuinely trying to help people. I disagree with both his methods and his conclusions, but I respect his motives. The loss of any person of good will diminishes the whole.

 

[Bob Watson]

no matter what you thought of him and his work his impact on the feild was remarkable. Budd was a man who was constantly looking for an answer that he could never find.
And so I say goodbye.. may he find peace and answers..in the light that awaits us all...
God blees and keep you Budd...FAREWELL

 

[ward]

A legend, a pioneer, he did what others would not do.

This time Budd gets the last word

"An extraordinary phenomenon demands an extraordinary investigation" - Budd Hopkins

Safe Journey Budd

 

[Greg M]

I think the thread should be civil out or respect for Bud Hopkins. Whether you agreed with him or not - I dont think this would be the time, place or situation to speak ill of the man.

 

[Jeff Crowell]

I did not agree with a lot of Budd's thoughts and findings. That being said every time I heard him he was a gentleman, well respected, and an all-around fantastic person. I've always respected Mr. Hopkins and his research despite differences in opinion. The UFO community and the world in general is a far more empty place without him.

Rest in peace, Budd. You touched many lives in your too-brief of a stay here.

 

[Decker]

Vicki and I have known Budd Hopkins for years, actually going back to the beginning of UFO Magazine. Budd often contributed to UFO with articles and interviews, always a gentleman, compassionate and showing his sense of humor.

Budd will be missed.

Here is a photo of Budd and Vicki at a conference.

 

[Randall]

"But above everything, finally, there lurks the disturbing possibility that these enforced memory blocks may be extremely effective; the few hundred cases in which the amnesia has been pierced may ultimately represent only a tiny percentage of the actual number of abductees. The epidemic, I believe, may be almost entirely invisible." Bud Hopkins - Missing Time 1981

 

[lovebucket]

All the best to Budd, whatever your views, he has helped to bring public awareness to this field, rightly or wrongly, and now i bet he has more of the answers than the rest of us, rest in peace!

 

[Elendil]

Budd Hopkins passes away

Well, I guess that time will tell if he was right or wrong. But anyhow, he was a pioneering researcher of a very peculiar mystery. Leslie Kean wrote the following:

Budd Hopkins June 15, 1931 – August 21, 2011
I’m very sad to announce that Budd Hopkins died today, August 21, at 1:35 pm. Budd had been under hospice care for about three weeks, at his home in New York. The combination of liver cancer and pneumonia led to his death. His daughter Grace Hopkins-Lisle and I were with him almost continuously during these past weeks. He was not in any pain throughout any of the process, and he received the best possible care and loving support from those closest to him. Today he gradually slipped away, and simply quietly stopped breathing. He died peacefully and without any struggle, with Grace, Grace’s husband Andrew, and me by his side.

Thanks to all of you for being such strong supporters of this extraordinary man, who has contributed so much to our lives, in so many different ways.

http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/hopkins-obit/

 

[Gene Steinberg]

Budd Hopkins passes away

Since we already have an active thread devoted to this topic, please take the discussion to:

In Memoriam: Budd Hopkins

 

[Digital Trickster]

R.I.P Budd , I can remember being five or six and first hearing of him on unsolved mysteries. He was part of the reason since that age that i got involved in this subject and whether or not you agree with his findings he will be missed

 

[mike]

John Mack had this to say

"Nothing in my then nearly forty years of familiarity with the field of psychiatry prepared me for what Hopkins had to say. I was impressed with his warmth, sincerity, intelligence, and caring for the people with whom he had been working. But more important than that were the stories he told me from people all over the United States who had come forth to tell him about their experiences after reading one of his books or articles or hearing him on television....I have a great debt and profound respect for the pioneers in this field, like Budd Hopkins, who have had the courage to investigate and report information that runs in the face of our culture's consensus reality..."
-- (The Late) John E. Mack, M.D., Pulitzer Prize Winner: From Abduction: Human Encounters With Aliens (1994)

Sums it up nicely i think

http://www.alienjigsaw.com/Articles/PioneerOfAbductionResearch.htm#Tribute

And Mr Hopkins said this in Feb this year

I'm writing these words to show all of you who sent messages of support to me via Kay Wilson's website, just how unbelievably heartwarming your words were to me. Because of health and age, I have never before had such a need to receive this kind of generous and articulate confirmation of the value of my years of work in the UFO field. All of this was especially gratifying since the greatest proportion of those messages of support were issued in response to a published attack on me, days and weeks before I wrote and published my rebuttal.

Reading what you wrote, I smiled, I wiped away tears, I nodded and I shook my head many times as if to say this is too much, I don’t deserve it.

For Kay Wilson and Peter Robbins, no words can express my gratitude. What they have done, at this precarious time of my life, seems almost miraculous. Maybe Kay and Peter and all of these many supportive contributors have added a few months -- or years -- to my earthly existence.
No matter if that’s true, my heart reaches out to you now in friendship and profound thanks.​

-- Budd Hopkins, Feb. 21, 2011​

I'm sure he would appreciate the kind comments posted here and elsewhere recently

 

[ondafritz]

All my best to Mr. Hopkins and those who were close to him and loved the person we were not privy to.

 

[Oakstreet]

The passing of Mr. Hopkins is indeed sad. He seemed to bring to his work, with the abduction phenomenon, a high standard of integrity. Although I never met him in person, and have only observed him speak on video, he presented himself as intelligent and compassionate, willing to listen to other points of view.

My first introduction to Mr. Hopkins did not come via the study of UFOs and related matters. Instead, many years ago, shortly after I had received my undergraduate degree in studio art, from Michigan State University, I had an exhibit of my work at a nearby gallery. One of my former professors attended and upon viewing my recent work he commented, "Your work is much like the painter Budd Hopkins. Do you know his work?" At the time I did not but I made it a point to become acquainted with it. Seeing Hopkin's paintings proved a revelation.

Budd Hopkins, was a superb artist and he should be remembered for that every bit as much as for his contribution to the study of the paranormal.