I was deeply saddened to learn that JC Wagner passed away on Sunday evening...

I was 16 years old when the Commercial Magic of JC Wagner hit the shelves. For a young aspiring magician that book was a life changer. It was filled with powerful, practical, and contemporary magic…most of which I still use to this day. Not too long after its release, JC came to Buffalo to attend the 4F convention. Ray Mertz set JC up with a lecture the night before the convention and I was on cloud nine as I made my way up the stairs of the Forks to see him in action.

JC was the first magic lecture I ever saw and it was a night I remember as clearly now as if it had happened yesterday. I saw the miracles from the book come to life...Super Closer, Card Under Drink, Poor Man’s Matrix, Torn & Restored Card, and so much more…the quantity and quality of the content was staggering. I remember being utterly stunned by his Estimation work. If you had told me it was real magic, I probably would have believed you. People thought of cards and somehow he knew them...it was that simple. Pure magic.

During his Estimation he used brilliantly constructed “outs”…one of which was the Snap Change. I had never seen the move performed prior to JC and the next day I mustered up enough nerve to ask him to help me with it. He directed me over to the steps to the second floor and sat down to show me the move in detail. The position, the approach, the clean up...everything. Keep in mind this was during 4F and around him stood some of the best close up magicians on earth. But in that moment JC gave some convention crashing teenager his full attention. I would realize later that that was just JC being JC...always giving with no expectation for return.

At the end of last April he made his way back to Buffalo for the 40th 4F and then up to Canada for the CAM convention. I had the chance to spend quite a bit of time with him during those two conventions. He had no bitterness about the cancer that had taken hold of him, he just wanted to share magic. I count myself lucky to have had so many opportunities to spend time with him. He was one of the best - not just in magic, but as a human being. Always teaching a lesson, even when he didn't have a pack of cards in his hand.

Thanks for everything JC.