He owned and operated the H. Armstrong Roberts stock photography company for more than 50 years and played banjo and fiddle around town in his Capt. Bob’s Tuesday Night Band.Bob Roberts, 80, of Philadelphia, photographer, longtime owner of H. Armstrong Roberts stock photography company, bluegrass musician, sharpshooter, historical reenactor, and veteran, died Saturday, Sept. 23, of heart disease at his home in West Philadelphia.
A college friend introduced Mr. Roberts to the banjo in the mid-1960s, and he was quickly captivated. He added the fiddle to his musical repertoire a bit later, organized Capt. Bob’s Tuesday Night Band, and played at folk festivals and local events, and in clubs along the East Coast during the 1970s.
He joined the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps at Johns Hopkins University, went into the Army after college in the late 1960s, and earned a bronze star as a first lieutenant for his service in Korea and Vietnam. He was also a captain in the Pennsylvania National Guard. He graduated from Springfield High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Johns Hopkins. After he left the Army, he took photos and worked at his father’s stock library on Locust Street.