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55 isn't that old. Sad. He will definitely be missed.

War Store was where I would get all my Mierce stuff as they were the only store in the US that was regularly stocking them.

Yeah, definitely sad news. Thank you for all the great years of gaming, Neal. RIP

Awful.

Yes very sorry to hear this. I was patron for years to his site, used to love i bits bag deals. When I heard the site was closing down, it felt like an end to an era. My condolences to his family and friends.

Sad news - didn't order from them a ton - but the few times I did was always smooth sailing. And frequently would use their site as a reference for new releases because they were also so up to date on when things were coming out in terms of pre-orders and stuff.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
I fear we'll see a lot more of these posts in the coming years, ain't none of us getting no younger.

Gygax & Arneson, recently.

The Boomer rock stars, Ocasek, Bowie, Petty, etc.

Yeah, lotsa folks are gonna be moving on. How old is Jervis J.?

Some irony given the life expectancy of the average Imperial Guardsman, if you really tried to calculate the fluff,
.

- - - - - - -- -
That said, I bought from Neal, too. Cool dude.

Sucks so bad. Ordered from him soooo many times. It was a great period in my life!

He will be missed, that's for sure.

Startling and sad news, and I only recently caught that the Store had been closed as well

 AegisGrimm wrote:
It was a great period in my life!

Aye, War Store was the only place I ordered from for many years, before taking a break from heavy buying ... and then becoming a MiniatureMarketeer

He was much younger than I thought, I always pictured him as a grizzled old dwarf viking dude, hawking his horde o' wares

I've ordered from Neal since probably around 1999 and he was always such a sweet, accommodating man. This news is terrible.

I found a Facebook condolence book for the family farm.

https://m.facebook.com/CatapanoFarmsGreenhouse/photos/a.947937641940440/2802654496468736

I ordered from the War Store a couple of times over the years, until the Canada-US exchange rate got too high.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Kanluwen wrote:
Given that he only passed recently, how about showing a weeeeeeeeeee bit of class and just not saying anything?

"Died suddenly" is often used for an initial announcement of someone's passing, not just a euphemism.

Talking about mental health issues doesn't get better if we don't talk about mental health issues and unfortunate outcomes.

I only made the point because perhaps there might be people here, online, that didn't know that most local media and funeral homes have rules going back several years about not using the word suicide. So they use the phrase died suddenly. The belief is, and unfortunately there is data that bears it out, that when a teenager's death is reported as a suicide it sometimes leads to copycats.

I am exactly the same age as Neal. I have my own mental health issues, but they are fortunately not severe and manageable by medication. One of my first-cousins was not so lucky.

I am sorry I offended you.

From what I see died suddenly means just that, it's not a euphemism or code.


https://www.reddit.com/r/askfuneraldirectors/comments/3aiowu/is_died_suddenly_at_home_or_passed_away/

I'm in California (entirely across the continent for those unaware) and my group has taken his passing hard. That shows how much a man can influence people even over the phone. We ordered a bit from him, and conversations felt more like another guy at the table rolling up his fighter/thief than a businessman pushing wares. Truly will be missed no matter the distance. He had the knack for being a gamer as well as running a store (as evidenced by other comments about "your reinforcements have arrived" etc).
It all says much about Neal and the Warstore.

 FoyleFreddy wrote:


Talking about mental health issues doesn't get better if we don't talk about mental health issues and unfortunate outcomes.

It doesn't get better with baseless speculation, either. Unless it's actually stated otherwise, 'died suddenly' means just that, and the speculation is tasteless and not at all helpful to the people directly affected.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
From what I see died suddenly means just that, it's not a euphemism or code.


https://www.reddit.com/r/askfuneraldirectors/comments/3aiowu/is_died_suddenly_at_home_or_passed_away/

It can also mean that the family has yet to learn the actual cause of death.

Warstore was also a distributor for some gaming supplies too. He was a 'force for good' in getting us our shinies over the years.

I ordered from Neal for years, and drove by the War Store twice before realizing where it was. I always enjoyed stopping in once Upon figured it out. Shopping in person was like dying and waking up in gamer heaven, but on inventory day. As a gaming distributor blister packs where backwards, UPC out.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
He will be missed.

Oh no. 55 is far too young. I used to buy a lot from Neal, including a few of his "bits bags". I still have a lot of leftovers that I'll use from time to time.

My condolences to his family. That's just terrible

Hello,
My name is Bri Catapano. I wanted to take the time to reach out and thank all of you for these kind words. My father was an amazing man, full of love that he gave to every man or woman who walked over his threshold. The WarStore was his pride and joy and it brought him and our family so much happiness. I want to reassure those that my father was not ill, he did not suffer in a hospital, it was not suicide, none of us had any indication that anything was wrong, he just went to sleep that night and did not wake. Something that I find comfort and great fear in. He would have wanted me to take this difficult time and remind all to do something he was sometimes afraid to do. Truly live. I will cherish this thread and all your kind words. Seeing how much my father impacted this industry is truly amazing.

