Robert Roden, 70
Rob Roden of East Hampton, the founder of the Antigua and Barbuda Hamptons Challenge Sailing Race, died at his sister’s home in Hampton Bays on Saturday. He was 70 and had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer six weeks ago.
His family said that after he moved to the South Fork in the 1960s, he was one of the original group of surfers at Flying Point, who once converted an ambulance into a “surf-mobile” and drove it across the country with his dog Heidi.
In the 1970s and ’80s he moved to Manhattan and worked as the advertising director of Beverage Media, which his family said had the largest circulation in the liquor magazine field.
In the 1990s Mr. Roden returned here to work as the national sales director of Dan’s Papers and, in 1994, he and the former Theresa Nevico married. As an outgrowth of his love of boating, he started Captain’s Guide Magazine in 1997, traveling with his wife and young daughter, who was born that year, to ports along the East Coast and across the Caribbean and spending summers with them on Block Island. Boating, telling a good story, and his family were his principal interests.
Mr. Roden was born in Manhattan on Nov. 10, 1947, one of two children of the former Frances Barry and Walter Roden. He grew up in Babylon and graduated from the University of Bridgeport, in Connecticut, with a degree in history.
About six or seven years ago he launched the first Antigua and Barbuda Hamptons Challenge Sailing Race, held in and around Noyac Bay. He was working on this year’s Challenge — which his family called “the East Coast’s premier sailing event, with the largest prize to be found anywhere from Maine to Florida — just before he died. The regatta will go off as planned on Saturday, with a celebration of his life to take place during the awards party from 5 to 8 p.m. that day at Havens Beach in Sag Harbor.
In addition to his sister, Susan Barry Roden of Hampton Bays, his wife, Theresa Roden, who started the “transformation through triathlon” (I-Tri) program for girls, survives, as do his daughter, Abby Barry Roden, and many Barry cousins.
Relatives said that in all his travels, Mr. Roden “never met a stranger. He could tell a story better than anyone else, keeping listeners gasping for breath as he described hilarious exploits.”
The family received visitors yesterday at the Brockett Funeral Home in Southampton in the afternoon and the evening. A funeral service will take place today at 10 a.m. at Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Catholic Church in Southampton, with Father Bill Gill, Deacon Joe Hopgood, and Abbot Matthew Leavy, a Benedictine monk from Abby Roden’s college, officiating. A reception will follow at Maura Sabo’s residence in Southampton.
Mr. Roden’s ashes will be spread at his two favorite places, Block Island and the British West Indies.
The family has suggested memorial donations for Mr. Roden’s daughter’s education. Checks can be made out to Abby Roden with “Education Fund” on the memo line, and sent to Bridgehampton National Bank, Attention Michael Molinaro, 94 East Montauk Highway, Hampton Bays 11946.