Roger William Perkovich

Roger William Perkovich 80, of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, entered eternal rest on 09-06-2025.

Born in Ironwood, Michigan on 07-18-1945 to Joseph and Betty Perkovich, Roger graduated from Rhinelander High School before embarking on a thrilling, part-time career in entertainment (from a local theater thespian immediately out of high school to a drummer during his 20's in a band at the famous Three Lakes, Wisconsin sing-along musical theater bar "The Other Place" to also landing a nationwide TV commercial spot for the Cub Cadet compact garden tractor during the second decade of his life, where he got a taste for the limelight, before he later made a successful crossover to the silver screen as a "bit actor").

Roger's most famous "bit player" role in the film Summer Rental (1985) starring John Candy, where his two scenes with John Candy playing the role of a "fat, dumb and happy" character – a creation of Roger's - were memorable.

The director of Summer Rental, Carl Reiner, hired Roger on the spot, because Roger, unlike the 6,499 other auditioners, was able to belch on cue like a roaring lion, and so, you've got to check out this film during the next weekend marathon of John Candy movies to witness Roger "do his thing" on the Hollywood big screen!

In December 2024, Roger relocated to Tampa, Florida, from Rhinelander, Wisconsin, with the hope of resurrecting his TV and/or film career during the final season of his life via the teleplay, "Paradise Bar & Grill, " which he created a few years ago and which he had written 13 episodes for, but, lamentably, his esophageal cancer, which he'd been battling since 2021, extinguished that effort on 09-06-2025.

In his heyday, Roger was known for having all the "big boy toys" to include classic cars like a 1947 Cadillac hearse/ambulance featuring a tear-dropped back, sirens and horns, a gurney bed decorated in purple velvet and a message on the fenders stating "Just hearsin around," a1962 T-Bird, a 1963 T-Bird, a 1969 Buick Electra 225 Convertible (red with a white top) and his own his own personal plane (a Cherokee 140).

He was an aviation enthusiast at his core.

In fact, he was so good with identifying the type of aircraft (vintage planes, WWII warbirds, and modern military jets) flying above his head, he could tell you the make and model of the airship using just his sense of hearing, which repeatedly amazed me.

Roger made it his mission in life to expose to all of his friends the biggest air show on the planet each year, which is the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) AirVenture Oshkosh Fly-In Convention held annually in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

However, what I believe Roger will be best remembered for was his eagerness to periodically gather as many of his many pals as he could around the campfire at AirVenture Oshkosh to celebrate the bonds of brotherhood by way of camping outdoors, watching bad to the bone aircraft perform death-defying aerobatic maneuvers in the air, pulling pranks on one another, throwing the football around, giving each other high-fives, eating his [Roger's] chuck wagon-style, fantastically delicious vittles at camp prepared twice a day (breakfast and dinner), gorging ourselves on super-fattening concession food for lunch each day in the airship exhibition, sharing in the marvel of flight, reminiscing about days gone by, telling fish stories about the one that got away, raising Cain nightly at the one and only onsite beer tent for 400,000 event attendees known as the "SOS Beer Brothers Tent" and creating GREAT MEMORIES!

Roger William Perkovich will be forever remembered by Lana Vlahakis & Brenda Lee Hyde, Wanda & Wendell Thompson, Bob Collen, Nathan Collen, Thelma Penalba, Tom & Janis Gross, Scotty McCreary, Jefferson "Captain" Kirk & Jean Dar Kirk, John "Moses" Flatman, Mike "the Professor" Wiatrak & Tyra Wiatrak, "Felix the Machine," Daryl Davis, Tony Colelli and Yuri "Alaska" Beam.

At Roger's request, a memorial service will be held at a future (EAA) AirVenture Oshkosh Fly-In Convention, which notice will go out at the appropriate time.

Given that there will be no funeral service, Roger requested, in lieu of flowers, that donations be made to the Rhinelander, Wisconsin wildlife rescue service WILD INSTINCTS (website: https://wildinstinctsrehab.com; contact information: phone: (715) 362-9453 (WILD); address: 4621 Apperson Drive, Rhinelander, WI, 54501; FEIN number: 27-4756098).