The cause of Robert Kelker-Kelly’s death has now been made public: he died of arteriosclerotic heart disease, the Office of the Regional Medical Examiner in St. Charles, Missouri said Thursday, October 29. His manner of death was ruled natural.
The disclosure answers the question that has hovered since his death earlier this month at home in Missouri at age 62. Kelker-Kelly had complained about chest pains in the days before he died, adding an uneasy detail to what was already reported as a sudden loss.
For viewers who knew him from Days of our Lives and General Hospital, the diagnosis brings a final frame to a career that stretched across daytime television. He began in 1987 on Another World as Sam Fowler, then joined Days of our Lives in 1992 as Bo Brady and played the part for three years before Peter Reckell returned in 1995. He later appeared on General Hospital as Stavros Cassadine, and he was also a professional pilot.
What remains unanswered is how long the chest pains had been building before his death. That gap matters because it is the one detail that could explain how a death described as sudden was preceded by symptoms in the days leading up to it. For now, the official finding is clear: Kelker-Kelly died of heart disease, and the record on the timing of his warning signs is still incomplete.
