RIP to VideoKarma Legend "zeno"
 

It is with a heavy heart, I post this.

I'm new to the site, but have done a lot of research on the posts and comments the last few months as I work through restoring a Zenith System 3 modular set.

I knew NOTHING on these sets, but this one holds a close place in my heart and I wanted to get it running again. These boards have been invaluable, specifically the comments and posts by user ID "zeno."

I'd sent an email message to zeno on January 4th, 2026 with a few questions on the 9-160 power supply and received word from his wife/widow on January 7th that he had passed that very morning.

I offered my condolences, and she replied with a thank you, and said;

"Zeno loved helping VideoKarma posts. It is what he loved."

I then asked her if it was OK if I post this news here as I know a lot of the veterans knew him well through the forums, if not personally. She said that would be great.

RIP to ZENO, and I'll leave the floor open for you guys to share stories, offer condolences, etc., and IF the moderators approve of this post.

RIP and sincere condolences to his family.

Rip Zeno.My condolences... RonL

Condolences. How old was he? A friend just dropped dead. He was 65. He was 9 years behind me. We were both Ranger pickup owners.
On that 9-160 chassis, there is a pot in the PS that sometimes fails. I measured the proper resistance of the adjustment and installed two fixed resistors. No more problems.

Condolences to his family. He was an active contributing member of VK and offered his help when he could. Very sad news for the community.

My condolences to his wife and his family.

It hurts me to read, that one of us, who kept our hobbies alive anywhere in the US,
passed away.

Sincerely,
TV-collector:stupid:

My sincere condolences to Zeno's family and wife.

How sad, one less of us, on it's already rare breed of TV restorers...

I see numerous posts of him helping members here with great tips. And his interesting writing style, fun and comprehensible even for a no-native English reader/writer like me.

RIP Zeno.

Zeno (Mr Jones) was a good guy and a excellent resource to this community and to other vintage TV forums. It's a great loss to the vintage TV community that he is no longer with us.

I'm starting to loose count of people I have known locally and nationally from this hobby who have left us over the past 3 years, and it's a very sad thing.

RIP Zeno.

:sadwave:

Yes, Rest In Peace ZENO
He was very helpful on the Antique Radio forum as well as here.

Sad news indeed. RIP, sir!

Wow, this really caught me by surprise. Condolences to his wife and family. He was a wealth of knowledge on this forum. I will miss his input. He’s one year younger than me. Kind of a wake up call.

I wonder if the cold weather contributed to his death. It's got to be very cold in NH this time of year. Don't think I could handle it.
I knew a guy in Me. who woke up beside a cold wife. She was 58. Never got a cent of her social security.

RIP! :cry:

RIP Zeno. I dont post here a lot but always liked his posts. Condolences to the family.

RIP, Zeno.

Rest in peace Zeno, your posts helped me out a lot...

He had a service literature library I wonder if his family is going to try to sell it or pitch it.

Maybe he had a close fellow enthusiast friend who got them. What kind of equipment did he have in his collection?

Very sad to hear about Zeno passing. He will be missed for sure.

It felt like I worked with Zeno, he knew almost all of Zenith's flaws. We truly hope there are no backordered parts where he's gone off to. Sad day.

I'm very sorry to hear this news :jawdrop:

A great guy who helped me with service data on more than one occasion.

R.I.P. my friend

Hi all, I am one of Tom's (Zeno) sons - I felt compelled to create an account after finding this thread and knowing how much my father loved tinkering with and helping you all keep some of these old rigs alive to preserve some history. My father started working as a TV/Radio technician at a local Zenith and Admiral retailer in the early 70s and bounced between a handful of shops over the years. He did not have much of a hardware collection, as finances and storage space was always limited, but I do know that there is a large collection of SAMs manuals and service items stowed away in the basement.
I am hoping that once the weather improves, we can inventory what is there, and rehome it to another member here.

If anyone located in or around Southern New Hampshire is specifically interested in any of the service literature, please feel free to send a PM. I am not going to piece any of it out, but would love to see the lot of it go to a new home, rather than into a dumpster.

On behalf of the family; we appreciate all of the kind words, and it is great to know how impactful my father has been in the hobby and that he has been able to help so many of you.

So very sorry for your loss. Your dad was a fixture here, always had something good to say. We'll miss him.

You said it.

I hope his library finds a good home. I'm a bit far and hard up for space to take the whole thing.
If zeno_jr ends up changing his mind on letting go of portions of it separately, or the next owner ends up with duplicate folders, then I'm missing about a bankers box worth of random sam's sets between number 600 and 1800 from my llibrary that I'd be interested in buying (there's a topic with a list somewhere on videokarma though I'm not sure it's up to date).

My collection came from a northern wi parts distributor that closed...They bought about 5 copies of each set and sold somewhere between 0-5 copies so when I saved their collection some sets I had duplicates of and others were completely missing depending on regional popularity of the TVs contained. I traded some of my duplicates for some of what I was missing and unloaded the rest...But I'm still missing some, and have been watching for chances to obtain them.

RIP brother Zeno, a true kindred spirit. Always enjoyed his uniquely terse, to-the-point writing style.