John Melton Boardman

John Melton Boardman, born September 8, 1932 in Turlock, California passed in his sleep on May 29, 2025 in Montgomery Village, Maryland at the age of 92.
John was preceded in death by his wife Perdita Ann (nee Lilly) Boardman, his parents Arthur Charles & Helen Lourene (nee Melton) Boardman, his brothers Karl Martin Boardman and Keith Roger Boardman, and son-in-law Dean Earl Wright III.
He is survived by his daughter Deirdre Perez, step-daughter Karina Wright, his five grandchildren Anthony Perez (Karen), Diana Wright, Michael Perez, Dean Wright IV (Theresa), & Melissa Perez (James Naylor Jr), and seven great-grandchildren Elliana Perez-Tate, Charlotte Perez, Carmen Perez, Mason Perez, Alesia Perez, Maddox Perez and JaMya Naylor.
John loved family and was very proud of his ancestry and of the legacy to become of his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
John was the oldest of three boys, and actually born with the given name of Jack but began using the name John as a child. While born in California, the family moved between Iowa and California based on work and further education of Arthur Boardman who had a degree in dairy biology and later a chiropractic degree and practice.
John earned his BA at the University of Chicago in 1952 and his MS from Iowa State University in 1956. He then attended Florida State University to begin his doctoral studies. However, he was expelled in 1957 due to his involvement with the Inter-Civic Council and more specifically for inviting three black Florida A&M exchange students to a Christmas party. The story "White students defy Jim Crow in Florida" was published in the February 21, 1957 issue of Jet magazine and a self-written article "How I became a university bugbear" was published in the June-July 1957 issue of The Crisis magazine. The complete story is documented on Floridamemory.com – State Library and Archives of Florida.
He ultimately received his PhD in physics at Syracuse University in 1962; his doctoral thesis was titled Quantization of the General Theory of Relativity. His publications include "Spherical Gravitational Waves" (a collaboration with Peter Bergmann, former research assistant to Albert Einstein), "Contributions to the Quantization Problem in General Relativity", and "The Normal Modes Of A Hanging Oscillator Of Order N".
After earning his PhD he began working for the City University of New York (CUNY) as a physics professor, but also taking on astronomy courses, first teaching at Queens College then moving to Brooklyn College where he remained until he retired.
Upon moving to NYC he reconnected with Perdita who he had met at the University of Chicago, and they married August 23, 1963. He became an instant father to Karina (nee Girsdansky) Wright, and later to his daughter Deirdre in 1965.
He has long been an active member of science fiction fandom. With a co-founder formed a science fiction club at the University of Chicago called "Skiffy" and was honorary member of the New York Science Fiction Society (Lunarians). He was famed for his strong political opinions; and has been the subject of at least two filksongs: "To John Boardman in Brooklyn" and "All Hail to the Fan John B." In addition to Knowable, his science fiction fanzines have included Dagon and Anakreon. He has also written at least two published fantasy stories, "Colon the Conqueror" (a Conan the Barbarian parody), published in the May 1958 issue of Fantastic Universe; and "The Testament of Snefru", published in the 1980 anthology The Spell of Conan (L. Sprague de Camp, ed.). He also wrote a regular column, "Science for Science Fiction", for the first twelve issues of Ares magazine.
Boardman's 1961 filksong, "The Asteroid Light" (to the tune of the sea chanty "Eddystone Light") has been reprinted repeatedly, in venues ranging from science fiction anthologies (the 1972 anthology Futures Conditional) to Sing Out magazine (V. 9, #1, p. 24) to collections of protest music (Glazer, Tom. Songs of Peace, Freedom and Protest. New York: David McKay, 1970). It has also frequently been discussed in papers on filk music.
Boardman was involved in early play-by-mail (PBM) for the Diplomacy game, and for a small fee he would send copies of each player's turns to every other player involved in a game. He is one of the most noted figures in the game of Diplomacy, having established the original play-by-mail setup in 1961, and also the system of numbering each game for statistical purposes. These numbers, known as Boardman Numbers, include the year and a letter indicating sequence. For instance, 2004A was the first game started in 2004.
Boardman started the first successful postal Diplomacy zine, Graustark, in 1963 as an offshoot from his science fiction fanzine Knowable. Soon Graustark grew from just a game turn-report newsletter to a hobby activity similar to science fiction fanzines. Boardman continued to produce Graustark for almost 50 years, publishing issue 793 in June 2013.
With their love of history and costuming, John & Perdita also helped in bringing the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) to the east coast. They were an integral part of the organization in the 60s & 70s.
After some health complications John & Perdita moved out of Brooklyn to Maryland in 2010 where daughters Karina & Deirdre then resided. John lived with Deirdre, then with Deirdre, Melissa and her family for many years affording him the opportunity to have a lot of interaction with his great-grandchildren which her cherished. This would become a huge blessing during the Covid years with everyone home and gaining a tight bond with Melissa's girls.
Much of the above is from the fine people at Wkipedia who did a better job of writing than I can. I'd also like to end with the below article by a friend of both my parents and their home of over four decades-
Room and Boardman
© 2017
by Raymond E. Heuer
234 East 19th Street, Brooklyn, is a quiet, unassuming house in a quiet unassuming neighborhood. Built at the end of the 19th Century, it was considered so typical of the neighborhood that Spike Lee used the place for on-location shots for his movie "Malcolm X". For decades, it has been the home of John and Perdita Boardman and has been the meeting place for at least two World Science Fiction bid committees, Lunarian Society and LunaCon meetings, numerous and varied collation "parties" and the most motley crew of intellectuals, radicals, and indicted co-conspirators this side of Washington, DC.
For many years it was the home base of carolers who disturbed various Brooklyn residents every year, who finished with a rousing (or at least loud) chorus of "Happy Birthday to Perdita (who was unfortunate enough to have been born in late December.) Curiously, many of those spreading the news of the birth of Christ were Jewish, at least one of whom sung the songs in the second person (I.e, your Savior, your King, etc.)
The house was also a Mecca for gamers. John was the first to host postal games of Alan Calhamer's "Diplomacy". He also devised the system still used to identify such games. Many theories have been advanced as to who "invented" postal gaming, but if you discount postal games of Chess (which have probably been played for as long as there have been postal systems) John's name has to be one of those mentioned.
At the monthly gatherings at the house (called "First Saturday" for want of a better name) one could hear discussions about history, several genres of literature, space travel/exploration, movies, TV, and just about anything two or more people can have a discussion about.
But all good things must end, and the quiet unassuming house in Brooklyn will soon join its fellows as just a place to come home to. This essay could never express my gratitude due John and Perdita, but I hope that it's a step in that direction. Thank you, John. Thank you, Perdita. Be well and know that our best wishes follow you wherever you go.
There is no official memorial being planned other than privately by the family.
Just look to the stars and cosmos and think of him.