RIP Michael Summa

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Sad news to report from our roads world that the legendary early roadgeek Michael Summa died on Monday according to a Facebook post from his brother. His photos have been such a huge trove of historical knowledge, and those who knew him said he was just as great a person.

RIP.

[ClassicHasClass]

 

A true trailblazer (pun intended) for us all.

[Scott5114]

We lost one of the greats. I don't think I ever crossed paths with Mr. Summa, but it's hard to overstate what he has done for our hobby—we have him to thank for so much of our knowledge of the signage of the era he was most active in.

[WillWeaverRVA]

If not for Michael Summa, the roadgeek hobby isn't where it is today. RIP.

[hbelkins]

He sent me a treasure trove of old photo scans from Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and Tennessee that I had on my old site. And I had the pleasure of meeting him at my Pikeville meet back in October 2013. He had relocated to Blacksburg, Va. then, so it was an easy trip for him to make across US 460 to Pikeville for the meet.

[snowc]

Sad news to report from our roads world that the legendary early roadgeek Michael Summa died on Monday according to a Facebook post from his brother. His photos have been such a huge trove of historical knowledge, and those who knew him said he was just as great a person.

RIP.

Wait... I thought he was already?

[snowc]

Jokes aside, RIP Michael Summa. I really liked the old photos of I-95, especially this one.

[Henry]

I've also seen many of Mr. Summa's old pics on alpsroads.net. That being said, RIP to the original roadgeek, and may his many contributions live on for generations to come.

[Max Rockatansky]

He had been fairly active on a lot of Facebook road groups as of late.

[epzik8]

Jokes aside, RIP Michael Summa. I really liked the old photos of I-95, especially this one.

That is awesome. RIP Michael.

[bandit957]

That photo looks like it's from the '70s. That looks like an AMC Gremlin in the background.

[1995hoo]

That photo looks like it's from the '70s. That looks like an AMC Gremlin in the background.

It is indeed a Gremlin.

[kurumi]

RIP and gratitude for all his irreplaceable contributions. The times we've thought "I wish I'd been around in 19xx to see that and to take pictures"... he was, and he did.

[formulanone]

Michael Summa was simply ahead of his time for this hobby. I'm not sure if he photographed all of these signs for work or just pleasure, but it's simply amazing how much dedication he had for it over the years. There's so many of these signs, structures, and places which have transformed multiple times since initial captured on film, and would merely be memories as time marched on.

This sign is one that disappeared around 1985 or so, and I'm just glad he photographed it. Seeing that something was 16 miles away in the urban core of South Florida wasn't typical!



Now we have the luxury of digital, so you can just keep clicking until you run out of battery power or drive space, and almost everyone has an "instant" camera of some kind.

[SSOWorld]

Obit

https://www.mullinsfuneralhome.com/obituary/michael-summa

[-- US 175 --]

I looked, and so far no one has posted a memorial on Find A Grave.

[Hunty2022]

RIP to a legend.