Hello to everyone!  I am writing to report the shocking and sad news
that Charlie Moore passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in his sleep
this past weekend in his hometown of Dallas, Texas.

As many of you know, Charlie and I were close friends and (after the
also untimely death of Todd Augsburger in 2011) probably the two people
in the world who were most interested -- fanatically interested! --
in cob roller organs and their music.  Our friendship went back over
20 years.

I remember giving a talk, many years ago now at a Musical Box Society
International annual meeting, about the music that appeared on roller
organ cobs and at the end I said something about the possibility
of making new cobs.  Charlie and his father Walter (who was also a
mechanical music enthusiast and specialized in restoring organettes)
surprised me by standing up and coming forward with a brand new cob
they made, "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover."

It played perfectly -- everyone present was astounded, and that
was the beginning of Charlie's cob-making that eventually extended
to making hundreds of new cobs with all kinds of music on them,
all perfect.

I have always considered Charlie a true genius and his ability to
design and implement his pinning machine to make perfect new and
reproduction cobs was amazing.  He had an encyclopedic knowledge 
of the sometimes minute changes that were made in the four decades
roller organs were manufactured and he could usually pinpoint --
just from looking at the particular design and parts of an organ --
the approximate or even exact year it was made. 

After Todd Augsburger's death, Charlie took over what had been his
website at https://www.rollerorgans.com/  He also made and sold
original, new and reproduction roller organ cobs, both 20-note and
32-note, through his own website at https://www.honorrolls.net/ 

Charlie and I enjoyed sharing information about new discoveries we
both made, discussing the very fine points of roller organs and cobs,
and we would also be in touch whenever one of us came across an
unusual machine that might be of interest to the other or a cob that
the other one did not have in his collection; Charlie was extremely
helpful and generous to me in this regard.

He also, at my request, made a number of new Grand cobs containing
pieces of mostly classical music that I chose and he was extremely
patient in making changes I suggested in individual notes in the MIDI
recordings he sent me as we worked together to finalize arrangements.
Many of these cobs are amazing!  In addition, he made a turquoise
blue plastic cob on a 3-D printer for my wife, Marlene, that plays
just as well as any wooden cob.

I last saw Charlie in person last August at the MBSI annual
meeting in Rockville, Maryland, and a few months before that he
and I and my wife journeyed to St. Joseph, Missouri, to spend a few
days identifying and inventorying over 1,000 roller organ cobs
accumulated over many years by a mechanical music collector friend
of ours there.  About a year before that we made a similar trip to
Palmer, Massachusetts, to do the same thing for another collector
friend there.

He also on one occasion came to New Jersey and spent a few days
visiting us at our home here.  In between getting together, we were
in frequent touch, usually by email and occasionally by phone.

I assume that because of the coronavirus epidemic there will be no
public funeral for Charlie at the present time, but I am in touch
with his brother and will provide any further details I learn in
this regard, especially concerning any memorial service to be held
at a later date when the epidemic has subsided.

Richard Dutton
Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey