Fred Patten joined the LASFS in 1960.   He has attended most Worldcons and Westercons since then, and was the Chairman of the 1974 Westercon and 1987 Loscon.   He was a co-founder of the first Japanese animation fan club in 1977.   He currently writes regular anime columns for  Animation World Magazine,  Comics Buyer's Guide  and  Newtype USA, and he has been a consultant for many animation and anime film festivals.   He was a manager at Streamline Pictures, one of America's earliest anime specialty companies, from 1991 to 2003, and has been a freelance writer since then.   He is a member of four apas, and is currently Official Editor of  Rowrbrazzle.   He writes a series,  "Theriopangrams", for  Radio Comix's  monthly Furrlough, and reviews anthropomorphic literature for  Yarf!  and  Claw & Quill  magazines.   He is the editor of  Best in Show:  Fifteen Years of Outstanding Furry Fiction  (Sofawolf Press, 2003) which won an Ursa Major Award, and the author of  Watching Anime, Reading Manga:  25 Years of Essays and Reviews  (Stone Bridge Press, 2004).   --   "Fred had a stroke in March, and is currently in a convalescent hospital."