By Cas Hinds
I was under the impression that Richard Garfield was dead. I know it's silly. The man is only 63 years old, but Magic: The Gathering is such a colossal, elegant, and refined thing, I had to assume the reason I hear so little about its God is because he is mortal.
The Man
Richard Channing Garfield was born on June 26, 1963 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was born where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were debated and signed. “The City of Murals.” The home of a real Cheesesteak. A city of beginnings.
Garfield is a descendant of James A. Garfield, the 20th president of the United States; a preacher, lawyer, and Civil War Union general and his grand-uncle was Samuel Fay, the inventor of the paper clip.
With a legacy like that, he was born to do something memorable, right? But this? Who would’ve thought a University of Pennsylvania graduate student would walk into Wizards of the Coast's office, pitching one game, but leave with a half concept of the first collectible trading card game? A trading card game that would foster all of this art and love and community?
