Robert Noah Calvert
Founder of MASSAGE Magazine and author

Robert Noah Calvert, MASSAGE Magazine’s founder with his wife, Judi, author and former massage-school owner, died Wednesday, April 19 after suffering a heart attack while living in Oahu, Hawaii. He was 60 years old. The Calverts founded MASSAGE Magazine in 1985, and for many years it was the massage-industry’s only non-association affiliated publication. During this time Robert Calvert also authored two books, The Hundredth Monkey Conspiracy and the seminal The History of Massage (Healing Arts Press, 2002). He and Judi also founded the World of Massage Museum, containing more than 4,000 massage tools and historical healing artifacts, some dating back 1,000 years, collected on their travels around the globe. He was a frequent presenter at trade shows and in schools, and a tireless advocate for teaching massage therapists the history of their profession. In 2005, Calvert sold MASSAGE Magazine to the Doyle Group, publisher of Chiropractic Economics, to spend more time writing and to pursue other endeavors.

Calvert, a former competitive bicyclist, was an avid rider, biking up to 50 miles the day before he died. He and Judi traveled extensively and enjoyed scuba diving and riding motorcycles.