I have begun to suspect that one of the all-time mega posters on I V has either passed away or become unable to continue as a poster. This late (I fear) mega poster was also a major participant in this closed-end fund IV board in its early years. In the wake of his passing I thought it might be worth writing up a memorial to him, to other old-timers on this board who might remember him & in so doing I thought I’d do something similar for a couple of other heavyweights who shared their insights on cefs & are now known to be gone.

The major heavy hitter who I think is now gone is Piney Woods Bear (PWB). PWB took his moniker from his home out in East Texas. When he made his last posts on the MLP board he must have been well into his 80es if not yet 90 years old. He definitely had pungent opinions which he was only too happy to share with his many fans on the mbs he patronized. He would always get upset that other posters who corresponded with him did not want to go to different boards that would get dedicated to the security he was discussing but wanted to stay only on their favorite boards. PWB himself was all over I V on numerous mbs but most of the mbs he did post on were basically deserted except for readers checking in on his work.

PWB was a skilled & long time investor who must have made a substantial fortune for himself by his prudent savings & investments pursued over many years. From what I can tell PWB started investing in the stock market in the 1950es & stuck with it for the rest of his life. He never mentioned how much he had but from the length of his investing career it must have been a substantial amount. Along the way I gathered he was very generous to many people who were less dutiful then he. Of course others may have made choices in favor of family while PWB to my knowledge was a bachelor so that could have explained some of the variance in fortune.

But to come to his time on the closed-end fund mb, he was the instigator in a brouhaha with another heavy poster on this cef board which resulted in the decamping of the other heavyweight to the M* cef mb which is moderated. This brouhaha broke out during the Great Financial Crisis of 2008/9 when all stocks were under tremendous financial stress but cefs experienced it on steroids. The result was that PWB eventually gave up on cefs & focused his efforts on MLPs, REITs & other value stocks & left the cef world for good in great disgust. The other heavyweight though continued in cefs but posted only on the M* cef board whenever he discussed cefs.

PWB made his last post on cefs in 2009 when he finally gave up on cefs & went over to greener pastures. He certainly enjoyed popularity on the other investing venues & I’m quite sure was very successful in his investments in those securities. In honor of his efforts on cefs though I’m embedding a link to his profile in this requiem for him.

https://www.investorvillage.com/viewprofile.asp?Alias=PinewoodsBear



Meanwhile in the 2nd requiem for a heavyweight I’m going to cover the mega poster who decamped for the M* cef board & really built that M* board into its robust self because of the attraction this heavy hitter had for other readers & posters. For the few newbies that frequent this mb the heavyweight I’m talking about used the moniker chamois. The moniker chamois was chosen because the legendary poster loved the dog he gave that name & it comforted him to use it pretty much where ever he posted on chat boards. Not only did he use it on I V but he also used it at his new cef home on M* Since I follow the M* board as well as I V, I actually found out most about Chamois from his postings on the M* mb rather I V but Chamois’s prolific output there resulted in major revelations about his life. Chamois passed away in 2015. Chamois did have a denouement write-up by his daughter who explained a lot of his background to his M* readers & I think I passed along some of the info to readers on this board. Chamois I think was 90 years old when he passed away & he died after being operated on for his heart condition. He actually lived in the Norfolk, VA area & his daughter revealed that he was a retired high level admiral in the Navy who wound up investing in cefs. He projected an incredible amount of fairness to all his many followers & although he lived to what many might consider a ripe old age, I know that many of his readers thought he died much too soon. He was still going strong on his postings almost right up until his operation.

I am embedding Chamois last post on the cef IV mb along with the motivating post that caused his departure from this board in his requiem.

https://www.investorvillage.com/smbd.asp?mb=6434&mn=7858&pt=msg&mid=5764423

Those were tough times but here's the straw that broke the chamois's back.

https://www.investorvillage.com/smbd.asp?mb=6434&mn=7857&pt=msg&mid=5764103


Finally, of course I must include the 3rd heavyweight who died in 2014. Tug8boat also took his moniker from the dog that he loved. He is the reason this mb was started & why the other 2 heavyweights came in to do their postings. He was a retired teacher who lived in Indiana & wound up investing in cefs almost by accident. He subsequently came to almost exclusively invest in cefs. He certainly had his ups & downs over the years but overall did quite well as the years rolled by. He probably told more about himself that pretty much anybody I know of on the I V investing board. His son also posted some final words about him so readers know what happened with him. Here's the link to that shown below:

https://www.investorvillage.com/smbd.asp?mb=6434&mn=15403&pt=msg&mid=14441353