Roger Kean has passed away

[Unofficial Who]

From https://www.facebook.com/fusionretrobooks/posts/

 

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It pains me to say that Roger lost his battle with MND this morning at 3am.

He was a good friend and mentor and I will sorely miss his charm, intelligence, humour and fatherly advice.

RIP Rog.

 

https://magazinesfromthepast.fandom.com/wiki/Roger_Kean

 

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Roger Kean co-founded Newsfield Publications with Oliver Frey and Franco Frey. He held the position of launch editor on Crash and lated edited Zzap!64 before taking a backroom seat to oversee the growing magazine portfolio of the company. When Newsfield went in to liquidation in 1991, Roger formed a satellite company of Europress called Europress Impact. Here, Newsfield's most successful magazines could continue along with the stalled launches of Sega Force and N Force.

 

[Garwoofoo]

Roger Kean and Oliver Frey in the space of six months, absolutely tragic.

 

I really can't overstate how much Crash magazine meant to me growing up, and I'm sure many others here would say the same. RIP Roger.

[Parappa]

Aww this is sad.  😟

[Robo_1]

What a legend this man was, I'm so sorry to hear this news. Both he and Oli defined an entire generation of magazines and both Oli's art and Roger's vision have proven to be an inspiration for so many people. I never met him personally but by all accounts he was one of the warmest people you could have hoped to meet but he took his work seriously. The layouts he designed were so far ahead of the competition at the time. Every review or feature had a real life and charm to them, the magazines oozed character and they were just fun to read. Rest in peace Roger, your legacy will endure.

[MattyP]

Sad news... what with Oli Frey, Archer Maclean and now Roger Kean my childhood heroes are slow passing away. Their legacy live on however. 

[Stoppy2000]

I was a Commodore Format fan but did defect to Commodore Force when they had better covertapes. Sad to hear about his passing. A lot of these people probably don't realise what a mark they made on the world. Those magazines were such a part of my childhood. 

[Rex Grossman]

I probably wouldn't do what I do today if not for Zzap.

[merman]

4 hours ago, Rex Grossman said:

I probably wouldn't do what I do today if not for Zzap.

 

Same here. Roger gave me my first regular writing job on Commodore Force, and in recent years I worked with him on books, Annuals and the revived ZZAP. I was also lucky enough to meet him and Oli at retro events. Roger was a genuinely wonderful person that I will miss deeply.

[Stoppy2000]

18 minutes ago, merman said:

 

Same here. Roger gave me my first regular writing job on Commodore Force, and in recent years I worked with him on books, Annuals and the revived ZZAP. I was also lucky enough to meet him and Oli at retro events. Roger was a genuinely wonderful person that I will miss deeply.

This thread made me look up some old Commodore Force issues. Quite amazing that I still remember some of the pages. Did a great job of making something out of the C64 when it was practically dead. 

[Unofficial Who]

Zzap, Commodore Force and Commodore Format are sort of the reason I'm still around, but not in a career sense. At a time in my life when I would often wonder what the point of going on was I knew if I could just make it through to the next month I had two issues (and potentially cover tapes) to look forward too. 

 

I'm sad that both Oli and Roger are gone, and it feels unjust when some absolute douchecanoes just keep on keeping on but I remember reading a few months back Roger saying something to the effect of how he and Oli couldn't complain, they'd had a good life together and really what more could you want?

 

Jaz has a few works on twitter. I'll text quote them as twitter appears to be dying at the moment.

 

https://twitter.com/JazRignall/status/1610335202106290177

 

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Very sad to hear that Roger Kean passed away today. We worked together at Newsfield for years, where, under his tutelage and mentorship, he helped me develop my writing style and production skills to a level that enabled me to go on to launch many market-leading publications. 1/3

 

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While not a gamer himself, Roger nevertheless understood how to create video game mags that enabled their writers to connect with their readers in ways that no games mags had done before. His ideas were revolutionary and completely changed the face of the UK games press. 2/3

 

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I will always remember how Roger taught me that an editorial policy based on being entertaining, informative, enthusiastic, and honest was key to making publications that truly resonated with their audience. Thanks for everything Roger. I hope both you and Oli rest in peace. 3/3

 

[JoeK]

A lovely little obituary on Eurogamer here:

 

https://www.eurogamer.net/remembering-video-game-magazine-legend-roger-kean 

[Steven]

The feeling of getting home from school and seeing the latest Zzap 64 on the floor was like Christmas (don't get me started on the Christmas issues) There were other mags, but Crash, Zzap and AA were different.

 

The best, best times. RIP.