Phil Robertson

Phil Robertson, who turned his small duck calling interest in the sportsman’s paradise of northern Louisiana into a big business and conservative cultural phenomenon, died Sunday May 25 2025, according to his family. He was 79. Phil Robertson skyrocketed to fame in the early 2010s when the A&E network created a reality show, presented like a sitcom. It followed the adventures of Robertson, his three sons — including Willie, who runs the family’s Duck Commander company, their wives and a host of other relatives and friends. Robertson was born in north Louisiana and spent his life in the woods and lakes that make up the region called Sportsman’s Paradise. Robertson played football at Louisiana Tech and taught school. He also loved to hunt and created a duck call in the early 1970s that he said replicated the exact sound of a duck.