Stephen J. Sansweet

For other uses, see Stephen.

Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.

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Stephen J. Sansweet (born June 14, 1945) is the chairman and president of Rancho Obi-Wan, a nonprofit museum that houses the world's largest collection of Star Wars memorabilia.^[2] Prior to his retirement in April, 2011, he was Director of Content Management and head of Fan Relations at Lucasfilm for 15 years, and remains Fan Relations Advisor for the company.^[3] He is author or co-author of eighteen books, sixteen of them about Star Wars. After Sansweet relocated to Northern California to be closer to his new office at Skywalker Ranch, he bought a former chicken ranch and refurbished its barns to house his collection. The property was renamed Rancho Obi-Wan.^[4]

Biography

After a long and successful career in journalism, Stephen J. Sansweet made a leap of faith in 1996 and followed his passion to become Director of Specialty Marketing at Lucasfilm Ltd. His title later changed to Director of Content Management and Head of Fan Relations. Sansweet turned his love of the Star Wars saga into a second career, acting as Lucasfilm's liaison to fans worldwide, and their liaison to the company. He did presentations at well over 100 conventions in the U.S. and many more internationally from the U.K., France, Spain, and Germany, to Australia, Japan, Mexico, and Finland.

He appeared on more than 50 hours of Star Wars collectibles programming on QVC in the last half of the 1990s,^[5] and has amassed the world's largest private collection of Star Wars memorabilia,^[6] housed in a 9,000-square-foot (840m square) converted chicken barn in Sonoma County, California. Not abandoning his love of writing, Sansweet has eighteen books to his credit, sixteen of them on Star Wars, including the 1.2-million-word Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia in 2008 and 2012's Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection.

It was announced on October 20, 2010, that Sansweet would be stepping down as Head of Fan Relations effective April 2011. He stated via press release: "Nearly 15 years ago I left my post as Los Angeles Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal to follow my bliss and take a 'one-year job' as Lucasfilm's Star Wars ambassador. Now it's time for another change and new challenges, while still maintaining an active role in the Star Wars fan community."^[7]

Works

Bibliography

Year	Title	Notes
1992	Star Wars: From Concept to Screen to Collectible
1996	"I'd Just As Soon Kiss a Wookiee!": The Quotable Star Wars
1998	Star Wars Encyclopedia
	Star Wars Scrapbook: The Essential Collection
	The Pocket Manual of Star Wars Collectibles
	Anakin Skywalker: The Story of Darth Vader
1999	C-3PO: Tales of the Golden Droid	uncredited co-author
1999	Star Wars: The Action Figure Archive
2002	Star Wars Roleplaying Game Revised Core Rulebook	forward
2005	Star Wars Chronicles: The Prequels	co-authored with Pablo Hidalgo
2005	The Star Wars Poster Book	co-authored with Pete Vilmur
2007	The Star Wars Vault
2008	The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia	co-authored with Pablo Hidalgo, Bob Vitas, Daniel Wallace, Mary Franklin, Josh Kushins and Chris Cassidy
2009	Star Wars: The Complete Vader	foreword
2009	Star Wars: 1,000 Collectibles
2012	Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection
2017	Star Wars Widevision: The Original Topps Trading Card Series, Volume One	afterword
	Star Wars Insider	"Scouting the Galaxy" section in every issue/multiple collecting columns
	Star Wars Galaxy magazine	multiple collecting columns
	Star Wars: The Official Magazine	issues 51 & 66

Filmography

Title	Release date	Notes
1999	Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace	Naboo courier (uncredited)
2001	R2-D2: Beneath the Dome	The Mayor
2002	The Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards	very special thanks
2004	Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy	fan relations: Lucasfilm