Sad News: CASAA's First President, Michal "Webby" Douglas, Passed Away

[JustJulie]

Earlier this week, Michal "Webby" Douglas passed away.

As many of you may know, Webby was CASAA's first president, and he was instrumental in getting our organization up and running. While many people talked about doing something, Webby was the one who took the ball and ran with it. It is no understatement to say that without Webby, there would be no CASAA. We're incredibly grateful for Webby's hard work and vision.

Our thoughts are with his loved ones during this difficult time.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to:


Ecumenical Ministries Inc
P.O. Box 1103
Fairhope AL 36533
(251) 928-3430

Home

 

[Vocalek]

Julie did such a good job on Facebook, responding to a request for a history of CASAA's work with Webby, that I will just copy it here.

2009, we knew very little. Our numbers were modest, and the devices we were using were, to be blunt, pretty bad. But the promise was there, and we all knew it. We needed time, time not simply to develop better devices (our only hope of becoming mainstream), but also time to build our numbers . . . have so many vapers that it would be impossible to put the genie back in the bottle.

ECF back then was the main place where vapers congregated online, and if you were vaping in 2009, chances are you were on ECF. And ECF is where the idea of a consumer organization was born.

Webby spearheaded the discussions on what CASAA's mission should be, and he was the one who helped set up voting for the first Board of Directors (two of whom still serve on our Board today-Elaine Keller and Kristin Noll-Marsh). After the first Board was elected, Webby was elected as the President, and he set about actually incorporating CASAA as a nonprofit. Since he was a computer whiz, he set up our first website (now defunct, but it served its purpose), and he did so for free. (No small thing when you realize just how little money we had at the time.)

We're facing so many battles right now, it's insane. But in the early days, the battles were even scarier in a way. We were fighting complete sales bans at the state level (not just bans on sales to minors), FDA insisting we were unapproved drugs and should be banned, and all the while trying to find our feet as an organization.

On a personal note, I never met Webby in person, but I had many dealings with him in the early years of CASAA, and I was always impressed by his professional demeanor and his hard work on behalf of CASAA.

Any way, there's more of the story to tell, but I'll leave it to others. I have to get back to work.

I added that he designated office space within his web-hosting business to serve as CASAA's official mailing address and set up a phone number to handle responding to inquiries from the public and the press.

 

[choochoogranny]

Oh, am so sorry to hear this. Thank you, JustJulie, for informing us.

 

[classwife]

What sad news indeed !
My thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones.

 

[Oliver]

Very sad news, my condolences to all Michael's CASAA colleagues and friends.

 

[Misty]

heartfelt condolences to Michael's family and loved ones..!

 

[Nate760]

Thoughts and condolences to Mr. Douglas's loved ones. Let us honor his memory by continuing his work.

 

[Katya]

My condolences to the Family and Friends of Michael.