Our Moderator Robert Fowkes passed away last Friday, Sept 30, 2011

Very sad, but a beautiful tribute, Ron, from you and your moderators. Mr. Fowkes was obviously very lucky in your friendship with him, and his for you.

What a shock.  Not because I knew the man, though his name is a familiar one. 

 

RIP, sir.

 

Devastating, I miss him already.

RAF was a light in the fog for so many of our questions, a good friend, and a lover of all life had to offer. All I can hope is that we each continue in the way he showed: with gusto, a smile and paying it forward.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/a/why-i-own-so-many-movies

Sam

Very saddened to hear of Robert's passing. Robert was a wonderful presence on the HTF and was always friendly and a true gentleman. He will be missed.

My condolences to his family, friends and associates.

- Walter.

I mainly remember him for starting the American Idol Challenge every year, and for his love for Oblivion. Our interests didn't overlap enough that I interacted with him too often, but I could tell he was a nice guy from the times I did see his posts. Rest in peace.

I know it's not a conversation you're interested in having right now, Ron, but there is nothing wrong with your writing style. The obituary you had help with is perfectly fine, and your own personal tribute is even nicer.

I never had the pleasure of meeting Robert, but like many here, I knew him through his outstanding, passionate, and enlightening posts on the HTF. It was evident that this was a remarkable man, not just on an intellectual level, but also a personal one.

Indirectly, I owe RAF my love for HT, and the enjoyment it has given me all these years. His HT was the first modern theater I ever saw when I joined this forum, and it made me realize just how much was possible in this beautiful hobby of ours. For a while, his HT was actually my computer wallpaper, as it was what I aspired to build for myself one day. I also hoped to one day shake his hand and thank him for unwittingly giving me the HT bug.

It's hard to think of him as "gone". 69 is too early, especially in the times we live in. And when it comes to people like RAF, any age feels too early. I will miss this friend I never met dearly indeed.

Rest in peace, sir, and thank you.

Rest in Peace, My prayers go out to his family and friends.

He will definitely be missed; his love of the hobby may have brought a lot of us together, but his demeanor, words, and open candor about what he thought made people remember him. Cancer is a real bear; I am hoping that in his passing he found some peace.

I first became aware of RAF during my early online computing days on CompuServe using a Coleco ADAM computer system and a 300 baud Dial-up modem . We spent many hours "texting" online; remember you had to type in a line and then wait several minutes for the message to go through and then several more to get a reply. These were the early days of computing and home video (the VHS vs Beta war had just ended), and laserdiscs were just starting out. Several years passed by (I had moved on to a Compaq aero laptop), and I recall RAF trying to convince me to adopt this new format called DVD. After having made a large investment into what used to be the videophile choice (laserdisc) I was not easily convinced, but RAF did it.

Time passed and we lost touch with each other. Then one day around 15 -20 years later while surfing the net I ran into this so called "HomeTheater Forum", it had everything I needed to know about my favorite hobby and the people there seemed to follow my interests and beliefs. And RAF was there!!

I decided to go to the HTF/EMA Las Vegas meet around 5 years ago and I finally got to meet RAF in person. He was everything I imagined him to be, a true gentleman, extremely intelligent, and the kind of person you want as one of those rare friends you can count with the fingers of one hand and still have fingers left. We saw each other again at the last HTF Hollywood meet and made plans to meet in New York last year, but I was not able to. As a funny story, it turns out both of our girlfriends are named Sandy, so we had to specify Sandy from New York or Sandy from San Juan whenever we spoke. I was looking forward to getting together next year in the next big HTF meet and then Ron sent me the news of his passing yesterday.

To those of us who had the privilege of sharing some time with RAF, the biggest compliment we can give him is to try to be a little like him, and to spread the joy of this wonderful hobby we have (home theater) to those around us.
Edited by Raul Marquez,MD - 10/2/11 at 3:46pm

RIP, Mr. Fowkes. You were always a gentleman.

