Todd Loren Cinani

After very early travels in Europe with his family, he moved to California and grew up on Empire Court in Pleasanton. There he was often found leading the neighborhood kids through neighbors’ back yards, over fences, and up trees in vigorous Star Wars re-enactments: a club house transformed into the Millennium Falcon, dirt patches became Tatooine, sticks and poles were wielded liberally as lightsabers. He learned how to roller skate in the street, which served him well in his high-school ice hockey career. He told stories of the ghosts that inhabited his house, most notably one who lived in the hallway clock. He even stayed on the court with his godfamily for a few years while finishing high school and beginning college.

Todd earned a Bachelor of Arts in History from Sonoma State University in 1996, where he was active in Phi Alpha Theta, the History Club, and the Roman Club. His degree included a year’s study at Università degli Studi di Firenze in Florence, Italy. Driven by a desire to explore lands and cultures, he traveled throughout Italy, as far south as Tunisia, as far east as Budapest, and as far north as Prague. Ever the storyteller, and now an astute historian of the ancient Mediterranean, Todd himself led many excursions in these places, regaling crowds of students with tales of the world of a Roman citizen. Friends listened in earnest, travelling back in time while he brought the famous places they stood to life, making the experience richer for all who journeyed with him.

In 1996, Todd met Barbara Brawn in Santa Rosa, California. It was love at first sight, but because love is complicated, it would be another year and a half before they moved in together. In another year and a half, they packed all their possessions into Todd’s red Toyota Celica, and moved across the country to Maryland. (In 2007, in no rush, they married in Annapolis, Maryland, aboard the schooner Woodwind II on a sail across the Chesapeake.)

After moving to Maryland, Todd worked for several years at Maryland Public Television, then at the University of Maryland Global Campus for nearly two decades, serving in various roles from Academic Program Coordinator to Director of Academic Administration. In 2009, he earned a Master of Science in Management from UMGC.

Todd never wanted to be anywhere he couldn’t see water either flowing in banks or crashing on shores. He loved the water, loved boats and ships, loved the role they played in moving history across the face of the world. He loved pirates in particular, and the rough democracies that shaped the ships’ crews. He spent several seasons in the cast of the Northern California Renaissance Faire, running his own pirate “ship,” a stuffed ferret named Scurvy Sam wrapped around his jaunty hat, as he and his crew kidnapped and ransomed faire-goers in the dusty California sun (much to his Empire Court godmother’s delight, he assumed the Irish name Connor O’Mordha for these shenanigans). Todd loved every moment he spent in Italy and was fiercely proud of his own Italian heritage. Italy, especially Rome, appealed to the historian in him, who knew everything about plagues and pandemics and the way civilizations fall, which they all eventually do, with a preternatural interest in how things end. Todd loved books, and loved writing, having conquered the dyslexia that disrupted his early education. After a liver transplant in 2018 saved his life, he dedicated himself to the Rabid Writing Project, bringing science fiction and horror writers together with him in several anthologies, and to creating Rabid World, a successful indie comic series published in 2021, about a group of friends struggling to survive a pandemic that turns people into monsters, who attempt to escape the terror in a boat they sail across the Chesapeake.

And every dog that ever met him loved him instantly.

Todd is survived by his father and stepmother, Richard and Linda Cinani, of Sun City Lincoln, California; mother Dorothy Sabo of Cooleemee, North Carolina; sister Jessica Cinani and nephews Clark, Dean, and Gray of Vacaville, California; uncle Patrick Cinani of Oakland, California; uncle and aunt Jerry and Jose’ Cinani of Carson City, Nevada; cousin Heather Cinani of Reno, Nevada; cousin Tara Ward of Portland, Oregon; godfather John Upmeier of Pleasanton, California; and godsisters Jennifer Eis of San Francisco, California and Deb Bangoli of Pleasant Hill, California. He is also survived by Barbara Brawn of Annapolis, Maryland, now his ex-wife because love is complicated, and their beloved pups Bats and Wags, who are still waiting for him to come home; and by many dear friends and former in-laws on both coasts.

Following his wishes, Todd will be cremated, and his ashes will be scattered in Rome near the Forum. A private, pirate-themed celebration of his life will be held with close friends and family in Annapolis, Maryland on September 19, 2022, on what would have been his 52nd birthday and is in fact International Talk Like a Pirate Day. A second private celebration of his life will be held with close friends and family in San Francisco, California on a date to be announced. In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution in Todd’s memory to the Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Transplant Center’s Liver Transplant Gift Fund at https://secure.jhu.edu/form/transplant.