We’d like to apologize. Kevin Wilkins didn’t like this photo from Huntington Beach summer of 2009. He said his Smith wasn’t locked in. But blame us for the bad photo because more often than not, Kevin was locked in. He was locked in to whatever he was doing. And it was a lot.
From the ‘zine days in Lincoln, Nebraska, to moving to SoCal the first time circa 1987 as editor of Wizard Publications’ short-lived Homeboy Magazine with the Master Cluster of Andy Jenkins, Mark Lewman, and Spike Jonze, to the TransWorld Skateboarding Magazine days, and being an original member of The Skateboard Mag team with Grant Brittain, Dave Swift, and Mike Mihaly, Kevin was in it for real.
Sadly, Kevin’s five-year dance with prostate cancer ramped up at the end of October. He moved home on hospice and died on November 4, 2025. He was 58.
Grant Britain summed up all our feelings on Instagram when he said:
“We will miss you Kevin Wilkins, thank you for your friendship, your humor, your dedication, your laughter, your creative spark, and your incredible spirit. You will always be in my memories, I love you, thank you for the 40 years of being friends. ♥️ to the Wilkins family.”
Our thoughts go out to Kevin’s wife Cheryl and the entire Wilkins Clan. If you’d like to help the family, please click here for their GoFundMe.
Kevin Wilkins and Brad Staba.
Kevin Wilkins with Zumiez’s Karyn Lewandowski.
Paul Schmitt and The Skateboard Mag’s Kevin Wilkins backstage at Grant Brittian’s Look Show at Subtext.
Kevin from Mark Lewman’s Homeboy story “A Dork In The Yard.”
