For the last six years, I’ve worked with Bill Tunilla at the Iliad Bookshop. I’ve come to enjoy his friendship and camraderie, not to mention his vast knowledge of books and film. In addition to working as a documentary film editor in the UK and America, Bill ran his own independent bookstore in Pasadena, the "House of Fiction", for over twenty years. When it closed back in 2002, Bill came over to the Iliad to work part time (he also worked part time for the Brand Bookshop in Glendale).
Now, unfortunately, Bill is in trouble. Not long ago he developed cancer and struggled with chemo for the last year. Now, his cancer has worsened and the prognosis is grim. He is unable to work at the bookstore (a fact that must be very depressing to him). Plus, he has no insurance or relatives to help him out with his medical bills and basic necessities. He’s too proud to ask for help, so my partner, Lisa Morton, and I have put together a PayPal fund for him. Any donation, large or small, would be most welcome. Please help if you can. Even a donation of $10 would make a difference.
Here is the link to Lisa’s site:
http://www.lisamorton.com/bill.html
If you can’t afford to donate anything right now, I’m sure a get well card or an email would be most appreciated by Bill. You can email him here:
bill@iliadbooks.com
or send a card to:
Bill Tunilla
c/o Jill Crane
528 Shepard St.
San Pedro, CA 90731
Thank you!
Tags: Bill Tunilla, Donation, Help Fund
[...] of you may remember that last July I wrote about my Bill Tunilla and his struggle with cancer. I asked for donations because he was [...]
Hi Richard,
I believe I met you a couple weeks ago when I was selling some books — I’m Jill’s daughter, Bill was a major part of my life for as long as I can remember. I was feeling sentimental because his birthday passed so I googled his name, and this is the first time I became aware of your efforts to help him financially, thank you, I never knew where the $ his friends sent him came from, but I know it made it possible for him to live as long as he did. I also read the obituary you wrote and it was very touching. thank you. P.S. He had no sense of smell (I forget if he was born that way or if something happened that ruined it), so the cat urine and odors like that never bothered them because he never smelled them. so that’s one mystery solved.
Yes, I remember you, Robin. Thanks for your kind words. They mean a lot to me. We are hoping to dedicate the new north wing of our bookstore as the Bill Tunilla wing once it’s finished. We don’t have
any decent pictures of him, so if you can help us find some so we can put a good photo up it would be much appreciated. Funny, Bill never mentioned anything about his lack of smell. Just like him though.
I still miss him.