David Relson, a “mainstay of the AGA” from the mid-1970’s to the mid-’80’s, died on September 21, 2013 at 65. An active cyclist, “he was 
almost home after riding 73 miles on a beautiful fall day when he collapsed,” reported his family in their annual letter. “Dave was a key member of the group which took the hand-off of a recreated AGA from a small group in New York (John Stephenson, Matthias Thim, and Masao Takabe) and moved it to the next level with broader national support,” former AGA president Terry Benson tells the E-Journal. “His 
enthusiasm was infectious. He was smart and sharp and reliable and an early computer person with both skills and personality. A great guy.” Relson was president of the Ann Arbor Go Club when in January 1977 Ann Arbor was the first club to insist on AGA membership by all its members. He served in a succession of leadership roles at the AGA for a dozen years beginning in 1976, serving as Membership Secretary, AGA rating coordinator, and on the Executive Committee, as well as assisting in running Easterns, the AGA’s major tournament at the time. “Dave was also the second AGAer to go to the European Go Congress (1977 in the Netherlands), report back, and encourage others to go and for us to have a Congress,” Benson adds. “He was a generous and thoughtful teacher,” remembers Dewey Cornell, who met Relson in 1978, when Relson ran the Ann Arbor club which met at the University of Michigan. “He started out each meeting by distributing a printout with our latest ratings. For a new player, that was a nice incentive.”
almost home after riding 73 miles on a beautiful fall day when he collapsed,” reported his family in their annual letter. “Dave was a key member of the group which took the hand-off of a recreated AGA from a small group in New York (John Stephenson, Matthias Thim, and Masao Takabe) and moved it to the next level with broader national support,” former AGA president Terry Benson tells the E-Journal. “His 
enthusiasm was infectious. He was smart and sharp and reliable and an early computer person with both skills and personality. A great guy.” Relson was president of the Ann Arbor Go Club when in January 1977 Ann Arbor was the first club to insist on AGA membership by all its members. He served in a succession of leadership roles at the AGA for a dozen years beginning in 1976, serving as Membership Secretary, AGA rating coordinator, and on the Executive Committee, as well as assisting in running Easterns, the AGA’s major tournament at the time. “Dave was also the second AGAer to go to the European Go Congress (1977 in the Netherlands), report back, and encourage others to go and for us to have a Congress,” Benson adds. “He was a generous and thoughtful teacher,” remembers Dewey Cornell, who met Relson in 1978, when Relson ran the Ann Arbor club which met at the University of Michigan. “He started out each meeting by distributing a printout with our latest ratings. For a new player, that was a nice incentive.”– includes reporting — and photo (top right) by T. Benson — from the American Go Journal, Vol. 15 #4 (July-August-Sept 1980), page 37
