Trilobyte:
Trilobyte mourns the passing of Robert Stein III who left this world on January 17 of this year.
Rob was an integral part of the innovative creation of The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour. We were incredibly lucky that he came into our lives, bringing his great talent with him. He will always be respected and admired by anyone who had the good fortune of having known and worked with him.
Jonathan Sposato:
rest in peace brother. robert stein III was the first ever art director at banana republic back when their catalogs were hand drawn by him in a marin county studio. he was also the co-creator of the epic hit game “7th guest” and it’s even bigger followup “11th Hour.” i first met him when i was a young teen making computer games, where he was my slightly older colleague at ‘Virgin Mastertronic’, an offshoot of richard branson’s ‘Virgin Records.' he taught me so much about ‘suggesting detail where there isn’t any.’ years later after college when i started my first games company, i hired rob to be our senior art director, where he routinely regaled us with stories about his run-in’s with special effects greats phil tippett or ray harryhausen. he once lived amongst one of the most untouched pre-industrial humans, the trobriand islanders, during a once every 75 year solar eclipse because he simply wanted to experience what they would experience. he traded drawings for food and lived among them for months. it was said that the founders of banana republic mel and patricia ziegler hired him on the spot, sans portfolio, because he was the very vision of the wanderlust adventurer they sought to sell the idea of. the son of a decorated fighter ace and cold war spy robert k. stein, rob was born for adventure. when i had occasion to go to africa, he once warned; “if your flight has to divert to uganda, do not get off. my dad and i were once held at gunpoint by idi amin’s henchmen in entebbe…”
thru out the years, rob and i ended up working together on and off in parallel careers at microsoft where he designed almost all the iconography for Windows Vista, while i putzed around in the consumer division and xbox. a few years later i tried to recruit him to be a part of my startup, he refused. after selling that one i gave him another shot and he refused again. when i visited him in hospice he laughed; “goddamn it sposato you should have done a better job talking me into those!” to which i replied; “robert you’ve lived 3 lives in the span of my one. no regrets man. no regrets.” and he truly had none.
after a brave fight, rob succumbed to cancer on Jan 17th of this year. he is survived by his beautiful, delightful, and very funny wife Summie Aoki-Stein, an accomplished flight attendant speaking multiple languages who has many great stories of her own. i am grateful my friend was in great care by such a loving partner. his ashes are with the beach and sea in his favorite spot on earth; kailua beach in oahu, hawaii. you can visit rob virtually thru his gorgeous illustrations at https://www.instagram.com/robertsteiniii
you will be missed robert...
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