From Fred Hembeck's Blog at MySpace:
I only ever met Dave Cockrum once.
He was sitting behind a table at a NY comics convention, alongside Bob Layton. It was the mid-seventies, and Bob was delighted to announce to any and all who'd listen that he'd just been assigned to take over the inking of Dave's pencils on the then still new New X-Men series. I myself hadn't had anything published as yet at that point, though my goal was clearly to become a cartoonist for Marvel just like Dave. Though I never bothered to tell either of them my name--it wouldn't have meant anything, anyway--I must've stood around that table for nearly an hour, amiably chatting with the pair as other fans came and went. Bob, enthusiastic as always, did most of the talking, while Dave concentrated on his sketching, stopping occasionally to offer a pithy comment, a wry observation, or maybe even both.
Outside of a general feeling of good vibes, I have absolutely no recollection of any of that long-ago conversation. I don't recall what I said to Mr. C, but I sure hope I took the time to compliment the work he did for a small, now-forgotten fanzine called "The Yancy Street Gazette" back in 1968.
The YSG doubled as a newsletter for a fan-generated fan-club devoted to Marvel Comics--the Yancy Street Gang, natch--and for a while after I joined (6 issues), it amazingly maintained a mostly monthly publishing schedule. With contributions from the likes of Mark Evanier, Tony Isabella, and Dwight Decker--not to mention dispatches from Roy Thomas--this modest little club bulletin already had a lot going for it, but on top of all that, every issue sported about a dozen wonderful drawings by artist Cockrum (some of which were simply signed "DEC", causing me some initial confusion, as I erroneously suspected that fellow contributor Dwight Decker was also sending in nifty illos with his text pieces! Hey, I never claimed to be the sharpest grapefruit spoon in the drawer!...)!
These drawings ranged all the way from swell to flat out gorgeous, and in fact, I have as fond a memory of Dave's take on the Marvel characters as I do of pretty much anything Marvel itself published that year--and folks,1968 was a pretty good year for them, take it from me!
(You can see several choice examples over at the November 26th Fred Sez entry.)
As the years rolled on, I followed Dave's subsequent professional career closely and with great interest--the Legion of Super-Heroes, the X-Men, the Futurians, and some often overlooked work I particularly enjoyed, his stellar contributions to the Evanier/Spiegle version of Blackhawk--but there'll always be a special place in my heart for his fanzine work, as it so obviously combined a true affection for the material with superior drawing ability.
What a shame that now he's left us--and way, way too soon.
My sincere condolences go out to his fans, his friends, and most especially to his family.
Thanks, Dave, for all the love you put into drawing your comics--it showed. Oboy, did it ever...
tragic 
