The Cartoon Cave: Happy birthday, Jim Garner, and welcome to Paradise Cove, Rob!

As is my custom, each year I honor James Garner on his birthday anniversary with a new cartoon depicting him in one of his film or television roles. Most of the time, I like to draw him in his most beloved role as Jim Rockford in The Rockford Files. However, this year it is more poignant than usual, as the man I have illustrated alongside Jim in this article is Robert Howe, who for many years has created and managed a Jim fan page on Facebook called James Garner’s official fan pagecurrently with 167,000 dedicated followers. Tragically, just two weeks ago, on the morning of March 22, 2026, Rob Howe passed away peacefully in his chair at the age of just 67 years old.

Personally, I was devastated by the news, as I had gotten to know Rob quite well through his Facebook page over the last 15+ years, and he was a true champion of my art, always posting my annual Jim cartoons to share with his many fans. Rob was a good guy, and I always appreciated his immense generosity and enthusiasm for my caricatured depictions of our mutual favorite actor, as well as our continued chats about Jim’s movies and TV shows. Rob was not only a long-time fan of Jim Garner, but he also worked on the set of The Rockford Files in its later seasons, so he met Jim and several of the series regulars, such as Joe Santos and Noah Beery Jr. while he was still a teenager. Rob later compiled many of his fond memories of working on set into a book he self-published called The Rockford Files: Behind the Scenes, available here at Amazon.

I’m still reeling from the news of Rob’s passing, as I had coincidentally been chatting with him on Messenger just two days before and it doesn’t seem possible that he’s gone. Rob leaves behind his beloved wife, Sheilagh, his family and a great legion of friends who interacted with him daily through his James Garner fan page and love him dearly. RIP Rob, my wonderful friend. I’ll miss you so much, but I’d like to believe you’re now in REAL Paradise Cove with Jim Garner, probably sharing tacos while fishing off the pier.