I never met RAF.  But our paths crossed many, many times over the years on the HTF (in, among other places, some of those Survivor contests that he moderated so dearly!). 

 

But his zest and enthusiasm for the hobby--and for life--was always apparent.  His affection for people and willingness to help with his expansive knowledge were always on display. 

 

And as Ron noted above, while he kept the moderating staff up-to-date on his fight with the cancer, he always kept an extremely positive outlook.

 

One of the first things I did as an HTF member after we switched forum software a couple years ago was have the mod team put in place that wonderful essay which Sam linked-to in his prior post:

 

 

While the essay wasn't written by RAF, the introduction is and it is one of those special essays which everyone HT enthusiast should read--especially when grasping for an answer as to why we do what we do. 

 

His family will be in my prayers.    We WILL miss him greatly.
 

 

RAF owned the room....any room he walked into.  For those who don't know him, it was because of his willingness to engage anyone on their level, his ability to recall and address people by name, his knowledge of just about any topic and the fact that he was so very genuine.  He had a love for movies and ANY type of gadget.  If you were to look up "early adopter" in the dictionary you would see his picture. I met him about ten years ago in LA at a Home Theater Forum meet.  He had driven out in his Chevy Impala from New York.  He is the one who recommended me to Ron and Parker as a moderator candidate a few years later, which meant a great deal to me.

 

 

A few memories in no particular order:

 

• He was a damn good pianist.  I remember Sam Runco recruiting him to play at the parties he would host on the Home Theater Cruise.
• Enjoying the "double double protein-style" at In-N-Out Burger on some of our Hollywood visits
• The two of us finding our way to Atlantis on Paradise Island with Sandy & Annette during a stop on an HTF cruise, riding the waterslide through the shark tank
• RAF introducing my toddler twins to the fascination of the Nintendo DS during a visit to see us on the West Coast
• We tried to avoid talking on the phone.  A "quick question" easily turned into 90 minutes.  I remember one time when my wife and I took two cars someplace, RAF called and when I got too close to her at a light the phone call automatically transferred via Blue tooth to the car she was driving.  It took her several minutes to be able to get him to stop talking so she could tell him that I was no longer part of the conversation!  I blammed his "chattiness" for the length of the calls, and he blamed mine.  The truth was somewhere in the middle.
• He was smart, and knew something about everything, but never acted like a know-it-all.  There was an HTF cruise where there were three or four HTF members in a sea of AVS members.  Sam Runco played a clip from a movie and said whoever could tell him the movie would get the projector.  After just a few minutes, RAF came up with the correct tile: The Projectionist.  He reveled not in winning a projector but in having an HTF member in a sea of AVSers win the projector!
• He was the luckiest bastard (used affectionately) that I have every met!  If there was a contest, he won.  Guaranteed.  He would occasionally hit the casinos during a cruise and always walked off the ship not just ahead, but withn his cruise paid for and moneyl left in his pocket.  He and I didn't make it out to CEDIA two years ago.  Ron did and won something from a drawing that LG had.  When he let RAF and I know,  the first words out of his mouth to us were: "Thank God you weren't here RAF, otherwise you would have won!".  It wasn't just "material luck"...I heard him talk many times about his loving family and the grandkids he doted on.  Every year we would get a picture of him with them on his Christmas card.  They even had their own seats in his theater:

 

 

He loved learning new things and would often share his thoughts about them with HTF members:

Turning a PC into a Cable TV DVR

DLP Still a great option if you have room for a "big butt" TV

H-Pas Speaker Technology

There were other articles he wrote that he posted on his page that are well worth reading.

 

 

 

 

RAF was the person that we all aspire to be.  His passing is a great loss not to just HTF, but to me and my family. I know we'll think of him often in the years to come.

 

 

The Dude abides.

