On a late Sunday evening, the Batmobile pulled into a local gas station and, as usual, the children who saw it gawked in amazement. Robinson was accustomed to that. The Baltimore resident turned superhero had for years dressed as the Caped Crusader, travelled to hospitals throughout the Baltimore-Washington area, and delivered hundreds of beautiful messages and Batman paraphernalia to sick children.

With his batsuit in the trunk but his alternate persona never entirely turned off, Robinson gave the children at the gas station some personally signed Batman paraphernalia before driving off. Minutes later, Robison pulled over, stricken by engine trouble, on an unlit stretch of Interstate 70 near Hagerstown, MD. The people that he just met at the gas station parked behind him, turning their emergency flashers on. His car was pulled into the median but still partially in the fast lane when he got out to check the engine. At around 10:30 P.M., state police reported, a Toyota Camry slammed into the Batmobile, propelling the steel frame of the vehicle into Robinson’s body. Robinson died at the scene. The crash is still under investigation, but as of now, no charges have been filed. The driver of the Camry was uninjured in the tragic accident.

Robinson’s devastated family gathered Monday at his parents’ home in Owings Mills, remembering him as a son, a brother, an uncle to three nieces, and a father to three boys.

“He was my brother, my business partner, my best friend,” Scott Robinson said. “He touched a lot of lives and made a lot of kids smile. That’s all he wanted to do.”

In his life before the cape and cowl, Lenny previously owned and ran a cleaning business. He sold his company after discovering his passion for the Batman persona. He first became indelved in the famous comic book character after his eldest son, Brandon, grew an obsession with the superhero. Due to his son’s obsession, Robinson began wearing the famed suit around the house. When he saw how children reacted, he found a new purpose.

Lenny B. Robinson’s life may have been cut short, but the ‘Route 29 Batman’ legacy will live on for generations to come.

“A hero can be anyone. Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a young boy’s shoulders to let him know that the world hadn’t ended.”

-The Dark Knight Rises