John Rogers, San Diego Comic-Con International’s low-profile but influential president, died Saturday after a brief battle with brain cancer. He was 57.

“He was never the one who was before the camera, never the one who took the credit,” said his wife, Janet Tait, a fantasy and adventure writer. “He made sure it was the team that got the credit.”

After being elected Comic-Con’s president in 1986, Rogers was credited with creating a solid financial base for the show and transforming it from an amateurish event with a small following to a world-renowned celebration of all things pop culture.

“More than anyone else,” said Mike Towry, part of the crew who founded this show in 1970, “he made Comic-Con durable, giving it a solid business foundation so it could grow.”


Rogers worked behind the scenes, routinely ignoring interview requests from TV networks and international media outlets. He stepped into the limelight just once a year, on the final day of Comic-Con, taking fans’ questions and complaints in the annual “talk back” session.

“That was doing the honorable thing,” said Heidi MacDonald, founder of editor in chief of The Beat, an online publication that focuses on comics. “You face the music, even if you stay quiet the rest of the year.”

Those sessions could be bruising, and Tait was never comfortable seeing her husband field brickbats and the occasional bouquet.

“John always felt that people deserved to be heard and deserved to be heard venting, if that’s what it was,” she said. “And they deserved to be heard from the person at the top.”


John Geoffrey Rogers was born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. He was an 18-month-old toddler when his parents moved to San Diego County, settling on Mount Helix. The family later moved to Del Cerro, where John attended Patrick Henry High School.

At UC San Diego, he studied computer science and began volunteering at Comic-Con, running the film program and later becoming technical coordinator. He met another undergraduate volunteer, Tait, and they started dating in 1986.

That same year he was elected president of Comic-Con, a position he held until his death. Although he was passionate about movies and science fiction novels, as president, Rogers left most programming decisions to others and focused on the show’s finances.

“In the late ’70s and early ’80s there were a lot of touch-and-go years, a lot of financial problems,” Towry said. Then Rogers became president: “After that, it wasn’t long before Comic-Con started having such huge growth. I don’t think that would have been possible without John.”


Since 1982, the show has been based at the San Diego Convention Center. In meetings with the staff there, Rogers impressed many with his institutional memory and grasp of all aspect of the massive show.

“He knew just about everything about Comic-Con,” said Gil Cabrera, president of the Convention Center Corporation board. “He had just an encyclopedic knowledge of the event and its history, and he always knew what was going on.”

He was determined to improve the show, Tait said. “At the time a lot of fan conventions were very amateurishly run,” she said. “It was, ‘Give us your money and come see William Shatner.’ But he felt the fans are there and they deserve to get a really great experience for what they are paying.”

In fact, tickets went on sale Saturday, a few hours after Rogers’ death at 2:44 a.m.


On Sept. 10, Rogers was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer. A private person who loved movies, theater, travel and being in his University Heights home with Tait and their mixed-breed dog, Parker, Rogers did not widely share the news of his illness.

He is survived by his wife Janet Tait; a sister, Barbara, of Northern California; and a brother, David, of San Diego. The family suggested donations to the American Brain Tumor Association or the American Civil Liberties Union in lieu of flowers.

A memorial service is being planned.