Grab co-owner Mark Nagel passes away

Grab Magazine co-owner Mark Nagel passed away suddenly on Monday, Feb. 4. He was 57.

A Chicago native, Nagel was a veteran of the city's LGBT press and avid supporter of numerous community causes and organizations. He was inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame in 2017.

Starting in 1993, Nagel worked in several capacities at Gay Chicago Magazine prior to co-founding Grab, a biweekly publication, with Stacy Bridges in 2009.

"My thoughts are with him and his family during this difficult time," Bridges shared on Facebook. "Thank you everyone that has reached out, but we need some time right now to wrap our hearts around this."

There is an outpouring of messages on Bridges' Facebook page, where his business partner and longtime friend is being remembered as a "warm-hearted individual" with a "quick wit" and "wicked sense of humor."

Brad Balof, the general manager of Sidetrack, posted on Facebook: "Mark Nagel made Chicago a better place. The landscape of our community will be different without him, but he changed it for good. You will be missed by many!"

Mark Pineda added, "He certainly left his mark on our community."

Bridges believes Nagel suffered a seizure and fell in his bathroom.

"When we found him he was face down and we're not sure if the seizure killed him or if he hit his head and that killed him," Bridges told AVN Media Network.

Nagel, along with Bridges, produce the annual Grabby Awards for gay adult entertainment, which is slated for May 25 in Chicago.

"Mark will be greatly missed by his family and friends and so many of us in the gay adult industry," iconic director and Grabby's co-host Chi Chi LaRue wrote on Facebook.

Nagel is survived by his father, stepmother and three sisters.

Celebration of Life for Mark Nagel

WHEN: Sunday, February 10

-1:00-3:30 p.m.: Open-House

-3:30 p.m.: Service and Speeches

WHERE: Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted