Tim Yohannan

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Tim Yohannan (8/15/45-4/3/98) was the founder of Maximum Rock 'N' Roll fanzine. He died of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1998 in his hometown of San Francisco, California.

What began as a radio show, then a small zine, blossomed into the largest monthly zine ever. Maximum Rock 'N' Roll (or MRR) became the inspiration for thousands of would-be zinesters and provided a forum for them to get reviewed, sell and trade zines, and promote their self-publishing projects. In years when MRR turned a profit, Yohannan (AKA Tim Yo) donated the profits to a large number of zines and collectives to help other DIY projects survive and grow. During the entire time he published MRR, Yohannan worked at the Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley.

Yohannan not only helped punk survive the '80s, through his zine and projects he helped it flourish and grow. Epicenter (zine and record store, plus community center), 924 Gilman Street (all-ages venue) and Blacklist Mailorder (zine and record mailorder distribution) all sprung up in the SF area with help from Yohannan, who constantly pushed DIY ethics, punk rock and leftist politics.