Feel free to reach out to me on Facebook. (Please I mean this I truly would love to speak to those my father has touched). And please take this moment to hug your loved ones. I spoke to my father the night before like any other day asking him to pray over my college English test. He was gone before I could tell him how it went.

I probably failed dad. English was so much easier when it was just that damn talking paper and conjunction junction.

With love,
Bri Cat.

My deepest condolences Bri. Thank you for writing this. It must have been difficult.

Sorry for your loss

Thank you Bri Cat, your father was much loved in the community and will be missed.

I didn't deal with Neal much save for a couple purchases about a couple years back now. I knew of the Warstore from way back however and eventually hit him up there. He seemed like a kind man and a fun man from what little I could glean in those moments.

First, let me give my condolences to his family and friends if any read this post. I'm sure he will be missed and I wish no one had to lose someone they love so without warning. In some ways its better, in some ways much worse.

I hate offering condolence as it feels so lacking in depth and feeling. Nothing I or anyone else can say will make it better, I know this. What I can say, for any that read this. None of us are promised the days we have on this earth. Try and make each one special, in the way you savor life. If that is modeling, playing, laughing, lounging, anything so long as it makes you happy, do it and savor it.

Savor those you love and who love you. For one day it can all be turned into a bad dream and you wake in a world you scarcely understand that feels so barren. I wish truly I could make that not a reality but that isn't in a mere mans hands to do. I can say to cherish the days you have, as best you can, enjoy those in it, family, friends and all those small interactions you remember that give life meaning.

For Neal, and his family left behind. Believe you'll see each other again. He touched many lives and the only true immortality for any of us lay in the memory of those we leave behind and he seems to have left behind a kind family so his legacy will go forward as it does ever so lightly in all of those he touched in the gaming hobby we share.

If the kind words of his daughter are anything to go by, he left this world better than it would have been without him in it. For your average man, that's a true win in life. So I hope he has peace, and we all of us can have life, love and happiness in our remaining days.

Thank you for the time to read, for anyone who did. Hope this wasn't too long winded or somber. I just wish I could say more exactly, and not so much generally but I feel like even if I didn't know him well I should take the time to form a wordy response to this post. It's the least I can do.

My condolences to his family.

I ordered from Neal several times over the years. He was one of the few and only online retailer that would ship to APO boxes- those are the mail boxes military personnel have over seas. I remember sitting in a tent for six months in the sand box. The only thing that kept me sane was being able to order stuff from the War Store and getting it shipped over.

Neal was a great guy! He actually worked the phones back in the 00's, and would always take a few minutes to get to know you. In person, he was just a great, all around nice guy. The world is a little bit smaller, and a little bit darker with his passing.

RIP Neal! You will be missed.

The amount of times I have accidentally exalted posts on this site...the strength Bri has to come on here and share to us, reaching out to the community her father was a part of, there has never been a post on here as worthy of exalts. Seriously. If I never post an exalt again, she deserves one because I can’t even imagine how much it took for her to come to us as a group of strangers to talk about her father.

My deepest sympathies to you Bri. Thank you for posting here. I know that you and your family have so many things on your mind right now. God bless you all.

This is incredibly sad news.

I'm even more hit because my last interaction with Neal was not great. I had a pre-order for a limited GW release fall through and took my frustrations out on Neal via email. As a testament to his character, he got back to me and was as cordial and pleasant as ever, and went above and beyond to try to fix it. He was a true professional in that regard. I went back a reread those emails, and it was almost a year ago to the day.

Even though I apologized for taking out my frustrations on him, I can't help but feel terrible that that was my last interaction with him after having emailed him for years as a customer.

Neal was such a huge presence in the early days of e-commerce for wargaming, and we're worse off without TheWarstore and his presence in this hobby.

My deepest condolences to his family.

Rest in peace, Neal.

As a commission painter who has ordered easily 10k+ worth of product from him for my clients - this saddens me. I loved the site and he was great any time I had customer service issues with inventory or ordering some goofy rarely in stock model for some obscure game

Bri, thank you so much for posting here. I'm so sorry to hear about your father. He was such a trailblazer in this industry, and like many others I communicated with him directly on some of my first (and many later!) orders. He was amazing to work with, and even the incident that caused the business to close showed what an incredible man he was. He will be sorely missed in these parts!

Thank you for posting here Bri, it is much appreciated. Your father was a great man, and brought joy to people all over the United States (and probably all over the world). He really helped pioneer hobbies that have helped many with creative outlets and many other aspects of their lives, especially those who did not have access to such things in their area. You and your family have my deepest condolences and I wish you all the best.