I just found out that a fellow KIC member Keith Harrison (KIFan1980) passed away last night after a heroic battle with cancer.

I first met Keith at the Diamondback station waiting in line. I was new to KIC and to being a coaster enthusiast. Keith recognized me from my avatar and extended his hand to welcome me to the family.

I will miss you for now, but am sure that we will meet again and i know that his hand will be outstretched when we reunite.

(Contributed by DaveStroem)

My prayers go out to his family. Sounds like a great guy.

I contemplated creating a Post of this type, but hesitated, mainly because I was having a hard time finding words that fit. I first met Keith at HolliWood Nights 2010, and quickly became Friends with Him throughout the weekend. He genuinely is one of the best Men Ive ever had the Honor of knowing, and my Heart goes out to His Wife and two young Sons. The textbook example of the phrase "Only the good die young". One of the best, and taken far too soon.

Always tough to lose someone to cancer, especially a father. I am sending prayers to his family.

(P.S. Can someone post Keith's screen name? There's not a whole lot of real names I know on here, and I'm sure others may be wondering as well.)

KIfan1980.

A good man. A friend. Tremendous father. Valiant cancer fighter. A role model for us all.

And gone so young.

When I was pregnant with my son, toward the end I had a countdown to my due date on facebook. After I had Ben, Keith jokingly suggested that I do a reverse countdown of how long I hadn't been pregnant. My son will be 1 Tuesday, and I had planned on pointing out to Keith that it had been an entire year since I had been pregnant.

I never spent much time with him at the parks, but every time I did see him, he was always very friendly and just a great guy. May he rest in peace. My thoughts and prayers are with his family, especially his wife and children, and also with everyone who had the privledge of knowing him. He will be missed.

I contemplated creating a Post of this type, but hesitated, mainly because I was having a hard time finding words that fit. I first met Keith at HolliWood Nights 2011, and quickly became Friends with Him throughout the weekend. He genuinely is one of the best Men Ive ever had the Honor of knowing, and my Heart goes out to His Wife and two young Sons. The textbook example of the phrase "Only the good die young". One of the best, and taken far too soon.

I debated as well and decided against it. I will never forget the time he was with the boys and introduced me as "Miss Kelli" in that accent of his . And the last ride on DB right before his diagnosis. I am sad beyond any words I can express here.

Wow, I'm really sorry to hear this, I know from experience how hard it is to lose a loved one from Cancer, my thoughts are with his family and his two boys tonight. God Bless you Keith!

RIP, I may have only seen your posts, but I will remember you. May you ride the great Diamondback in the sky.

R.I.P. Numb with disbelief. Prayers and thoughts for his family.

I hate cancer. Rest in peace Keith. My thoughts are with his family at this time :/

I have only been on this board for about 7 months now, so I have only read his posts. Keith seemed like a great guy. That is evident by the kind words from everyone about him on this post. Thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends, especially his kids. May he rest in peace.

Keith - KIfan1980

I have been in shock for a few hours and I just sadden beyond words. Like others have said Keith had Superior Character and was a true gentleman in every aspects of his life. I will go so far and say i so looked up to him and his character and would put him on top of my most respected person in my life, he was just that nice. I pray for his family and he will be so missed by this community.

R.I.P.

My thoughts an prayers go out to his family. I too only knew him from his posts, but loosing a friend is never easy.

Extremely sad to hear this news.

Keith was such a great guy, both in the coaster community and when you got to know him on a more personal level.

One of my favorite times with Keith was opening day last year when a group of KIC'ers, Keith and I were walking in the park trying to decide what to ride. We ended up in line for the Crypt when it broke down. We decided to stay in line because the A/C was great. We "tried" to figure out who's fault it was, somehow it got to be Keith's fault. After riding that, we ended up checking out a couple other rides. We finally decided to ride Racer (blue side). An almost full train of KIC members headed up the hill and got stuck 3/4ths of the way up. Who's fault was it? Everyone yelled to Keith, "way to break the ride Keith." He just laughed about it the entire day because it was just his luck that he was with some friends and things kept going down.

I look back on that day and it has become one of the most cherished Kings Island visits for me. Keith will truly rest in peace and I'm sure he'll watch over all of us on our crazy coaster trips and throughout our lives. God Bless Keith and his family. RIP buddy!

No words.

RIP KIfan1980.

I, too, am shocked, even though I have only seen his posts (while lurking around on the boards, before I joined). I agree, it is quite tough when someone loses his/her life to cancer.

Praying for his family and close friends.

Thoughts and prayers for the family.

Even though I only knew him through his posts, I'm in shock. Very saddened to hear of him passing away, especially since I didn't know of his diagnosis. I pray for the best for his family, friends, and children.

This next one's for you KIfan1980.

Seemed like a great guy- so sad to hear this... its crazy to think that someone who was on this site just last night is no longer here today. Thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and family, and my next ride on

Diamondback, whenever that may be, is in his honor.

RIP KIfan1980. God bless!

I believe it was Thrill_Biscuit who mentioned this in another thread, but this is not a good year. Phyllis Diller (she), Neil Armstrong, Dr. Schuster, among multitudes of other people.

And now Keith.

I have only known him through this board, but it was very apparent that he had a glowing reputation and attitude, and he will be missed.

R.I.P., Keith.

Although I only met Keith a few times, he was a great guy. My first time meeting him was at Holiwood Nights 10'. He bought my lunch for me that day for no other reason than him being himself helping others. I am sure I thanked him at the time, but I'd like to once again thank him for being such a great guy. RIP, all of us will miss you.

In the few times I met Keith, he always went out of his way to be kind to me, my family and everyone else who was there. My prayers are with his family.

Had the pleasure of meeting Keith last summer. He was a good man and we all had a great evening. I will forever remember taking my first ever ride on Delirium that day.

God Bless him and his family.

Wish I had known him outside of these boards.

I remember Keith being at ERT a lot at Diamondback and always getting real wild and crazy. I didn't get to know him as well as I would have liked but treasure the fact that I did have the privilege of knowing him. One of my favorite sights at KI was seeing him with his two boys-he was obviously devoted to them. My heartfelt condolences to his wife and boys.

I dreaded even opening this topic...I had a sinking feeling that I knew what it might be and I didn't want to see it confirmed, I had such high hopes that Keith would win his battle.

Although I never met Keith in person, I feel that through his amazing trip reports I know him better than people that I do come in contact personally. He was a huge asset to this community.

One of my favorite lines from one of Keith's trip reports is as follows:

"...another family Disney trip while the boys were in that prime age (5, 7, and 40)"

Even though this line makes me sad at the moment, it also makes me smile...which i'm sure would make Keith happy.

My heart goes out to all of his family and friends, he will truly be missed.

This is truly heartbreaking.

A young man with children and a wife...you've all said it above, but prayers and thoughts with his family in this impossible time. As a father, it brings tears to my eyes.

He was, and continues to be loved.

As sad as it is for someone to be taken too soon, it's especially hard to see children lose a parent. Like several others posting here, my only connection to him was as a casual reader of this site over the years. Seeing the replies to this topic makes it clear he was a caring person loved by all who knew him.

A tragic reminder to cherish the time you have with your loved ones, as there's never a guarantee that there will be more. My prayers and deepest sympathies go out to his family and friends.