National Geographic
Los Haitisus Nat’l Park
Dominican Republic
On Christmas Day we lost a very good man.
Roberto was affectionately known by his fellow flyers as “Kamikaze” for his propensity to push the limits. More often than not, when others had sought the refuge of the ground, you could find Roberto in the air, as if he was making sure the wind itself would know he was there.
In truth, he was more of a “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”, but he would have never stood for such a woosy name. I remember going through a whole litany of potential handles before he finally agreed to Kamikaze... and it stuck.
He was a man of few words. He said what he meant and meant what he said... and you could count on it being his truth.
I didn’t get to see as much of Roberto as I would have liked this past year. But I am grateful to have spent a bit of time with him the week before Christmas. We flew at Dania and I had the opportunity to shoot some film of him... for the last time.
I put together some of those clips along with a few others I’ve taken of him over the years. It’s a small tip-of-the-hat to a passing Brother.
I’ll miss him a lot. I’m sure we all will.
... RB
SO LONG ROBERTO
