Duke Anthony Egbert

Duke Anthony Egbert, 56, of Ottawa, Illinois, passed away on May 20, 2024, in Louisville, KY. He was born on February 28, 1968.

Duke, known to many as Dagonet "Dag" Dewr, was a cherished partner to Carla, a dear son to his step-mother Sue and his late parents Sherry and Patrick, a loving father to Corwin, Catrien, Aneirin, and Azazel, a dear brother to Mark, Tabitha, Josh, JT, and Patricia, and chosen family to innumerable others.

Duke co-founded the Pagan Pride Project, a non-profit dedicated to fostering Pagan identity through education, activism, charity, and community, where he served as both Membership Coordinator and Executive Director. He touched many in the Pagan communities of Indianapolis, IN, and Austin, TX as a priest and spiritual mentor. Duke also spent two decades supporting men's emotional development as a 29-time event staffer and an elder in the ManKind Project.

Duke's passion for music led him to twenty-six years of album reviewing at The Daily Vault, the longest-running independent music review site online. He was a talented editor at newWitch magazine from 2001 to 2006. Duke authored Sacred Paths for Modern Men, released in 2007, as well as several unpublished manuscripts and countless silly puns, bad jokes, and dry one-liners.

Memorial services to honor Duke's life will be announced in the weeks to come. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the GoFundMe campaign organized to support his surviving family or to one of several charities that touched his heart: the Ehlers-Danlos Society; the Colorectal Cancer Alliance; the National Wildlife Federation; or Hosparus Health, who provided no cost hospice care in his final days.

Duke will be deeply missed by all who knew him, but his legacy of kindness, mentorship, and creativity will live on in the hearts of those he touched and in the stories he leaves behind. May his next life be as full of laughter, adventure, and light as this one.

Memoriam mortis amorem fortior--love and memory are stronger than death.