Famecrawler
Remembering Dad and Comedian Robert Schimmel
Robert Schimmel led a life of very high highs—he was a father of six who survived a deadly bout of cancer—and very low lows—he divorced twice and lost a son to cancer years ago. The 62-year-old comedian, best known for his Howard Stern appearances, died this morning four days after a car accident last week. He had been traveling in Arizona with his son and daughter, who was driving the car.
His daughter swerved to avoid hitting another car, and in the process rolled over her car. On Friday, a couple days after the accident, Schimmel checked himself into the hospital and Schimmel died of complications from his injuries.
Schimmel got his start in comedy with some encouragement from comic great Rodney Dangerfield. He did standup but also wrote for “In Living Color.” He was raunchy, no doubt about that.
I’m no Howard Stern fan, but I listened to Schimmel’s appearance on NPR’s “Fresh Air” a couple years ago, in which he described his battle with cancer in 2000. I was haunted by his descriptions of how he fought off the disease, which doctors said would kill him, and survived.
At the time, he had just started dating a woman named Melissa, but when he was diagnosed with cancer, he returned to his ex-wife, Vicki. The two of them had split up after their son’s death. Schimmel tried to make it work with Vicki but eventually realized his heart was with Melissa.
After his improbable recovery from cancer, Schimmel and Melissa married and had two children, though that did not end well, either. Schimmel was arrested after a confrontation with his wife, though no charges were filed, and they divorced last year.
Meanwhile, Schimmel continued to have medical issues. He said earlier this year on “Howard Stern” that he had cirrhosis and was waiting for a liver transplant at the time of his death.
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4 Comments
Kim Stagliano commented on Sep 04 10 at 7:25 amHe was always a top guest on Howard Stern. Funny, engaging, interesting, informed, funny, funny, funny. I have his T-shirt – just bought it. I’ll wear it today. RIP Bob.
Barry commented on Sep 04 10 at 8:02 amI’m pretty sure he didn’t “check himself into the hospital a couple of days after the accident.” So he went home after the accident and just sort of sauntered in to the hospital a couple of days later?
d commented on Sep 04 10 at 3:39 pmRIP sad man hope u can find some luck and happiness in death
brenda galvin commented on Sep 04 10 at 8:28 pmnot sure about that waiting a few days to go to hospital.
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