Fundraiser to benefit the family of Sean “Vilerat” Smith

October 12, 2012 By in Foreign Service, FSOs, Legacy, Realities of the FS Tags: , , , , 2 Comments

The fundraiser in youcaring.com is organized by Zack Parsons of Something Awful to benefit the family of Sean Smith who was killed in the Benghazi Attack. He left behind wife, Heather and two children, Samantha and Nathan.  Sean Smith was a moderator of Something Awful’s D&D forum under the username “Vilerat.”  The original target amount of of $100, 000 was quickly reached and currently stands at $110,953.85. The fundraiser has now updated its target amount to $150,000.00 ending on December 1, 2012.


Organizer : Zack Parsons
This Fundraiser ends on : 12/1/2012
Beneficiary : Heather Smith

Sean Smith was a veteran Foreign Service Officer of the US State Department. His life ended tragically on September 11, 2012 when the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya came under attack.

He was known to his many friends in EVE Online and the Something Awful forums as Vilerat. His intelligence, patience and good humor were the cornerstones of Sean’s life and those traits moved everyone he came in contact with. Sean was a devoted husband to his wife and he was a proud parent of two children.

To show our love for him and for his family we hope to raise money to help with their current expenses and his children’s college expenses.

Update: Because we are over halfway to our initial goal of $50,000 in less than 12 hours, we have doubled the goal to $100,000. Thank you so much for your donations. Every donation, large or small, will help Sean’s family.

Update 2: Sean’s wife, Heather, has posted her gratitude for the donations. She writes, “Thank you. Thank you so much. I do not know how to express my gratitude on behalf of my children.” She goes on to say, “I am so very touched at the love and support you all have shown us and I will read each and every post made in honor of Sean. Peace and love to all of you. Hold your family close and remember what is important.”

We have quickly passed our original goal and are more than three-quarters of the way to our second goal. Because of the speed of all the donations we are increasing our goal to $150,000. Thank you for all of your kind words and generosity.

The donations ranges from $1.00 to $1000 from anonymous donors, to Foreign Service members, the gaming community and strangers with no apparent connection to Sean. The notes are as simple as “RIP Vile Rat” to this one from Richard:

“Had quite a few unfortunate run-ins with Vilerat. Because of him I have never again undocked from a station without an insured ship and a back-up clone. Whether he was alone or backed up by his fellow Goons, he was fierce, intimidating, and almost always an adrenaline booster. He was the cause of my first lose of a ship… and a second later my first lose of a pod. In the skies of New Eden he was an inspiration to want to become a better pilot. In real life, we were worlds apart. Even so, looking at all these comments from friends and family I know that he is definitely a part of the “better man” group. Mrs. Smith, Sean was no doubt a loving father and husband and wish I could have known him. He was in fact a dear friend, and a strong leader, and to alot of us who attempted to hunt the Goons down or just happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, he was indeed a Vilerat. O7 Fly Safe Vilerat and forever R.I.P. Sean Smith. You will be loved and missed till the end of days.”

This one from somebody who is broke and gave $1.00:

“I’m utterly broke, but the current donation tally is ending in a 9 so I’ll round it up. I only played EVE a while and rarely shot blues, but Sean was a good guy. “

You have 49 days left if you want to help.  The online donation page is here.

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2 responses

  1. You’ve probably seen this in a number of articles about Sean/Vilerat… the o7 emoticon represents someone saluting.