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GeneralJohn Veevaert

25th Jun 2018 11:21 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

I have just been informed that John Veevaert has been killed in a road accident.

John was a mineral dealer, but in particular he was one of the earliest pioneers of selling minerals on the internet and his Trinity Minerals auctions were some of the first - if not the first - online mineral auctions. John has, for several years, generously helped mindat.org by running our online auctions of donated minerals.

But my history with John goes way back to the beginning of mindat.org, when John Veevaert was one of two mineral dealers online at the time (and there weren't many) who offered us free use of their mineral photos - which was a big thing considering no-one knew what mindat was or who I was at the time. He was a pioneer and a thoroughly decent guy. We will miss him tremendously.

Our deepest condolences to out to his wife, Ronna, and his whole family.

25th Jun 2018 11:57 UTCBruce Cairncross Expert

I am utterly shocked by this news. I've known John for many years and we regularly saw each other at the Munich Show. My sincere condolences to Ronna and family.

25th Jun 2018 13:14 UTCGail Spann Manager

We are deeply saddened to hear this news. Our hearts go out to Ronna.

25th Jun 2018 13:18 UTCMalcolm Southwood 🌟 Expert

Absolutely awful news!

John was a wonderful bloke and a great friend.

Ronna - sincere condolences!

25th Jun 2018 13:32 UTCKeith Compton 🌟 Manager

My condolencese to John's family.

I never met John but had purchased several pieces over the years from him and/or via his numerous auctions.

25th Jun 2018 13:56 UTCMartin Stevko Expert

R.I.P. John! My deepest condolences to Ronna!

25th Jun 2018 13:57 UTCThe William T. Lawrence Memorial Collection

John was a special friend, going all the way back to the early beginnings of Trinity Minerals. Always stopping by our dealer booth to say hello, shoot the bull with Bill and say an encouraging word when others were trying to tear down. John was one of the executors of Bill's mineral estate - something he willingly stepped up to help us with when we faced similar tragedy. John, we will miss you so much - there is a big empty space in our world again. Our love to Ronna.

25th Jun 2018 13:58 UTCvictor rzonca

John, in a moment of contemplation.

25th Jun 2018 14:00 UTCKevin Conroy Manager

I had the pleasure of his company at my home just a few days ago. Like many of us I've known him for years, and he was one of the kindest and funniest people that I've ever met. He'll be missed.

25th Jun 2018 14:01 UTCMario Pauwels

This is indeed terrible news. John was someone with common sense and who was always present at the major mineral shows. My condolences to Ronna and to the family.

25th Jun 2018 15:14 UTCHarjo Neutkens Manager

What horribly sad news. My thoughts are with Ronna, his family and all his other loved ones. John will be dearly missed.

25th Jun 2018 15:33 UTCHiro Inukai

I just corresponded with John a few weeks ago regarding payment for one of the Mindat benefit auction specimens I won. I'm absolutely shocked and terribly saddened to hear this.

25th Jun 2018 18:27 UTCDon Windeler

An awful start to the week. As Jolyon noted, John was an early internet mineral dealer and I first met him virtually through that venue. I eventually met him at a few Bay Area shows and always enjoyed talking with him. He was generous with his time when I was assembling a presentation on the Onganja mine, digging back into his archives to find a decade+ old stash of mineral photos from his sale of the Bill Birnie collection.

A really good guy who will be missed. My condolences to Ronna and family.

D.

25th Jun 2018 18:41 UTCDavid Lowe

This is a very sad day for the mineral community. My sympathy to his family and many friends around the world. RIP John.

25th Jun 2018 20:54 UTCJim Walker & Mary Fong/Walker

We are extremely saddened by this news. John was one of the forces on the mineral community who was a pioneer and always there for everyone. He will be surely missed! Our heart goes out to Ronna and his family ....

25th Jun 2018 20:56 UTCSteve Rust Manager

What nice guy glad to have known him.

