To follow-up on a recent story, we here at the Joe Shuster Awards are saddened to learn of the passing of ROBERT JOSEPH CHARPENTIER, the owner of Toronto’s Comics & More shop on Danforth Avenue.
Rob or Bob as he was known to his friends and customers, was a long-time fixture on the Toronto comics scene, having owned Shining Knight comics, later renamed Comics & More. He had been a comics retailer for over 20 years.
In the late summer Rob had been diagnosed with a brain tumour after experiencing a series of excruciatingly painful headaches. The tumour was removed, but while undergoing adjuvant treatment it was discovered that the cancer had spread and could not be treated. In September Bob made the announcement on his store blog.
Rob passed on Friday, October 17th. Viewing and service will be held on Saturday, October 25th.
CHARPENTIER, Robert Joseph – Quietly in his sleep at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre after a short battle with cancer at the age of 54. Brother to Stephen Douglas (Elaine), James Thomas (Lynda) and Edward Anthony. Beloved uncle and granduncle to his numerous nieces and nephews and their children. Predeceased by his parents Douglas Charpentier and Evelyn Dame and his sister Sarah Hacker. He will be dearly missed by his whole family, as well as his family at ‘Comics and More’. Visitation will be held from 12-2 p.m. on Saturday, October 25, 2014 at the HERITAGE FUNERAL CENTRE, 50 Overlea Blvd., 416-423-1000, with a memorial service in the Chapel at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations to the
or the Canadian Diabetes Association would be greatly appreciated by the family. Online condolences and directions may be found at www.heritagefuneralcentre.ca –
Details on the service can be found here: Book of Memories
Official statement from the staff of Comics & More
Bleeding Cool has also run the story, copying the text of the obituary and the eulogy from the Comics and More Site.
Jeff Lemire lives near the shop and was a regular customer, and has blogged about Rob. IN MEMORY OF ROB CHARPENTIER
I was saddened to learn about Rob’s illness a couple months back. He was unable to work at the store anymore, but continued reading. One of his fears near the end was not getting a chance to see the end of Grant Morrison’s long anticipated Multiversity project. (It should be noted that when I reached out to DC Comics about this they helped connect Grant with Rob. Grant spent nearly an hour talking to Rob on the phone in his hospital room. DC and Grant’s kindness was not lost on Rob or his friends at the store, and was a real bright spot for Rob near the end).
This is such a wonderful example of people helping people. Rob was very excited to see where Multiversity was going and worried about missing it’s conclusion, but after the operation, Rob could no longer read (the removal of the tumour had affected his ability to read), so this is an even more wonderful story, in that Grant Morrison was able to tell him about the project, and about how it ended.
THE JOE SHUSTER AWARDS 