I write this the day Bobby died. He died of complications from liver cancer which apparently started about 7 years ago -- though he never shared with anyone that his situation was as serious as it obviously was. He has been in decline throughout all of 2014, several trips to the hospital due to “not feeling well”, extreme weightloss (150 down to 100), loss of short term memory and lately too weak to get out of bed at times. Then he fell Saturday and was taken to the hospital.

Bobby was a remarkable businessman, he made it look so easy. I think the secret to his success was his ability to attract young people to his business, see their potential and give then the space to grow under his tutelage.

He was six years older than me so we didn’t hang out as kids. By the time I was in fifth grade, he was gone to Mercerseburg then Lehigh and then the Army. By the time he was released from the Army, I had left for college after which my cerrer had me living in places far from Sunbury. But we were in many ways identical. Mercersburg, graduated engineering college with a degree in Business, President of our respective fraternities.

And I admired him greatly. He had an innate ability to deal with people, calmly, in a way which demanded respect.

In November, 2014, the Sunbury commnity came together to put on a wonderful “recognition” evening for all the contributions -- of money and time -- that Bobby had given back to the community over the years. It was a wonderful evening complete with procalmations from the State of PA recognizing him and the City of Sunbury naming the day in his honor. Over 200 people were in attendance to honor him.

After his death, the community came together again to “celebrate his life”. This was another wonderful evening -- over 400 people in attendance -- full of stories, both sad and delightful, funny at times and many of which were people thanking him for things he had done personally for them.

He will be missed by family and townspeople.