25th Jun 2018 21:34 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

Every year we lose people who mean a lot to us - but none of us would ever have expected in our worst fears that John would be one of them at this time. He has given so much to this community and had so much more to offer. Our hearts are all broken.

25th Jun 2018 22:06 UTCWayne Schrimp

John, may you Rest in Peace among all the heavenly minerals on the other side.

25th Jun 2018 22:24 UTCDaniel J. Evanich 🌟 Expert

A devastatingly sad day for all of us in the mineral community. I have so many good memories with John over the past 20 years and they are flooding my mind today. My heart goes out to Ronna along with all of John's extended mineral family. I will miss him dearly.

26th Jun 2018 00:27 UTCBrent Lockhart

This is so sad, John was such a great guy, honest to a tee, and a trail blazing internet dealer. He had a great eye for specimens and brought so many new things and classic materials back from the shows he attended. It was a real high point reading his reports and spot on analysis at the end of each show. We will all miss him. Our thoughts will be with Ronna and family in this trying time.

26th Jun 2018 03:40 UTCPaul MH Chan

R.I.P.

26th Jun 2018 04:07 UTCDoug Daniels

I never met him personally. Was more familiar with him from his auctions and his yearly Tucson report. He definitely will be missed

26th Jun 2018 04:21 UTCScott Sadlocha

This is truly sad news. Though I had never met John in person, I have been a customer of the auction site for years and have purchased specimens from him. In the times we corresponded, he was incredibly kind and genuine, especially so to someone who was new to minerals and had a lot to learn. Reading comments from those that knew him well reinforces what I thought of him then and now. My thoughts and condolences go out to his friends and family.

26th Jun 2018 06:39 UTCLen Pisciotta

So sad. John was one of my early friends in collecting minerals. He was a passionate and authentic person who also had a good sense of humor. I have a few benitoites that reside in his personal collection. I used to joke with him about finding a jonesite on benitoite and promised I would.

After about 30 years cleaning specimens, I finally found a jonesite on benitoite that I wanted to give it to him for his collection. We were supposed to meet a couple weeks ago. I liked talking with him about flora and fauna and his travels. Both he and his wife emminated so much joy. My condolences to his wife. John, you will be missed.

26th Jun 2018 08:52 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

Today's photo of the day was one of his favourite benitoite mine pieces, the famous 'sushi plate".

Rest in Peace, John. You will never be forgotten.

26th Jun 2018 09:47 UTCPeter Nancarrow 🌟 Expert

A tragic loss; I only knew John from a short time we shared on the Madagascar adventure in 2014, but remember him as very friendly, always with a smile, and his great knowledge of minerals. So sad, my condolences to his family.

26th Jun 2018 12:52 UTCLefteris Rantos Expert

Shockingly sad news and a terrible loss for our community.

John was one of those pioneers who helped move the hobby of mineral collecting into the digital age. The online galleries, mineral auctions and (for my taste, still unsurpassed) Show Reports of Trinity Mineral Co introduced a large number of collectors, like myself, to a world of mineral collecting that until then remained beyond their reach. John helped to make the shift from traditional mineral shops and Shows, that many collectors around the world could not regularly attend, to a world-wide online mineral collecting community.

I will always keep the very first rock I ever purchased online from John, back in 1999.

26th Jun 2018 15:13 UTCFlorian Baur

I bought two larger uranium specimens from him that caused quite some trouble at german customs with police and fire fighters on site and he was very helpful through the whole thing. He seemed like a really nice guy. The two specimens will always reming me of that incident and him.

26th Jun 2018 17:08 UTCRiccardo Modanesi

Hi to everybody!

I have known John by seeing him every year in Munich at the show. In Italy we say: this bad new fell on me as a "frozen shower". I was much impressed by his deep culture and by his wide knowledge of mineralogy. Fully agree: we all miss you, John! Now you are in Heaven, please watch to all of us! My condolences to his family. Greetings from Italy by Riccardo.

