In Memoriam: Dan Garrett (1951-2023)
By Gene Anderson

My pal Dan Garrett left this earth on August 3, 2023. He grew up and resided near Atlanta, Georgia. In addition to magic, Dan’s major interests included science fiction, puzzles, mathematics, golf and music. He began playing jazz piano in his early teens. On the eve of their wedding, rather than a bachelor party, Dan took his fiancée to a Dave Brubeck concert. Their April 1 wedding was on April Fools’ Day. Carol loved to say Dan was never sure he was actually married. On April 1, 2023, the Garretts celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary. Dan conceded that (maybe) he had been married all along.

Dan’s B.S. degree was in physics, the “closest thing to magic” that Georgia Tech offered. Creating punch cards to program IBM computers was the content of his two-year corporate stint. He abandoned that and launched his magic career, focusing first on the local market, and then the global market. Dan was a prolific author and inventor of magic, performing and lecturing at clubs and conventions on four continents. He also performed on Crystal Cruise Ships, checking off eighteen countries visited during his cruise ship runs.

Dan was a 4F board member and a session host for decades. My own 4F legacy was as Dan’s sidekick in our “Garnack the Magnificent” routine. Patterned after Johnny Carson’s “Carnac the Magnificent,” we first debuted our routine at the Atlanta Harvest of Magic. They liked it, so we brought it to 4F. Obie was predictably reluctant, and he buried our spot in a no-consequence session. When he heard the laughter, the following year he moved us up. Soon we were opening the Saturday Night Show every year. After an eighteen-year run, we retired our Garnack routine in 2005. We were the Guests of Honor that year, the only time there had been dual honorees.

The attached photo shows Dan and me in that 2005 final performance. I was announcing that,“ In my hand I hold the hermetically-sealed envelopes. No one has seen the contents of these envelope, and yet Garnack, in his mystical and divine borderline way, will divine the answers, never hitherto having seen the questions.” And amid the laugher, Garnack did so yet again.

R.I.P. Daniell Edward Garrett