Some old-timers here will remember him fondly. And he'd been there for me all those decades ago when I needed someone. And I wasn't the only one.

He had a rough life. A nasty divorce and children who didn't want anything to do with him anymore. Alcohol hadn't made it better. Eventually he became homeless and sick. Disappearing and ending up in a nursing-home more than once.

Gater has passed away. But I will always remember him.