Sorry to hear today of the death of Jean Rabe. Jean was head of the R. P. G. A. when I first came on board at TSR (in October 1987 I think it was). My first contacts there were actually through the book department (via friend Jim Lowder) and the RPGA (then the domain of Jean, ably assisted by Skip Williams).
That first discussion with Jean of a job at TSR didn't pan out due to my (a) living in Milwausee at the time and (b) not having a car. Instead I helped out with various tournaments and the like (e.g. providing sets of pregenerated characters for sanctioned events). A few months later I was more successful, joining the R&D department as a game editor, along with fellow 'new fish' Rich Baker (designer), Thomas Reid (editor), and a few weeks later Tim Beach (RPGA).
Through the chaos that was what we might call mid-period TSR, Jean ruled over her own fiefdom, acting pretty much independently of R&D (e.g. the Living City/Raven's Bluff project). If I rember rightly (eventually the comings and goings get conflated) she had moved over into R&D and later still was one of those who decided not to follow TSR to the west coast.
If I had to sum up Jean in a word, it would be Kindness. Rest in peace.
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