Bob Timmins, an addiction specialist who is credited with salvaging the lives of a long list of celebrity drug users by steering them onto the path of sobriety and helping them stay there, died of respiratory failure Wednesday at his home in Marina del Rey. He was 61.
In recent years Timmins conducted his work while battling chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, said his friend Jeff McFarland.
Though little known by the public at large, Timmins was a titan in the world of recovery.
Some of his clients -- members of the bands Motley Crue and Aerosmith -- have spoken publicly about Timmins' role in helping them battle drug abuse. But most preferred anonymity, a request Timmins took pride in honoring.
"Bob has helped everyone from the owners of sports franchises to heads of movie studios to Grammy-winning, internationally known music idols . . . as well as the most down and out homeless person who comes to him for help," said Michael Nasatir, a friend and an attorney, who worked in the same office as Timmins.
Timmins, who worked with a partner, assessed and advised drug addicts and placed them in treatment. In courts across the nation he was an expert witness and a consultant in the development of treatment plans for addiction-related offenders.
Judges paid Timmins for his expertise in selecting a proper program for a defendant, "but the amount we paid him was a joke compared to what he did," said Bernard Kamins, who served as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge from 1985 to 2007 and worked in the drug court.
"Here's this guy who for $150 would get somebody straightened out. . . . He knew the right places to put people, and he gave them two things: hope and motivation. As a judge I couldn't do that," Kamins said.
Timmins steered clients to 12-step meetings and helped them find sponsors. He was also a proponent of sober companions, people who spend their days with addicts to keep them away from drugs.
In the entertainment industry, Timmins influenced the way recording labels treat artists by requesting amenities such as "safe rooms": spaces devoid of drugs and alcohol, said his nephew, Bryan Timmins.
"It used to be that drugs and alcohol were given freely to the artists for their creativity and for their satisfaction," he said. "Bob was very instrumental in changing that dynamic."
