Pierre Robert will be honored with a memorial bench in Rittenhouse Square in tribute to the beloved WMMR-FM (93.3) DJ who died in October at age 70.
Robert, the midday host of the classic rock station, was a fixture on the airwaves and at concerts and charitable functions in the Philadelphia area for 44 years. He was mourned in a memorial concert at the Fillmore Philly in December.
His long-haired and bearded friendly presence was often seen hanging out in the square, just around the corner from where the MMR studios were located on 19th Street in the early years of Robert’s tenure. The station then moved to Fifth and Market in 1992 before later moving to Bala Cynwyd.
In 2024, the DJ told The Inquirer that Rittenhouse “is my favorite neighborhood and I’ve kind of never gotten over not being there.”
“I love the restaurants adorning the square, and I’ll often go and have brunch at Rouge or Devon,” he said. “I love escapism and spy novels and stuff like that, so I’ll just go and have a nice queenly brunch and then go sit on the square with a cup of La Colombe. It’s like heaven to me.”
Robert returned to broadcast from the site of the original studio — now a law firm’s office — in 2015 to celebrate the station’s 47th anniversary. Hundreds of fans gathered to celebrate him in the square the weekend after his death.
Days before he died, Robert posted a photo of himself on Instagram sitting in the square with a cup of coffee while reading Carl Hiaasen’s novel Fever Beach. The caption read: “Sunday afternoon in Philly in my beloved Rittenhouse Square, with a great book, a cup of La Colombe, watching the world lazily drift by … pretty close to perfection!”
Contributions toward the Robert memorial will support the care and preservation of Rittenhouse Square, which receives no ongoing funding from the city or state, according to Friends of Rittenhouse Square. The nonprofit organization is aiming to raise $10,000 to fund the memorial.
As of Tuesday morning, over $1,500 had been raised. Donations can be made at FriendsofRittenhouseSquare.org/donate/pierre-robert. An unveiling is tentatively scheduled for late May.