Remembering Longtime Star Trek Prop Master Joe Longo

StarTrek.com is saddened to report the passing of Joe Longo, a veteran property master who worked on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, and for many years on both The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Longo died this week; his cause of death and age had not been confirmed as of press time.

StarTrek.com reached out to Longo's friends and longtime colleagues, Doug Drexler, Rick Sternbach, John Eaves and Mike Okuda, who had the following to say about Longo:DOUG DREXLER"One of my favorite characters on Star Trek was not a cast member, but the prop master, Joe Longo. Hearing of his passing was like an arrow to the heart. I saw Joe every day for over ten years. He was irreverent, cool, and funny as hell. His laid back demeanor was the same kind of cool that made Dean Martin famous. I loved Joe. When he came into the art department, I would announce him as 'That dynamic gentleman of the prop department.'"Joe told me an amusing anecdote about his first job at Universal, where he started out with craft services in the 60?s. Not sure what to do with the the young Longo on his first day at work, his boss handed him a broom and told to clean up the soundstage. Joe was determined to make a good impression, and cleaned that danged stage from top to bottom. It was very dusty, and literally filled with cobwebs, but Joe made it sparkle. Unfortunately, it was the Munster house, and it was supposed to be dusty and full of cob webs! 40 years later and we are still laughing about it! Here’s to Joe, one of the most fun guys I got to work with!"Joe Longo. One of the personalities that made working on Star Trek special."RICK STERNBACH"Joe Longo was one of those professionals who made it a joy to come to work on Star Trek: The Next Generation, to see how he shepherded things that I had drawn through the prop fabrication process and onto the stage. He had a wonderful, laid-back attitude that we could all learn from, especially in crazy production situations. Joe was a terrific colleague and I am very glad to have known him."

JOHN EAVES

"The passing of Joe Longo is very sad news.. When I was hired onto DS9 for season 4, Joe was the guy I was to work with. Our first meeting was in the art department and he came across as a grumpy, old rough and tough kinda guy. I thought that I'll never make this guy happy with anything I draw. Needless to say when I took the first group of designs to the production meeting, he was overly happy. Under the rough exterior he was a real sweetheart and we became good friends right away. He had hundreds of stories of working on the Munsters and everything in between, and knew of all kinds of secrets about the Paramount lot. He was a great man and knew his craft well. I will miss him dearly and I so loved the days working with dear Joe Longo."

MIKE OKUDA

"Joe often wore a dour expression, but that was a disguise for his droll sense of humor, which would come out when the stress of production started to get to us.  He was a real pro, a team player who trusted his teammates, and whom we all trusted as a vital part of the Star Trek production family."

StarTrek.com offers our condolences to Longo's family, friends and colleagues.