Fame is a fickle business. Bob Dougherty of Nederland could have told you all about that if you had bothered to ask.
The only Colorado resident who ever gained fame for getting glued to a toilet seat died a few days ago. Dougherty was found in his house Tuesday, just shy of the fifth anniversary of the incident in a Home Depot restroom that led him to sue the corporation.
It made him a national punch line and talk-show darling. That is what happens when paramedics have to unscrew the toilet seat you’re stuck to and take you to a hospital for its removal.
“I really don’t know what to tell you,” said his sister, Laurie Rad cliffe of Westminster. “It affected his health more than anyone knew.”
Dougherty, 60, was plagued by heart problems, suffered from diabetes and needed an oxygen tank. To the day he died, a date no one is quite sure of, although no foul play is suspected, he was bitter about the failed lawsuit.
He was in a diabetic coma when a judge ruled that no negligence on Home Depot’s part was provable. Adding insult to injury, some Nederland residents doubted Dougherty’s story, claiming he had told a similar tale earlier.
“He always felt that he’d been the victim of a kid’s prank, since it was so close to Halloween,” Rad cliffe said. “Like when you glue pennies to the sidewalk.”
Dougherty was a sport about his 15 minutes of fame. He was interviewed by David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel and Katie Couric. Radio stations in Germany and France came calling.
The faux rednecks on the Blue Collar Comedy Tour even worked Dougherty into a routine.
“He enjoyed the attention,” Radcliffe said. “It was a funny event in a way. But he also went through hell because of it.”
Which I can understand. Saving a kid from a burning building is one kind of fame. Being wheeled from a Home Depot with an American Standard toilet seat glued to your nethers is quite another.
Dougherty is survived by three sisters. Radcliffe was closest to him. They last talked Oct. 3.
“He was a really good man,” she said. “He had a bit of a temper at times, but he had a kind heart and a meek side. If he had two pennies to rub together, he’d give you one if you needed it.”
Dougherty was fond of playing mountain man, down to the fringed buckskin outfits he wore to 19th-century “rendezvous” re-enactment festivals.
He was known as a character well before his misadventure in a public bathroom. Central City gave him the “Dandy Dan” honorary mayor award three straight years. He had traveled from the South Pacific to Greenland during a Navy hitch and a later job installing microwave towers.
“He was a very nice guy,” said Robbie Mitchell of Nederland’s B&F Mountain Market, where Dougherty often shopped with the aid of a cane. “He was friendly and knew all the locals by name.”
Nederland lawyer Mark Cohen met Dougherty several years ago through one of those acts of small-town kindness. “I’d left my wallet at the post office,” he said. “That night there was a knock at my door. It was Bob returning it.”
As of Friday, the Boulder County coroner had not ruled on the cause of Dougherty’s death.
All investigators know is that he died in his bathtub.
He had a bad run of luck in those rooms.
William Porter writes Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at wporter@denverpost.com or 303-954-1877.
