Rod Serling Memorial Foundation Member/President 1986-1995
July 25, 1952 — March 23, 2024
Video: REMEMBERING ROD SERLING of Twilight Zone-MIKE PIPHER Lecture – Sept 10th, 2016 – Buffalo NY
ANDY POLAK
I first met Mike before I became a member of the Memorial Foundation. He was hosting a Celebrity Auction on behalf of RSMF as a fundraiser which was held in 1987. Some friends and I thought it’d be a fun day and we all went home with some special winning bids! The following year I joined the Foundation while attending the Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony posthumously awarded to Rod Serling. Mike was President then, having been the first elected following Helen Foley, the Founder of RSMF. Helen, Mike and I had an exciting time representing Rod’s hometown of Binghamton at the ceremony. Earl Holliman was one of the celebrity guests and the most friendly. I believe that is when Mike started his long friendship with Earl.
After Mike’s run as president, he took on the role as archivist and amassed the collection of films we have in our archive. Those reels were how the Rod Serling Film Festivals began, and he was the driving force behind the first few. Mike was also involved in the Binghamton Walk of Fame project and was on the committee to get the Serling postage stamp. Mike’s involvement with the Rod Serling Memorial Foundation was important and impactful and it put the organization on track for longevity. Mike was a wealth of knowledge when it came to anything Rod Serling and he loved sharing his stories with fellow Serling fans. He will be missed by many.
NICK PARISI
I first contacted Mike in my early stages of research [for my book on Rod Serling]. I left him a message at the Bundy and he call me back immediately, obviously thrilled to talk to someone who shared his passion for Rod Serling. I made my first trip to Binghamton shortly after that, and Mike greeted me like a lifelong friend. He escorted me around town to all the important spots—primarily 67 Bennett Ave., Recreation Park, and Binghamton High School. We traded stories and rare DVDs of Serling-written shows. He gave me lots of opportunities to publicly speak about Rod and he arranged for what must have been the first piece of publicity for my book, which ended up as a piece in the Binghamton Sun. We shared a love for The Loner, in particular, and Mike was very proud of his interactions with Lloyd Bridges over the years. One piece of video that he gave me is the original pitch reel for The Loner, which was not included in the DVD release and I believe is a very rare and valuable piece of history.
He knew a lot more about Binghamton than I did then or do now, and he was always passing along contact info for people who knew Rod. In one of my Facebook livestreams, I shared a likely apocryphal story he once told me about a junior high school class assignment that Rod had been given. The teacher asked the class to write a story in 15 words or less. Rod could see the Binghamton Triplets stadium from the classroom window, and it had started to rain. So Rod wrote a 9-word short story: Triplets playing baseball; starting to rain; everyone went home.
SHELLEY YOUNG
I was sad to officially announce that our longtime member and dear friend, Mike Pipher, volunteer Archivist/Historian at the Bundy Museum in Binghamton, NY (and former Rod Serling Memorial Foundation President) has passed away, Saturday, March 23, 2024, at the age of 71.
I cannot pinpoint exactly how long Mike was a member in our groups, but I can safely say he’s been around for many years. He posted many live, informative videos regarding Rod Serling, Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, the Loner, etc., which I shared around the groups over the years. He enjoyed making new connections in person as well as in our online community. More than anything, he loved sharing the incredible wealth of Serling/Zone knowledge he’d accumulated over the years. When he would tell a story he often left us fascinated and always wanting more.
He was a good man who was incredibly easy to talk to; he was kind and had a great laugh that got you laughing along with him. Our friendship began after I met him in 2015 when I visited Binghamton for one of his famous “In the Zone” events at the Bundy Museum. As I got to know him, we became very close and he often referred to me “like a sister”. He reminded me of an Uncle that I lost when I was a teenager, so that deepened our bond all the more. And that’s what makes his loss so difficult to bear.
Mike didn’t have much family left, so his nephew Kenny Korshnsk and our small, close-knit circle of Bundy regulars became his family. He loved it when we all gathered together at the Bundy or at one of his local restaurants; I believe this truly motivated him to keep going these last years—he always aimed to please.
He was lover of cats, classic movies and TV – specifically Laurel & Hardy. He played piano and sang through his church back in the day, and even made a CD of this music, which he happily shared with his friends. He was a huge fan of Rod Serling and his works, dedicating a large portion of his adult life to preserving Rod’s legacy. He was proud of his accomplishments with the RSMF, and in more recent years he enjoyed volunteering his time at the Bundy Museum’s Rod Serling Archive preparing displays and hosting presentations/special events.
He leaves behind a huge void in our Zone family/community. Visits to Binghamton won’t be the same without his smiling face there waiting to greet us. Mike has earned his angel wings, and I pray he finds eternal peace.
If you had the honour of calling Mike a friend, I guarantee that he deeply loved each and every one of you, and I know he prayed for us often. Beloved by many, whether they’d met him in person or not, he will be fondly remembered and sorely missed.
RIP Mike….God bless & Godspeed. Thank you for your devotion to all things Rod/Zone and for sharing your time & expertise with the masses. Thank you for always being there for us and for your sincere friendship. I‘ll try to smile knowing you are up in Heaven with Rod and all the other Zoners/Serling fans who have gone before us. 
Mike Pipher Photo Gallery
IN THE PHOTOS BELOW: Mike and friends at the 2023 Rod Serling Legacy Conference in Binghamton (courtesy of Joel Lutenberg), with Burgess Meredith, with Bob Cummings, being interviewed on Entertainment Tonight, with Helen Foley and by himself at the dedication of Rod’s star on the Binghamton Walk of Fame, with Carol Serling, with Jeff Bridges—whose father Lloyd starred in The Loner, and with Earl Holliman.