Some of my best times I spent out in California with RAF.  He was a fine man and good friend.  I will miss our discussions about our beloved Yankees or some obscured classic film.   He will be missed greatly by all of us that came to know him over the years.  His passing is a sad day for the HTF as we cherish the memories of his contributions to this forum and his friendship to so many of us here.  May he R.I.P.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crawdaddy

Awful news for the HTF community (my longest online affiliation). My condolences.

It was impossible not to "meet" RAF from the first day you visited even the very first version of this Home Theater Forum. I did this back in 1997, when the first Warner DVDs started to hit selected areas of the US (and as a European you could only order them from an Internet retailer residing in those areas - and play them on an imported DVD-player). Questions anyone posted on the forum were answered by a few: and one of those few certainly was Robert Fowkes.

 

And it was impossible not to notice his vast knowledge, great insight and extreme willingness to explain the difficult matters one asked about. And also explain the ones one didn't ask about: RAF was a born teacher and could inform you about almost anything while staying interesting, funny and often so very original.

 

Soon his love for the forum itself then became very evident as well. He was extremely proud of the growing institution Ron and Parker were creating, he would give advice, tease Ron a bit, make serious contributions and next to all that he'd visit almost all of the meets and expo-type occasions where the forum had some presence of any kind.

 

It was on one of those occasions - the HTF 2000 meet in LA - that we (my wife Josephine and myself) had the privilege to meet RAF for the first time. It wasn't the last time fortunately. When we met him there, he was standing quietly a bit aside in a VHS- and DVD-factory we visited. He appeared to be almost exactly as one imagined from his contributions to the forum: intelligent, witty, quiet, rather modest but in a way very present.

After I became a moderator on this forum, it was almost impossible not to become a friend of "the Demented Video Dude". But believe me: there never was anything "demented" about Robert Fowkes at all!

 

His interests and expertise and skills were very broad. Not just media, electronics and movies alone. I have seen him win more than $3000 on a Black Jack table, quietly sitting a bit aside, scratching the table with his hand of cards like a pro. Somehow I got the strong impression he didn't even play a game like that very often at all. And I was there when he won an expensive state-of-the art projector in a movie contest - amidst many other AV professionals. When he was announced the winner he loudly credited the forum and a fellow moderator (Robert Crawford) by their explicit names.

 

As a fellow moderator and friend it was always evident how versatile his mind was. He could be a bit naughty, always within taste, he could be rather verbose, always with real and interesting content. He proved to be a great father, a loving husband and was proud of his brother, his children and, some time after his wife died, Sandy. He was almost always funny (I don't even dare to word this as "he was always fun"!). In discussions he often offered an opinion that most participants of the discussion recognized as the final answer.

 

Meeting Robert Fowkes and Sandy (unfortunately, I only met his first wife very shortly and somewhat formally, before she passed away too young) was a great pleasure. A pleasant companion, a great and nice presence "at the diner table", funny with words, often surprising, he would do anything with a little twitch - and this is a mild inside joke I'm sure he would appreciate. You never left any meeting with Robert Fowkes with any bitter feeling in hindsight, and more often with a smile on your face and every intention to meet him again soon in the future.

 

That intention is now no longer feasible. Our most sincere condolences go to Sandy as well as Robert's close relatives and many friends, it is from far we utter this, but we feel very close at the moment.

 

To my surprise, I had to go back in this text several times to change "is" to "was", a rude and very final change of 'present' to 'past'. Let me end in RAF's style by changing this notion to the way I feel about it: the universe gave us a precious present in RAF's wit, knowledge and friendship, and an attitude that now can only humbly be passed.

 

Robert ("Bob"): rest in peace!

 

 

Cees

Over the years, I didn't have the chance to run in the same circles as Robert. However, as a longtime member of the HTF, I recognize the name and I'll miss the joy, knowledge and friendship he gave to so many people. May the stories and memories carry his legacy for a long, long time.

Like a few others, Robert and I didn't have many similar interests but I was certainly familiar with the name. My condolences to his family and friends.

