I can't believe I am writing another post about another soul in the search marketing space passing away at an early age. Bob Gladstein, someone who has been part of the search community for probably two-decades or so, unexpectedly passed Friday night at the age of 57.
Bob went under the Twitter alias of @bubba_ji and you can see, he was replying to SEO questions on Twitter just last week. His Twitter bio summed him up well, "Organic SEO guy; Unhipster from a hipster town." He was super active in the old SEO forums, like HighRankings Forums and others. He was just a genuine and good guy.
Julie Joyce, from Link Fish Media, sent me this about her friend Bob:
Bob and I go way back...I can't recall whether we first met online through talk of music or film but it was one of the two. He and I had very similar taste in both and I always looked forward to his Instagram movie reviews as out of all of them, there was only one that I'd seen. He had fantastic anecdotes and always had a good story about a band I liked. Just last week he accepted my invitation to join a FB music group and I was absolutely thrilled and thankful that we got one more good Devo story out of him.
He was an incredibly intelligent man with zero arrogance or ego, with such deep knowledge. I will greatly miss our chats and know that the people who knew him are left with some amazing memories of a truly wonderful human.
His employer wrote this:
It is with a heavy heart we share the sudden passing of a beloved team member, @bubba_ji. A rock for the SEO team at Overdrive Interactive & the SEO community, Bob’s kindhearted spirit, & stories will be missed by all. You can honor Bob with a donation to @MspcaAngell in his name pic.twitter.com/X1Lt8XVAaF
— Overdrive Interactive (@ovrdrv) July 20, 2021
Here is more:
He really was a great guy and was just so knowledgeable about so much. I’ll really miss him.
— Julie Joyce (@JulieJoyce) July 19, 2021
RIP @bubba_ji (Bob Gladstein). So sorry to hear about his passing.
— SEO-Theory.Com (@seo_theory) July 19, 2021
Sad news. If memory serves me correct, I first met Bob on @jillwhalen High Rankings Forum in late 90's or early 2000's.
— David Wallace (@DavidWallace) July 20, 2021
RIP Bob Gladstein https://t.co/b4hyLcQXnc
I remember Bob from very early SEO days. I did not know him well, but appreciated his kindness in sharing what he knew with the community. Hugs to his family, friends and colleagues. 😢 https://t.co/tngRjLKTql
— Jenny Halasz (@jennyhalasz) July 20, 2021
There are a lot more stories and comments about him on Facebook - I can see it, but I am friends with him on that platform. I cannot share the private messages here but it is so sad to read.
Bob - you will be deeply missed by the SEO community.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
