Dear friends in UFO studies,

I've just gotten off the phone with Jesse Marcel Jr's. daughter Denise and am the bearer of extremely sad news. Jesse has passed away, likely from a heart attack. He was alone at home when it happened, a UFO book by his side. Jesse was a giant to many of us, a modest man whose father, Major Jesse Marcel, Sr., was the Roswell Army Air Field base Intelligence officer, the first to reach and examine the Roswell crash debris field, and who was marked by the Pentagon to take the fall when it was announced the following day that it had only been a crashed weather balloon.

Jesse never once backed down in his all-too-credible account of his father's showing him debris from the crash, and always honored and defended his father's honor, credibility and memory. I'm incredibly proud to have had him as a friend, and incredibly sad this afternoon; I loved him very much and will miss him. The attached photo was taken by his son in Washington the morning of May 3, the last time I saw him.

Rest in peace Jesse, and thank you for everything.