On December 26 we said goodbye to Bobby Rivers.

We’ll always remember Bobby’s quotable queer-coded quotes from WQFM morning radio that raised eyebrows and dropped jaws all over Milwaukee. We’ll always remember Bobby on PM Magazine, showcasing the most happening spaces, faces, and places in our increasingly cosmopolitan city. We’ll always remember watching him broadcast live from the grand opening of Grand Avenue, where he emceed an Annie lookalike contest with straight-face seriousness. We’ll always remember him reporting live from the grand opening of Elsa’s, where he asked, “If nobody is drinking cans of PBR, am I even really in Milwaukee?”

And we’ll always remember watching him achieve his dream of moving to New York—where he became VH1’s first openly gay Black VJ.

Bobby faced tremendous discrimination—on multiple levels—while navigating the broadcast industry, gay Milwaukee, and his intersectional identity. He aspired to be a newscaster because he wanted people like himself to be seen on TV. Along the way, he became an inspiration and a role model for young media professionals everywhere.

He insisted that he wasn’t “historical” at all. In fact, he insisted that nobody remembered his name.

We’ll make sure that nobody ever forgets it.

Today, we raise a martini to someone who unapologetically broke all the rules—so that he (and we) could be seen.

Thank you, Bobby, for everything.