So sorry to read this news. I didn't know him personally, but he has been a huge part of the HTF the entire time I've been a member. His friends and family are in my thoughts.

I dont know what to say. Just so sad to hear this. I had the benefit of his personal advice when I was building my theater room about five years ago.

My modest room was somewhat influenced by his even though it looks nothing like his,
he was a great help.
Edited by TonyD - 10/2/11 at 8:08pm

Sad news indeed. RAF will be missed here at the HTF and my thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

First and foremost I must say that without Dr. Robert Fowkes HTF wouldn't exist. Yes, Ron and I started it. But RAF pushed it to his internet pals and friends. He was from the very beginning the very best of what we all stood for. His actions were never about himself but always about what he could do for the forum. He was a constant promoter. He built up HTF even more so than Ron or I did. He brought people together. He put us all in a wonderful room where we could all talk about our favorite hobby. We were home. And RAF welcomed us all in.

 

I remember talking with RAF on CompuServe and Prodigy about our mutual love of Betamax and Laser Disc. I remember his shot by shot photo album of his HT addition and the thrill that Ron and I had when we got to see it in person. Here was a kind, highly educated person with an absolute love of life that just oozed out of every pore. He was a genuine joy to be around. Other than our mutual love of all things electronic we could share our love of chemistry, medicine and cars. When I told how much I wanted to get the 1994 Impala with the Corvette LT1 engine in it he told me he was going to look into it and ended up buying one for himself (I couldn't at the time). On top of it all he was a great listener.

 

His real passion was for this family. He loved his kids and his face lit up when talking about his grand kids. He was especially proud of his brother Richard who was a Vice-President at Paramount Pictures (now with Legendary Films) who would pull strings for us at the studio so we were always treated like royalty when we would take a tour. He was also responsible for getting RAF his Laser Disc box set of Star Trek TOS movies serial number 0001 signed by Mr. Roddenberry himself from his personal collection.

 

There are few people in this world that I can honestly call my friend. I am and always will be proud to continue to do so with Robert. The world has become more diminished without his presence. I will miss him dearly.

 

Packy

 

 

I saw this today and struggled to put together words to describe my response.

I rarely post lately but once upon a time, RAF and several others were some of the friends I respected most. Personal illness robbed me of a lot of that time, and I don't contribute nearly as often anymore. But I saw Robert's passing and had to comment.

More then 15 years ago, I believe it was 1995 or 1996, Robert and I were members in an online forum at Delphi devoted to not Home Theater, but gadgets. Someone in that forum, which at that time could be monitored only through a piece of software called WinD sent a message and asked how many of us were into home theater, and what did we have. I was informed by someone else, and I can't remember who, that there was a forum on Delphi just for that subject.

If it hadn't been for a few people I knew already who were there, I don't know if I would have stayed. The conversation in those days was lively and at times hilarious. It was a very close bond a lot of us grew to share and we had no problem doing things I would never do today. We'd call each other at home, trade phone numbers, when someone found a deal in the country it was as though a calling tree was updated and everyone knew quickly.

It's hard thinking back now to how that period went off. Laughter was at the heart of most discussions, even when they were heated. Ron may remember very well RAF arguing about the subtle differences between a CLD-97 and a CLD-99. Who was going to send a Denon into MSB to see if they could alter it to support DTS?

Robert was more then just a member or a moderator, he was one of those people that made the forum home for some of us. I have had the fortune to meet RAF, many years ago in a raid of laserdiscs. We spoke on the phone several times, mostly during the Delphi days.

He will be deeply missed.

 

Good to hear from you Parker.  Its great to hear some of these "before my time" stories.  I didn't know you got him interested in the Impala.  I remember him driving that out from NY to LA for the meets.  He was very proud of that car and kept it even after switching to a MDX for is regular driver.  He was like that though.  If you mentioned something interesting that he wasn't aware of he went into "research mode" trying to find out everything he could about it.  If it was interesting or worth having, a week after you told him he had it.    I forgot all about the Star Trek LD story.  It was actually set 0000 which was the personal set made for Roddenberry.  RAF asked his brother Richard for a copy and his brother not having any left sent a note to Gene asking if he could have one since he was sent 11 copies (0-10).  Gene pulled the first one he saw off the shelf and that was then sent to RAF.  He later tried to find out why his didn't have a "real" number and was ultimately told it was reserved for Gene Roddenberry. 

