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Sunday, December 22, 2002

By Dennis B. Roddy, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

In a world where toys never get old and the grownups who collect them trade online, Keith Zang stood out for his knowledge and his skill at holding a community of collectors together.

	Angel and Victor K. Zang in happier times in 1998. The couple are holding G.I. Joe dolls that were at their wedding in the room Victor Zang devoted to his collecting hobby. (Joyce Mendelsohn, Post-Gazette)

Named Victor Keith Zang -- but known to friends as Keith and to online collectors as "Sgt. Zang" -- the Wilkinsburg systems analyst was renowned for his collection of G.I. Joe dolls.

Mr. Zang not only specialized in collecting hard-to-get 1/6th-scale models of the toys, but he ran a sideline business manufacturing steel helmets for them -- a project he undertook to make his Joes better resemble his father, William, a World War II veteran and toy-store owner.

"This was the toy that we grew up with. This was the toy that said everything was OK," said a fellow collector, Dave Matteson, of Huntsville, Ala.

Mr. Zang hanged himself in the family room of his home early Thursday, apparently overcome by depression on the seventh anniversary of his father's death. He was 38.

"He just snapped," said his wife, Angel.

Mr. Zang's collecting took him across the country to conventions of G.I. Joe enthusiasts, many of whom retained their originals from the 1960s and 1970s, when the military action figure was 7 inches tall, bigger than the current models.

Angel Zang said her husband became a collector of G.I. Joes because of a spur-of-the-moment gift. One day several years back, she was at a yard sale where, for $25, she bought her husband a 1960s-vintage Joe, still in its box.

When Mr. Zang investigated, he realized he had a toy worth $300. From there, he got back into collecting.

"He liked the big ones. The ones from the '60s and '70s," Angel Zang said.

Mr. Zang became active in an online discussion group, dubbed "The Sandbox," and moderated a chat room on his own Web site.

Yesterday, the discussion group, alt.toys.gi-joe, filled with praise for Mr. Zang and amazement at reports that he had taken his own life.

"We were all given a place to meet, mingle, share stories and trade Joes," wrote one collector, John Eddy. "Keith would be there, the ever-gracious host, passing out virtual beers and peanuts, swapping one-liners with the best of them."

Mr. Zang's metal helmets for the World War II-edition Joes caused a stir among collectors, who ordered them online. Officials at Hasbro, the maker of G.I. Joe, told Mr. Zang they couldn't manufacture the things at the price he sold them, said Angel Zang.

"Everybody's out there doing these things in plastic and resin, and Keith's making them out of real steel," said a friend, Mark Ellis of Pittsburgh.

"It was originally a tribute to his father," said Hank Lawhead, a friend from McCandless. "He had a single-minded passion to make these things as correct as possible."

Matteson, who credited G.I. Joe with getting him started toward a career in the military, said Mr. Zang's death also means some collectors won't be getting gifts.

"Keith wasn't just a collector. He was a giver," Matteson said. "He gave stuff to people. For no reason. That is called 'Joe Karma.' "

Zang's family said the funeral will be private.