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Chuck
Posts: 314
Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2004 5:55 pm

Sad News

Post by Chuck » Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:10 am

Dear Newsletter Editors,

The RA is truly saddened to announce the passing of Dr. Robert Hellman, our Chefredakteur and Editor of the OTL magazine for more than 20 years. After a prolonged illness, Dr. Hellman, age 63, passed away on Sunday, March 9, 2008 at his home in Maryland in the company of those he loved. The BMW Riders Association has lost the man that was the foundation and spokesman of our organization for so many years. No one can dispute he was an advocate for the BMW brand, a man of eloquence and diplomacy both in person and with his pen. The RA will truly miss him, but his wit and charm will live forever in our memories and the pages of our magazine. Keep an eye on the RA web site for further information on arrangements.

With sorrowful regards,

Bob Wood
Regions Coordinator

MTSweger
Posts: 121
Joined: Sat Jun 24, 2006 10:20 am

Obituary of Robert Hellman

Post by MTSweger » Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:20 pm

More on Dr. Hellman (cross-posted from the IBMWR list):
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Writer, Editor, and BMW Icon Robert J. Hellman Dead at 62

Writer and recognized BMW enthusiast Robert J. Hellman died on March 9 at his Chesapeake Bay home in Tracy's Landing, Maryland, of carcinoid-related heart disease. He was 62. Dr. Hellman obtained a Ph.D. in German intellectual history from Columbia University in 1972 before moving to Washington and working on Capitol Hill. During his graduate studies, Hellman was active in the affairs and publications of Columbia's International House, captivating many in the multicultural milieu with his guitar playing and eidetic command of obscure tunes and lyrics.

He grew up on Hellman Point Road in North Lake, Wisconsin, graduating from Marquette University in 1967, a member of Crown and Anchor Literary Society, and where he was greatly influenced by Jesuit Father Francis Paul Prucha, a leading native-American history authority. An early U.S. exchange student to East Germany who lived to view his own Stasi file after the secret police records were made available, Hellman lived at Trotthaus during the last years of the Cold War while he conducted research at Humboldt University for his book, Berlin, The Red Room & White Beer: The "Free" Hegelian Radicals of the 1840s (Three Continents Press, Washington D.C., 1990). There, he played on the East Berlin volleyball team. He witnessed the funeral of the alleged last Holy Roman Empress, and the collapse of the actual Berlin Wall.

A prolific writer and adroit editor, Hellman's contributions included a 1976 book produced under then House banking committee chair Henry Reuss, On the Trail of the Ice Age, which inspired the Ice Age Trail in Wisconsin. Hellman wrote for numerous periodicals including Washington Dossier under editor Craig Stoltz, among venues that extended from Daytona Bike Week coverage for The Washington Times, to A History of the U.S. Army Engineer Topographic Laboratories from 1984-1988 (Fort Belvoir, VA, 1994). Recently, he was influential in shaping the biography by Stacy Cordery, Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from Washington Princess to Washington Powerbroker (Viking Press, New York,December 2007).

A tireless proponent who helped popularize the term "Boxer" for BMW's air-cooled motorcycles, Hellman's too-salient wit once got him banned from reviewing cars for the company's flagship magazine. Designated BMW "Freundder Marke" No. 001 in 1997 and given BMW of North America's first BMW Icon award a decade later, both created with him in mind, his name became synonymous with advocacy of the brand worldwide. Vice Chairman, Motorcycles, for the International Council of BMW Clubs until February 2007, Dr. Hellman was honored later that year for his over twenty years as editor of the BMW Riders Association magazine On The Level, with kudos from participants on the order of BMW AG Motorcycle Designer David Robb in Munich and peripatetic investment guru Jim Rogers in Shanghai.

Dr. Hellman belonged to the National Military Intelligence Association and the Association For Intelligence Officers. He was singled out by the late Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger for predicting the fall of the Berlin Wall, among other achievements spanning the theatres of Granada to Bosnia, but was proudest of receiving a 1970 letter from Martin Heidegger troubling to point out two flaws in Hellman's interpretation of the philosopher's teachings.

Outlived by centennarian Jacques Barzun, who had served on Hellman's doctoral review board with Zbigniew Brzezinski and Fritz Stern, with Ph.D. Supervisor Leonard Krueger, Hellman was drawn to controversial viewpoints, frequently holding forth on a variety of subjects with correspondents as disparate as Gore Vidal and Norman Finkelstein. An avowed liberal who often saw past party lines, to the point where he once entertained writing speeches for a Republican governor, Hellman followed basketball with equal passion, cheering Dwayne Wade and decrying Duke, and attributing success in army Trivial Pursuit tournaments to the acumen that sports savvy added to a repertoire stretching well beyond an understanding of Friedrich Nietzsche. A tenured figure at The Guards in Georgetown and Mangos by the Bay in Maryland, Hellman's broad interests included crewing for Harry "Buddy" Melges, Jr., of America's Cup fame, iceboating, ice skating, windsurfing and scuba diving, a late-onset love of gardening, and an abiding appreciation of the turtles that reminded him of his lakeside childhood.

Dr. Hellman was preceded in death by his father, Dr. Hugo Hellman, Marquette University Dean–School of Speech from 1940-1969, and is survived by his mother Margaret Hellman, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; his daughter Alice Sturm and her mother, Joanna Sturm, of Washington, D.C.; his brother John Hellman, sister-in-law Odile Onimus Hellman, nephews Christophe, Thomas, and Michael Hellman, of Montréal, Canada, Etienne Hellman of Paris, France; his cousin Monte Hellman of Muenster, Texas; their collective and respective families; and his friend Mary Lee Kingsley of Bethesda, Maryland.
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A life fully lived, indeed, but the BMW community will surely miss him. :(
Mike Sweger
2004 K1200GT | 2015 KTM 1290SA

Chuck
Posts: 314
Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2004 5:55 pm

Post by Chuck » Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:35 am

Chuck Auckerman
Bridgewater, Virginia
1977 R100S, 2001 R1150GS

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