Online Industry Veteran Robert Levy Dies at 57

PORTLAND, Oregon—Adult online industry veteran Robert Levy has passed away, according to reports by friends and associates. Levy had turned 57 on July 30 and appears to have died suddenly at his home in Portland, Oregon on August 1.   A friend and colleague at eLine.com/Gamelink, Andrew Sullivan, said that Levy had experienced an acute medical emergency in the middle of the night which he did not survive. No official cause of death was immediately available. A Facebook post by nephew Christopher Levy on August 2 referred to his uncle’s passing. Originally from New Milford, New Jersey, Levy graduated from the California Institute of the Arts in 1992. Levy entered the industry in 2009 as an affiliate representative for Reality Kings’ Nasty Dollars program. In 2012, he was hired by Kink.com to manage the company’s in-house affiliate program, Kinky Dollars. Over the years, Levy also managed affiliate programs for JamesDeen.com and ReallyUsefulCash.com, among others. In 2016, he was brought on by eLine.com, the management company of adult e-retailer Gamelink, as an affiliate and business development manager. A respected professional for several of the largest adult online platforms, Levy was  enthusiastic, kind and caring, friends and colleagues said. Prior to his career in the online adult industry, Levy had been an entrepreneur and small business owner in the Bay Area. His nightclub, the 12 Galaxies, was located in San Francisco’s Mission District and often frequented by local tech workers including those in the adult industry. “Robert was an incredibly kind and gentle soul, loved by so many,” Sullivan, business strategist at Gamelink, told AVN. “Robert used to own a nightclub in SF and just about everyone ran through that at some point—people joke that he was too kind to run a business like that. “He was a huge Phish fan, a fanatic lover of musicals and a regular at many music festivals. His reach was quite far and his smile and heart were expansive,” Sullivan added. Jonathan “Puppy” Kearns, promotions and offers manager at Gamelink for more than two decades, remembered Levy as a co-worker and dear friend. Kearns said that when Levy joined the company nine years ago, his reputation as a biz dev heavy-hitter caused some longtime employees to bristle and brace themselves for his arrival. But soon after, he fit right in, with he and Levy finding they had interests in common. “We went to go see Bernadette Peters together and bonded over gay ass theater stuff, even discovering we share many mutual friends in all aspects of theater, from big shows to off off-off-off-avant-garde pieces—but his big, huge cuddly heart truly belongs to Stephen Sondheim!!! At some time during shelter-in-place we started to end most conversations with ‘love you,’ and I truly had grown, too,” Kearns wrote in an email. “He did, too.” Once at a performance by multi-talented ‘80s star and Broadway singer Peters, Kearns said he and Levy tearfully sang along to her rendition of “No One Is Alone,” from Sondheim musical “Into the Woods.” Levy also had done stints as a cab driver for family-owned Luxor Cabs, as well as for rideshare services in the Bay Area. A well-known personality in San Francisco, at one point, he was pictured in a mural which featured his “signature, chunky glasses. ... The mural was in the Financial District. He didn't even know ‘til folks started telling him,” Kearns said. During the pandemic, Levy “came into San Francisco geared up in a mask and gloves to make sure he could hand me a Dolly Parton doll from the '70s for my 50th birthday, while locked down,” Kearns recalled. He said that Levy also loved giving hugs, semi-professional wrestling and dogs. His dog, Dr. Indiana Bones, is being cared for by family members, according to Kearns. “Taking his pupper in his back seat and going to charity car washes always made him, his dog and the car washers burst with joy. “He was so great at these small things, like asking a new coworker from Sri Lanka about her favorite foods and trying them that weekend and excitedly telling her all about his love for the new dishes. Great at those small gestures and details that matter in life and in business,” Kearns said. “The love he poured into helping clients and coworkers. We are all going to miss that. “I know several  music festivals over the next few years will surely have their pockets of revelers talking about him,” he continued. “Phish shows and gatherings will never be the same without Mr. Levy. For me, knowing that when they do think on his memory or talk about him with others at these events he will be then there, too, makes me really happy. “So, I will be sure to bless every musical, theater and holiday work gathering with his name and memory, so he can be there with me,” Kearns said in tribute, adding, “BUT Robert, if you hear me, DO NOT wear that patchouli that gives me grumpy asthma lol you know that one—LOVE YOU.” Immediate family listed in Levy’s social media included his father, son and nephew, among other family and friends. Photo: Michael Pegram Photography