Death of former member Rob Astbury

[colmx]

I just spotted news tonight about the death of former member Rob Astbury
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Astbury

https://www.realestate.com.au/news/gold-coast-agent-rob-astbury-dead-at-69/

Rob was a member here in the early days and posted under the handle "Foon Dee" and later "Fan Dee"
He was well known on the Pattaya property and gay scene in the early 2000's... and prior to that had been an Australian television sports journalist.
The former Sawatdee Moderator jinks (lower case j!) and Rob were also good friends

I didn't know Rob very well, but he very kindly helped me a lot during the early days with my BF15 years ago

Rob: we had only previously chatted online, but you willingly gave up a lot of your time and energy to help a stranger and his Thai guy to connect during a difficult personal time for the Thai guy... and for that you will always have my gratitude.

RIP Rob

[arsenal]

RIP.

[bobsaigon2]

Damn! He was a good man. One of the best. RIP, Rob.

[Smiles]

Rob ('Fun Dee') was a member and contributor to Sawatdee Forum in the old days, when I was the owner, from 'about 2004 through 'about' 2010 or so.

I had a friendly relationship with him via email, PMs, and phone for most of that time. Rob was very interested in anyone who was in a successful long-term relationship with a Thai man. I was one of those individuals, and it sounds like Colmx was as well ... probably for the same reasons. He picked my brain and emotions regarding my long history with Suphot and the whole gamut of interesting experiences, the positives as well as the negatives. He had a gentle and understanding manner over the phone and and posed intelligent questions.

During our phone-call life Rob was in one as well of course, but it was early times for him and I guess he was looking around for other (falang) men's experiences.
I met him in person only once, in Jomtien and in the company of good old jinks who had known him for many years.
Rob had found his love, and ended up buying his boyfriend a huge piece of land somewhere in Isaan on which the guy started a cow farm (dairy, not meat). He once sent me a few photographs of the place and it looked very high end, very clean, very professional, very 'western'.

Our 'relationship' ended not well: Rob was heavily involved in the Jomtien Ocean1 debacle, and on Sawatdee there were many posts ~ including mine ~ very critical of Ocean1 as a real estate scam. (The property is still there today ... a great ugly hole in the ground).
Rob I believe was an employee in the sales area, not in the ownership or builder area,and the criticisms were mostly aimed at them, rather than him. But he took the criticisms badly and to the heart and left Sawatdee forever. I never heard from him again, regrettably.

I have no idea if the cow farm is still a going concern, or whether the relationship did either. Rob left Thailand sometime around 2010 or 2011 and went back to Australia.

[Manforallseasons]

Rob was a spokesperson for property developement, he was a good friend of LMTU...I believe the last project was Ocean One a defunct condo billing itself as the largest residential property in Asia.

[Manforallseasons]

Rob Astbury:

Rob Astbury (1948-2017) was an Australian television sports journalist and real estate agent.

Born in Avoca, Victoria, during a media career spanning 21 years, he won an unprecedented 10 VFL/AFL awards, two national Penguin awards and was twice nominated for the Logie Awards for the Best News Story of the year. After an early career in Melbourne radio, Astbury made a successful jump to television – firstly for the Channel 0/10 network before accepting an offer to work for the Nine Network after a personal invitation from owner Kerry Packer. Channel 9 network. During his television career Astbury was the highest paid Australian sports correspondent.

In 2006, celebrity agent, Anthony Zammit published King and I: My Life With Graham Kennedy, a biography that detailed Rob Astbury's relationship with entertainer Graham Kennedy.[1]

After retiring from television, Astbury worked as a real estate agent at Broadbeach on the Gold Coast, Queensland between 1995 and 2000. For the next decade he ran a property development company in Thailand. During the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami when Astbury was holidaying in Phuket, Thailand Astbury reported on the devastation for the political website crikey.com.au. Returning to the Gold Coast in 2010, Astbury worked with the Ray White Real Estate agency in Broadbeach Queensland.

References

[bobsaigon2]

At a dinner I shared with Rob, he spoke of relocating to the farm with his BF, but apparently that partnership did not endure. This fact, plus the loss of the considerable amount that it was said he invested in Ocean 1, were probably the causes of his eventual relocation to Australia.

At that dinner, among other things, we discussed the general nature of SGT board members. We spent approximately 65 seconds on that subject.

RIP, Rob. It was a pleasure to have known you.