Michael Petrov died this morning at the Providence Medical Center in Anchorage after fighting cancer throughout most of last year. It came back very aggressively this year.  He had a lot of very complicated things happening in his body but he passed peacefully.

He was a great researcher and author of several columns in magazines as well as his two volume books on the Custom American Gunmakers. For any of you that had the opportunity to view his collection in person, it was incredible. Not just the firearms and accessories themselves, but the stories behind each gun. There was no such thing as coming over for 20mins ...

Michael will be greatly missed by many friends and families and is survived by his wife and daughter Charity.

No word on services yet ...

Respectfully ...
Joe Dobrzynski
Anchorage, Alaska

I'm so sorry to hear this. Michael had such a wealth of knowlege. 

I didn't know him personally but, he did directly help me find inforamation about a long forgotten barrel maker that I could find no place else.

Each post that he made here was also priceless.

Another great man gone   

Frank

I'll miss him.  Always there with information, always kept out of the fights and unpleasentness.   

dave

Met Michael for the first time at the 2013 Vegas show. We talked a bit, he remembered my user name & I talked to him occassionally on the Double Gun forum. He was a gentleman & a walking ensyclopedia. He will definetly be missed.         ...MIKE...

Haven't talked to Michael in a long time. He was a wealth of knowledge on the custom gun makers, especially those of the early 1900's era. He had so much knowledge of the way certain gun makers did their art that he could look at a gun and pretty quickly tell you who he thought had customized it.
Surely a loss to gun collectors everywhere. He was one of the good ones!

More importantly than his vast knowledge he was a genuine gentleman.

See you down the road my friend.

JLouis

This news is very saddening to read. I corresponded with Michael over nearly a decade and his knowledge was vast. He would help to answer every query he could and just in the last few weeks emailed me with his support over the Chemo treatment I am having for the same 'beast within'. 

He was also very helpful in relation to a special Neidner Borchardt built with a hand actuated cocking knob. He even took the trouble to strip down the rifle which he now owned to take detailed photographs of the internal parts. Nothing was ever too much trouble for him.

I have both his books on Custom Gunsmiths and I will treasure them. We never met seeing as we were on opposite sides of the world but I feel in some small way I knew him. Farewell Michael I know thousands will miss you.

Harry

Michael was a great guy.  We've been talking for several years about a neat little 23-28-30 Stevens rifle from Niedner that I have and Michael knew where there was another in the same caliber.  It seems like any obscure detail about a gun was just common knowledge to him.  Sad to see him gone now.   

Bruce