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Jim Robson, widely recognized as the iconic announcer for the Vancouver Canucks, passed away at 91 years old.
His daughter, Jennifer Butler, confirmed to CBC News on Tuesday that he succumbed following a brief sickness.
Throughout his 47-year broadcasting tenure, Robson covered over 2,000 NHL matches, though he is predominantly celebrated for his commentary on Canucks games for over three decades, commencing with their inaugural major league contest as an expansion franchise on October 9, 1970.
The B.C. Sports Hall of Fame notes that Robson maintained a perfect attendance record, “never missing a broadcast due to illness,” until his retirement in April 1999.
Brendan Batchelor, the current play-by-play announcer for the Canucks, remarked in an X post that “legend” falls short in capturing Robson’s essence.
Batchelor’s homage states, “He represents the benchmark that all B.C.-based play-by-play broadcasters have strived for, yet will never attain.”
On January 17, 2025, as he celebrated his 90th birthday, Robson told CBC Radio’s On The Coast that his constant focus was delivering the best possible game commentary.
He conveyed to guest host Amy Bell, “Whenever I listen to those recordings, I reflect on how I might have improved them slightly.”
He recounted harboring aspirations of becoming a hockey announcer since his childhood in Prince Albert, Sask., captivated by Saturday night radio broadcasts of games.
He shared that he believed this ambition had been extinguished when his family relocated from Saskatchewan’s cold winters to the temperate climate of British Columbia’s Lower Mainland in 1943.
However, this was not the outcome.
His sportscasting journey began in 1952 at the age of 17, at a Port Alberni, B.C., radio station, subsequently transitioning to Vancouver stations CKNW and CKWX, where he covered baseball, football, and hockey.
Besides providing play-by-play commentary for the Canucks over three decades, Robson was a frequent presence on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada, reporting on four Stanley Cup Finals and five NHL All-Star Games.
On The Coast13:27B.C. sports broadcaster Jim Robson turns 90
Joe Bowen, a peer play-by-play announcer who spent 44 years with the Toronto Maple Leafs, expressed that the news of Robson’s passing marked “a sad day in the NHL broadcasting booth.”
In a tribute shared on X, he penned, “The distinctive voice of the Vancouver Canucks was legendary, and legions of supporters eagerly absorbed his every utterance. My sympathies extend to his family, numerous friends, and countless listeners.”
Jody Vance, an experienced Vancouver broadcaster, referred to Robson as both her inspiration and a personal friend.
Her X post read, “A true measure of a man. Rest peacefully, kind sir.”
Dave Sheldon, senior manager of lacrosse operations for the Vancouver Warriors, a team under Canucks Sports and Entertainment ownership, stated that Robson “set and remains the benchmark against which all in broadcasting are, and ought to be, evaluated.”
Sheldon remarked in a social media update, “He never sought self-promotion, focusing solely on narrating the action before him, serving as an ideal channel for all of us listening to experience the theatre of imagination when we tuned in.”
Robson and his wife, Beatrice, shared four children. Their marriage spanned 68 years, concluding with her passing in September 2025.
WATCH | Veteran sportscaster Jim Robson on the Canucks’ 1994 Stanley Cup dream run (2019):