 

For anyone interested in seeing the theater pictures everyone keeps talking about they are on his website: http://www.rfowkes.com/html/construction.html  The equipment list is a bit out of date.  He upgraded to a Panasonic 300 (or 310?) BD player and a Mits DLP RP that replaced his HP. 

I first met Robert in the HD DVD truck with it's debut appearance at CEDIA in Denver during the format wars.  I distinctly remember Robert from the four HTF folks that piled into the truck (the other three were Ron, Parker and Adam).  It was the first time that I had met those four and I can remember the conversation going so long (with Robert) that our PR person was signaling me that the next interview was going to be starting.  I know we could have easily gone the rest of the day discussing topics around the HD DVD.  (Little did I know that I would in subsequent meetings... :))

 

As I continued to meet with the HTF crew in other locations on that the HD DVD truck was visiting and at subsequent CEDIA's, Robert was ALWAYS there.  I soon found we had a common love outside of home theater and high def optical discs to computers and software, but most importantly high quality steak!  Yes, I remember many times at Morton's or Sullivan's with Robert, enjoying high quality steak and musing about the latest in average bit rates for VC-1 for H.264 and Dolby True HD vs DTS HD Master Audio difference between the two HD formats.

 

Adam, Ron, Robert and I all had plans for Morton's at CEDIA this year.  Ron was organizing the colors of HTF shirts for us all to wear on each day of CEDIA and Robert even sent some of his shirts to me as he had lost so much weight. 

 

The three of us were all so looking forward to seeing RAF and CEDIA and engaging on endless conversation about what was on the show floor and enjoying great steak.  Unfortunately, as Ron has already posted, about a week before CEDIA, Robert's health was such that he couldn't attend.  When I found out, I was saddened about the loss of the great company and conversation that I knew would have happened.

 

RIP Robert, the world needs more humans like you. 

 

 

I'm so sorry to hear the bad news..

When I first joined here-- probably even before when I was lurking--, I remember reading all of RAH's postings, and especially followed the construction of his new HT room.

I really enjoyed watching the pictures of his HT room with his vast Media collection, so much so that I used to forward the link to his HT to many friends and co-workers, also learned a lot about new technology and the HT hobby by reading the reviews of his Top of the line equipment.

By the way, that picture above of his grandchildren sitting in their own mini 'director chairs' still one of my all time favorite..

My condolences to his family

RIP Mr Robert A Fowkes,

So very sorry and sad to hear of this news.

 

Like some, despite being a fairly long time HTF member (though w/ various periods of inactivity), I've only crossed paths w/ RAF on occasion here and have never actually met him in person nor can claim to know him well.  Still, I could definitely see and/or experience much of the great warmth, knowledge and openness and generosity that many speak so fondly of RAF w/ much cherishing regards.  And I am fairly certain that my own overall experience in this hobby has been greatly enriched (whether directly or indirectly) by RAF and his very fine presence and contributions in the HT community.  And as such, I am certain he will be deeply missed both here in HTF and in the greater community (beyond HT and HTF) that has been so blessed by his presence, not to mention his own family and personal friends...

 

My best regards and condolences to all his family and friends, and my prayers and thoughts go out on their behalves as well as for RAF.  May he rest in peace indeed...

 

_Man_

 

I would like to thank the members who personally knew Robert for sharing these stories about him. Like some others here, I was not fortunate enough to have ever met RAF in person, but have enjoyed and benefited from his presence at HTF for many years.

RIP, Robert.

That's nice that the forum was mentioned in his obit.

RIP