26th Jun 2018 23:57 UTCStephen C. Blyskal Expert

My heart goes out to Ronna, who has to carry on without John. As someone who also fell in love later in life, this loss hits me where it hurts. While I never had the pleasure of meeting John, I was a customer for many years and always enjoyed his Show Reports, which I used to update my Mineral Section colleagues on the Tucson show and others. Rest in peace John, we will cry an ocean of tears tonight but they won't fill the hole you leave in our hearts.

27th Jun 2018 00:15 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager

The world would be a better place if all men had John's character. I sold to him, and bought from him, for 20 years and never regretted a single transaction. And quite apart from business, he was always fun to chat with whenever we ran into each other in Tucson, California, Denver, Munich, Sainte Marie, Tokyo... A truly noble human being. Condolences to Ronna, and RIP, John.

27th Jun 2018 09:33 UTCMarco E. Ciriotti Manager

Awful news!

Condolences to Ronna, and RIP, John.

27th Jun 2018 16:23 UTCSteve Hardinger 🌟 Expert

It's been said, "You live as long as the last person who remembers you". John will live a long, long time.

27th Jun 2018 21:04 UTCTravis Hetsler

John was one of my early mentors in the mineral trade and my career in the business owes to him a debt of thanks for all of the enthusiastic advice he gave over the years. His mineral auctions have been my email companion for almost two decades and I am glad they will continue despite his loss. Condolences to all of john's family and to Ronna.

28th Jun 2018 00:08 UTCJesse Fisher Expert

It's really hard to hear things like this. John helped us greatly with sales and publicity for the Rogerley project back around 2000 when we first started, and ask for little in return. He has been a good friend since, always valuing minerals and friends above money and ego. I suddenly feel like there's a large hole in our community, now. A photo of John and Ronna visiting the Rogerley in 2015. Cheers, mate!

28th Jun 2018 14:25 UTCKnut Eldjarn 🌟 Manager

A great tragedy.

John was one of the most sharing and amiable in the mineral dealer community. Condolences to Ronna and RIP John.

Knut

29th Jun 2018 15:50 UTCPaul MPB Meulenbeld

Only heard today of the tragic loss of John. He was a very kind person and assisted me with handling mineral specimens over the USA to be posted to me avoiding our crippling South African postal unservice. Over the years I bought many interesting and quality specimens from him and he was always ready for a discounted deal. He will surely be missed and also his reports on major shows. My condolences to Ronna, his family, John S White (partner in cigars) and all that knew and loved him.

3rd Jul 2018 23:51 UTCJohn Oostenryk

Ohhhh..... That just took the wind outta me...

Oh Ronna, my heart goes out to you! My deepest condolences....

This guy touched many people by his honorable actions. Will be missed, and certainly not forgotten.

So many things flip through my head and you want to say them all, as you value the person who has passed?!

My small details in a bigger universe of actions and events and connections....

I think them all at once, and it leaves me tongue tied, somewhat frozen in response.

Take Care ALL. Hug someone near you.

~John Oostenryk :(...

22nd Jul 2018 06:31 UTCEugene

Oh no, I don't know him personally but I had been trying to get in touch with him over the last several days. Now I realize why he never responded. :( How terribly sad for his family and the mineral community. RIP.

14th Sep 2018 05:11 UTCKevin Conroy Manager

I just returned from John's life celebration/memorial at the Denver show. It was a sad occasion but also a heart-warming time. So many folks had stories of how having met John made such a positive impact in their lives was REALLY amazing. He remains a source of admiration and inspiration to all of us who knew him.

14th Sep 2018 05:24 UTCErin Delventhal Manager

Kevin, thanks for saying something - I don’t think I could find the proper words, but echo the same sentiments about the memorial. John will be deeply missed but his impact on the mineral community will never be lost.

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