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Remembering Stan Lee with some hard truths

samstonehillPosted for Everyone to comment on, 5 years ago5 min read

17 years ago I watched Stan give the best speech at my father's funeral. They served alongside each other in WW2 and remained best friends always, giving me an opportunity to get to know Stan & his wife in my childhood at their home in Hollywood. I am saddened by his death but more so by the events prior to his death which are not being widely publicised.

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The speech I remember at dad's funeral was not focused on the injustices of his life but on the fun they had together when they served in the Philippines. They were young & mischievous, looking to make the most of their time there, despite the circumstances.

They met during their officer's training in Chicago and immediately struck up a friendship because neither of them particularly wanted to be there, but both had a sharp wit and lust for life.

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He is famous for once saying this of my father:

"Yep, any time my ego needs deflating I remember how I was too smart to leave comic books and go into business with ol' Harry." Stan Lee

He said this because when the war ended dad saw opportunity in the Philippines and offered him a partnership, desperate to tempt his friend into staying. But as we all know, Stan had other plans for his life.

My father's story was one of incredible success, but he was ultimately betrayed by both the US government & Philippine government and unlike Stan he died penniless.

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Check this article if you are interested to learn more about my father's tale and the film which is currently being pitched to tell the untold story of his life in the Philippines.

The price of money

Stan sold Marvel Entertainment to Disney for $4 billion in 2009 and while we might imagine that having this quantity of money must surely bring happiness with it, this was absolutely not the case.

For the last 6 months I have been following the youtuber TheQuickening who is an avid Stan Lee fan and has been reporting on a saddening story we are not hearing in the mainstream media.

Stan & Joan had one child and the court document outlined in the above film highlights clearly how she lived her life and how she treated her father, even after the death of Joan last year. Needless to say she had an outrageously expensive lifestyle and would become aggressive if she didn't get the money she was demanding.

Further to this a man named Keya Morgan had inserted himself into Stan's life as his business manager and from what I can tell he began to manipulate him alongside Stan's daughter. All in the name of money.

I was shocked when I watch both the above films and immediately wrote an email to Stan offering some positive words, though I suspect he never saw it.

I had this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach when I imagined how lost and isolated he must feel, not knowing who to trust any more.

It will be interesting to see what happens to all his money now that he is gone.


What a release death must have been for him and I am grateful he is now at peace.

In this moment I choose to remember him as the smiling, energetic man he was.

He signed a few things for me over the years, one of which was the Hulk book you can see in this image.

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I considered selling it for steem last year and wrote a post to see if there was any interest but when the offers started rolling in I realised that I couldn't part with it and will instead preserve it not just as a memory of Stan but also of my father and the connection they had.

In truth I am smiling now with little tears of joy because I can imagine the two of them together again laughing and joking in their pure non physical forms, full of gratitude for the awesome lives they both lived.

You will be missed Stan, but your legacy will never die.

Excelsior!

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Who is @samstonehill?

He was a London based filmmaker until he sold everything and set out on a barefoot journey around the world, currently based in the south of France.
He is travelling with his partner & two children and with no bank account he has been living on STEEM & crypto for over a year.

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All content created for this account is 100% original (unless otherwise stated), produced by @samstonehill who invites you to use & share freely as you wish.

All non original photo sources can be found by clicking on the image

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