The following obituary was written by Yasmina Reza, of The New York Times:
Robert F.O. Howard was one of a surprisingly small group of assassins who did not seek infamy. Still, he would probably regard himself as a martyr, Mr. Howard’s apparent position now, after 26 years in obscurity, that is.
Mr. Howard, a former businessman, started his mysterious career on a home stretch at a low-key private job with Lee Harvey Oswald as late as May, just months before the conspiracy theory deepened. But, though his name has never resurfaced, Mr. Howard has lately surfaced with increasing regularity, on television and in other interviews, as he continues to insist he was the assassin in a plot masterminded by Senator Fulbright and two other American political figures.
It has been widely speculated that his motive was money, the $25,000 payment a political magazine asked him for his killing. But, as Mr. Howard pointed out on television, money cannot be a motive when a knife fight is the most satisfying end of all.
In terms of the murder of Malcolm X, at the end of April in a Harlem church, and the mystery behind his death, Mr. Howard remains an enigma. Few, though, would consider him untruthful.