John Ogden Fabian was Born November 21 1945 and Passed January 17 2010. A very special loving soul, his presence will be missed by many.
John always seemed to know just the way to ask the question or phrase his comments so as to spark intrigue and resolution in his conversations with others. John loved nature in all its splendor (especially tropical fish, birds, and wildcats). He enjoyed solving complex mysteries and puzzles.
John's kindness and gift of teaching with wit and humor allowed many people clear access to his knowledge and his ideas. He delighted in learning new things and never stopped looking for ways to improve his products or make life easier or more pleasant for someone else or innovating until the day he passed.
As a pedal steel guitar enthusiast, psg educator, Jeff Newman, was John's mentor and psg great, Buddy Emmons, was John's inspiration.
As Founder and President of the largest pedal steel guitar company in recent history, World Class Steels, Inc. dba Carter Steel Guitars, John endeavored to bring and maintain the highest level of integrity, honesty, education, and support in the industry. He was the designer and creator of many of that Company's innovations, including various educational seminars and presentations (both live and virtual online), the selling of very high-priced items (pedal steel guitars) via the Internet direct to the consumer (sight unseen) when virtually no one was yet doing so (1996), early adopter of interactive internet displays such as 3-D and configurators to more explicitly give his customers a real feel for the product, interactive trade-show booths for a hands-on intro (1992), design of the Carter-Starter beginner pedal steel guitar which changed the lives of many wanna-be pedal steel guitarists so that they could easily afford to learn to play (2000), design of the Magnum pedal steel guitar, and even co-designing several aspects of the Carter pro model with his partner Bud Carter. In the last few years of his life, John worked very hard to have Bud Carter inducted into the International Steel Guitar Hall of Fame, which happened in September of 2009.
Service to others was of utmost importance to John, even throughout his 8-year heroic, valiant, and periodically-very-successful battle with Stage 3 and then Stage 4 Metastatic Colon Cancer.
The one piece of advice he would have for anyone age 50 or under: "Have a colonoscopy at 50 years of age or earlier if you suspect you need it."
He is survived by his wife Ann, his sister Barbara, his mother Jane, many cousins, nieces, and nephew.
Cremation was John's choice. A memorial service is in the early planning stages at this time.
Condolences may be sent to psgbuilder@steelguitar.com or to The Family of John Fabian, PO Box 851324 Mesquite TX 75185-1324 USA. Donations may be sent to www.GildasClub.org , www.pricepottenger.com , or Scripps Institute of Oceanography www.aquarium.ucsd.edu .
