In Memoriam: Mark Dennis, Audio Engineer, Passed Away March 22 The audio industry has lost a great friend. Mark Dennis passed away on Sunday, March 22. The information below is to a bio that Dennis put together for a panel that he and Bill Mansfield sat on for LDI 2018 in Las Vegas entitled "Bulletproof Wireless," which was hosted by Kelly Fair of Lectrosonics. "Mark Dennis has had a long and varied history of roles in the audio industry, ranging from mixing the largest Las Vegas shows to rock 'n' roll, from high rigger to frequency coordinator. Starting out life on the east coast, he has always gravitated towards the high mountains and deserts of the west. Mark spent years mixing musical theatre, and did a stint mixing world premier opera at the NY State theatre for his mentor, and a man largely responsible for his being in this crazy business, Abe Jacob. He has designed and mounted shows in London's West End, worked major TV awards shows in varying capacities, done corporate theatre and TV communications and RF coordination. Mark has toured internationally with major artists and symphony orchestras. He swears it is not his fault; he was just the guitar player and someone had to do the sound. From the beginning he was an early adopter, obsessed enough to drag his Apple IIsi road cases into hotel rooms on the road, just because. He was the only one he ever knew to tour musical theatre carrying a TEF analyzer, and then while at another show, the first one he knew of to use Smaart software to analyze underwater acoustics, relying heavily on advice from one of his all-time heroes, Don Pearson. When a major Vegas show's telemetry system failure once threatened the show's ability to open, with nothing available off the shelf, Mark designed and implemented a timecode over RF link to enable sync between the many moving automation pieces. In 2007 Mark traveled to Washington DC to address Congress and the FCC on pending legislation surrounding the whitespaces issue and shrinking RF spectrum and its impact on the entertainment industry. His comments were used as public record in correspondence from the Nevada House of Representatives to the Chairman of the FCC and the Commission. He is these days mixing symphony orchestras worldwide, with not one single RF device to worry about. Life is good." Mansfied shared about his good friend: "I first met Mark in 1998, when he hired me to be his assistant on Cirque du Soleil's 'O' show, where I am still (or was until March 30th) the head of audio. Mark was one of the kindest and most compassionate people I have ever met. He was one of my best friends up until the day he passed, March 22nd, 2020." Dennis was always willing to help whenever anyone needed help. He always had a smile on his face and was a team player and good friend to many. He is survived by his lovely wife, Kersti and his beautiful 11-year-old daughter, Sofie (pictured with Mark). James Stoffo encouraged: "Our Audio community has always come to the rescue whenever one of our friends needs assistance. After hurricane Irma destroyed our home, it was extremely helpful to see so many friends and colleagues support the Go Fund Me page our daughter set up. It was very uplifting to see the personal notes people sent." "Sadly the time has come once again to help out a dear friend's family. Please join my colleagues and me in showing our support by visiting this Go Fund Me page in memory of Mark Dennis. He will be missed." www.gofundme.com/f/mark-dennis-memorial-fund?member=&utm_source=twilio&utm_medium=sms&utm_campaign=contacts-v2-invite-to-donate 
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