Philander Rodman Jr. Death | Obituary – Philander Rodman Jr sadly passed away, Philander Rodman, the estranged father of reigning NBA champions Chicago Bulls’ star Dennis Rodman, strikes a pose in front of his bar in Angeles city, on June 15, after the Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz for their sixth NBA championship. Philander, a retired US serviceman, left his wife, Dennis and daughters for another woman in 1965.
Dennis Rodman has refused to reconcile with his father but Philander says it will just be a matter of time when father and son will settle their differences.
Philander Rodman Jr., the estranged father of NBA Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman, passed away on Tuesday in Mabalacat city, Pampanga, his Filipino family based there confirmed.
Jasmine Rodman said his grandfather died due to prostate cancer. He was 79.
Jasmine posted a Facebook message reaching out to Dennis, informing the former Chicago Bulls star forward of Philander’s death.
Philander was an Air Force enlisted member, who fought in the Vietnam War.
He left Dennis’ mother in 1965, eventually settling in the Philippines, a move that Dennis took hard and led to his family’s struggles.
In his 1996 book “Bad As I Wanna Be”, Dennis wrote about his disdain toward Philander.
An Associated Press article in September 1996 said Philander hadn’t seen his son for 26 years at that point.
Referring to an interview three months earlier, Philander had nothing but glowing words for Dennis.
“To me, he is not a bad boy,” Philander said. “He is like me, the things he do . . . If he wants to color his hair green, purple or whatever, I mean, I can’t see anything wrong with it. He wants to have a tattoo, that’s his own.”
“I think a person should do what they want to as long as they do not hurt anybody else,” he added.. “I haven’t seen him hurt anybody else by what he does, so I am all for Dennis.”
When Dennis traveled for an exhibition game to Manila in May 2006, he turned down Philander’s attempts for a personal meeting.
Philander eventually met his sports superstar son when Dennis visited Manila again in July 2012, albeit for a short time.
