Once Again, An Obituary: Robert Hess, “Vagabond ‘Tony’ Carter”, Gone at 40

Robert Hess, aka the SCIFI.radio on-air personality Vagabond “Tony” Carter, taken in 2010.

For the second time in less than two weeks, it is my sad duty¹  to relate the death of one of our own. Robert Hess, better known to the SCIFI.radio listening and reading audience as Vagabond “Tony” Carter of the SCIFI.radio news series Stark Reality, and more recently the Bento Box of News that made its almost nightly visits to our live evening DJ broadcasts, died yesterday morning (Octobery 27, 2016) of an apparent heart attack.

He was only 40 years old.

Robert had been with SCIFI.radio since its inception in 2009, writing columns and providing on the air commentary on the wild and weird. In a surprise twist, Robert and Gary Baum Wilkes (SCIFI.radio DJ Gary DaBaum) turned out to be related, a fact they discovered after both had become SCIFI.radio team members. They discovered they shared the same cousins, and both took it as a good omen that they were where they were meant to be.

A religious man with very specific political viewpoints, Robert was always the consummate journalist. He always kept his reporting and his personal bias on separate planes of reality, and wrote the news from as an objective perspective as he could, hence the name of his original news show, Stark Reality. He always wrote his news segments with a critical eye towards corporate and political shenanigans, telling the story by pointing the often strange fallout that resulted from corporate and government that affected our lives as members of the geek community.

In addition to being a talented and valued member of the SCIFI.radio broadcasting team, he was also technically gifted, with deep knowledge of gaming technology and development. Krypton Media Group, the parent company of SCIFI.radio, had just begun opening a dialog with Hess to be part of our virtual reality content development team.

A resident of Vidor, Texas, he married his wife Kendall Caminiti-Hess in December of 2012.

It is said that time heals all wounds. This is one wound that I don’t want to heal. Robert was my friend. I don’t want this pain to go away. I want his memory to be strong, and to be a part of me. He added so much to the lives of the people around him, and the world around him, that I don’t ever want to forget what and who Robert was: a good friend, a good husband, and one of the lights that makes the world bright.

Robert, if you’re reading this from whatever other plane of reality there may be, you’ll be missed.

-30-

¹We had no sooner said goodbye to our friend and colleague Michael Brown when…

Gene Turnbow

President of Krypton Media Group, Inc., radio personality and station manager of SCIFI.radio. Part writer, part animator, part musician, part illustrator, part programmer, part entrepreneur – all geek.