Bob Klepner

[gameswat]

I'm very sad to have to inform everyone here that Bob died earlier today. He'd gone into hospital about 7 weeks ago and was found to have a lymphatic cancer. He was home after two weeks and had started having chemotherapy. He was in very good spirits and feeling much better with a 90% chance of a recovery. But I think after being home for maybe 10 days on his second or third chemo his body started to shut down and he was back in hospital with failing kidneys. Then due to the complications he went down hill quickly. Nobody could believe he was almost 89 years of age as he was still very much with it and acted a lot younger. Bob was an incredibly generous collector and happily helped out everybody he could over the years. He assisted me to complete countless projects to the best level possible with all sorts of valuable information, parts, patents, photos etc etc. If he didn't have the machine in person he almost always knew of another collector in Aust or overseas that did and would track down whatever it was I needed. Even when the machines belonged to someone else if he was involved he felt like it was his project too. He really was one of my closest friends the last 30 years and nothing but great things came out of that! By the time he tracked me down on his only visit to Perth back in 1990 he'd already amassed most of his world class collection. And I can remember after seeing his photos that I said to him he'd left nothing in Aust of any value or interest for me to find! I know he was friends with many of the Penny Machines members so I certainly won't be the only one to miss him dearly. Cheers to Bob.

[badpenny]

Thanks for the update

BP

[john t peterson]

Our hobby has just lost one of the greats. I got to know Bob over the years with several projects that he helped me on, including making missing parts for one of my machines. Our daughter stayed with Bob and Bev for a time too. What a wonderful man and a true loss, both for the arcade community and humanity.

Rest easy in peace, Bob. Your memory will be treasured.

John Peterson

[pennymachines]

So sorry to hear this news. He was one of the true gentlemen of our hobby. His contributions were always a delight and an education. With legendary tenacity and devotion he assembled one of the finest collections in the world, and even after divesting himself of most of it, was keen to learn more and to share his enthusiasm and knowledge. My sympathies to Bob's loved ones.

[sweetmeats]

Such very sad news, I communicated with Bob for over twenty years both by phone and letter but sadly never met him in person. We swapped a large amount of information also I had parts made for his machines and he mine we then posted them to each other half way around the world without mishap. Lately most of our exchanges were through this site. Some years ago I bought an Indian head mutoscope from him, he was an expert on these machines and over all the years I knew him he was working on a definitive book on the subject. I do not know if it had got as far as a manuscript or just notes. It would a fitting memorial if this could be finished. Would it be possible for Gameswot to inquire at an appropriate time in the future? Over the years he has been a knowledgeable and friendly contributor to this site and will missed by many. Rest in peace and goodbye my dear friend.

[gameswat]

Interesting that you should mention his Mutoscope book Sweetmeats, because I just minutes ago finished writing an email to author and collector Larry Bieza about this very subject and was thinking about mentioning it here! Bob had always hoped to complete his work which was based mostly on the UK side of the Mutoscope story for the 100 year anniversary around 1995. But once that date came and went he slowed right down. Then he was contacted by Larry who had started writing the same story about Mutoscope but from the US side of things. When they pooled information they had most of the world story down! So Bob handed over his work to Larry for him to complete the book. Thinking about it that was maybe 15 years ago or so? Every now and again I'd ask either of them what was happening. And in fact Larry had mentioned a month ago he was planning to finally complete the book early next year. Sadly Bob won't now get to see the finished work. But his fantastic research and love of film and coin-op history will live on for many others to enjoy!

[bryans fan]

I am so sad to hear this news. I first contacted Bob in early 2009, with a query about one of my machines. He was an absolute star and helped me with many exchanges of emails back and forth for nearly a year. He could not have done more to help me. Over the following years since we became great friends, and corresponded regularly. He was in fact the best friend I`d never met. Although we had discussed me visiting him on several occasions, sadly I never got to meet him, or his wife and family. I last heard from him on 13th of October, and was planning to write to him tonight or tomorrow to tell him about the EH Auction, and my news and plans for Christmas.
Christmas was always a big family occasion for Bob, and there was often 25+ family round for the annual get together, so it will be a very difficult time for them.
He was a fountain of knowledge, and so generous with his help. His contributions to this site were wonderful, and so personal.
He will be sorely missed for his encyclopedic knowledge of machines, but I will miss a dear friend.
My thoughts are with his family.

[moonriver]

very sad news, his extensive knowledge and fantastic historical articles he posted on this site made such interesting reading. I'm sure Larry will do a great job on completing the book which I hope will be a great legacy for Bob

[arrgee]

Completely reiterate what moonriver has posted, a very sad loss to the world of slots.

It makes one wonder, as we all get older and eventually depart, will there be such people in years to come with the knowledge to take this interesting hobby on into the future? I do hope the Mutoscope book is published.

Compared with the written word, cyberspace is so ephemeral whilst books are so valuable

[treefrog]

Apologies to add my ignorance, but I assume this is the same Bob who used “Bob” as his sign in on here. If so very very sad news and his knowledge shared with great write ups has been invaluable, especially on the history of slots in Australia...

[gameswat]

but I assume this is the same Bob who used “Bob” as his sign in on here.

Yes, one and the same.

[ddstoys]

Yes definitely a tragic loss. Such a beautiful helpful man, as Rory said he would go above and beyond to help anyone he could. I hadn’t know Bob for nearly as long as gameswat, but had caught up with him and his lovely wife Bev at their home in Melbourne and had both of them over to my place several times.

You could see the excitement in his eyes when he came into my shed and looked at my machines - he truly did love them.

Very sad indeed ,
RIP Bob

[mclemore]

As mentioned above, Bob was 'one of the true gentlemen of our hobby'. He was always gracious, always helpful, always friendly, and always passionate about his interests. He clearly had a huge scholarly interest in the machines too. He was always happy to answer the phone when people called, and I was always happy to hear from him when he called.

I was fortunate enough to have dinner with him (and his wife) at their home in August. It was the first time (after so many years) that I actually got to meet him in person. Of course he and his wife were perfect hosts.

I've known for a many years that he wanted to work on a book (either by himself or with another collector) about Mutoscopes. Obviously, he never got around to it. Now it did catch me by surprise to learn how much he actually -did- write about coin-op machine (for magazines). See the first page from one of these articles, attached.

So sorely missed...

[JC]

I know this is very late, but I just wanted to add my two old penny-worth. From the time I started the magazine, Bob always kept in touch. He gave me much assistance on many occasions, in particular on the subjects of mutoscopes and BAC machines. We generally communicated by email, but there were several occasions that he took the trouble to phone me from the other side of the world. I've certainly been the recipient of his generosity and passion for the hobby, as mentioned by others.
Although it's been a few years now since I ceased publication of the magazine, we still kept in touch from time to time - it's probably about six months since we communicated. I always asked how 'the book' was coming along - the answer has been the same for some time - that he had done all the research that he could with the cast iron machines and that it was now down to Larry over in America. I understand Larry was concentrating on the Rabkin era - the 'tinnies'. I hope, as I'm sure we all do, that Larry is close to publication.
I'm sad that I was never able to meet Bob, but very thankful that I knew him for a good number of years. Yet another of the Titans of our hobby is no longer with us.

Jerry