AWOL List Owner and One Moderator?

I'm on a list that only has one moderator, who doesn't want to be a moderator any more, and the list owner has been AWOL for quite a while. We had a problem with some abusive members a couple years ago, but when we finally tracked down the only moderator, he has no power to appoint anyone who is active on the list as a moderator. (On another list on which I am a moderator, any of us can appoint a new moderator; it doesn't require the list owner.) The moderator did find the list owner, but they can't remember their password and apparently don't have the e-mail account they started the group under.

Does anyone have a solution to this problem short of starting a new list and having everybody move over to that list? Someone tried this but not many people moved.