Robert P. Gilbert, Jr.
Robert (Bob) Pettibone Gilbert Jr. died peacefully on September 17.
Bob was born on Valentine's Day, 1944, in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. He spent happy summers in Pentwater, Michigan. He graduated from Evanston Township High School in 1962 and Dartmouth College, where he was a brother in the Sigma Nu fraternity, in 1966. He volunteered for military service and enlisted in the Army, but quickly made his way into Officer Candidate School and rose to become a First Lieutenant. He was honorably discharged after serving most of his tour in Germany, where he would meet the love of his life, Christina (Tina) O'Brien. He graduated from Columbia Business School and embarked on a long career in food marketing.
After stops with General Foods, Pillsbury, and International Multifoods, Bob formed a group that purchased Kaukauna Cheese in Little Chute, Wisconsin. Under his leadership, the company doubled in size and was acquired by Paris-based Fromagerie Bel in 1996. Bob then became president of Bel Brands USA. After teaching business for seven years at National Louis University, Bob and Christina retired to Savannah in 2016, where they attended St. Peter's Episcopal Church.
Bob was ardent in his faith and his devotion to the Green Bay Packers and Chicago White Sox. He was preceded in death by his mother, Anne; his father, Robert, Sr.; and his sister, Betsy. He leaves behind his wife, Tina; his children, Katie and Cameron; his son-in-law, Charlie, and granddaughter, Tess; his sisters, Diane, Nancy, and Jane; and his brother, Clark.
Gifts in memory are gratefully accepted by St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 3 West Ridge Road, Savannah, GA 31411, and the Dartmouth College Fund at http://dartmouthcollegefund.org.
This Friday, September 25, at 11:00 EDT a memorial service for Bob will be held at St Peter's Episcopal Church in Savannah. Because of COVID attendance is restricted. For those of us not nearby the ceremony will be streamed live.
Here is the sign up sheet for those who may be in the area and would like to attend:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090e4aa9a928a3f94-wednesday1
Live stream will be open at 10:50 with the service beginning at 11 am. Here's that link:
https://youtu.be/Y8tKndgK_pE
— Published in Ludington Daily News from Sep. 23 to Sep. 24, 2020.
From Bill Gruver:
Bob Gilbert died peacefully on September 17, 2020. After graduation he served in Germany as a First Lieutenant commanding a mobile missile battery intended to resist the then thought to be inevitable Soviet advance through the Fulda Gap. Bob was proud to tell all that the best thing about his military service was that it was in Germany while serving that he met Tina O’Brien. They married after his return to civilian life and became devoted life partners.
After the Army, he went on to Columbia to earn an MBA and began a very successful career in consumer packaged goods marketing. Perhaps the pinnacle of his career was leading a MBO of Kaukauna Cheese out of International Multifoods. As the CEO, Bob grew revenues and profitability and in 1996 sold the company to Fromagerie Bel. After the sale Bob then worked for Bel as President of their USA operations.
As I reflect on my 57-year relationship with Gil, three words describe how I remember him -reader, humane and humor!
Bob loved literature. He was fiercely proud of having been an English major at Dartmouth. He wore it as badge of honor as an undergraduate and he continued to do so throughout his life. One of our earliest common bonds is that we both had survived English 1 with the legendary professor, Peter Bien. (Who can forget Paradise Lost?) Professor Bien pushed us both beyond what we thought were our limits and we both came out of the course all the better for the experience. Bob never let me forget, however, that he got a better grade than I did.
In later years, Bob became for me the source of new ideas for great reads. Bob was a living, breathing catalogue of great books. All one had to do was give him a category and he’d supply a recommendation. One of my proudest accomplishments in life occurred earlier this year in what was to be one of our last dialogues. I recommended a book to him that I had enjoyed and thought that he might like as well. After reading it he told me that it was a really well written, great novel! I felt vindicated that my recommendation had impressed him. He then went on to tell be that he was surprised that I, not having majored in English, had found it on my own.
Yes, Gil could be judgmental. To Bob, one’s academic major defined the person. Other brothers were mercenary Econ majors, cold Engineers, or lazy Sociology majors; brother Bob, he was the sensitive English major. And, yes, it was a life sentence, similar to a Hindu caste. Although his judgments were always offered in jest with a twinkle in his eye, they inevitably forced you to think about yourself and your life more deeply.
Although Bob may have been wrong in his characterization of some majors, he was definitely right about himself! He was a very sensitive guy! His devotion to his family, church, pets and friends knew no bounds.
Even as an undergraduate, one saw his humanity. Unlike many at Dartmouth in the 60s, Bob did not come from great wealth. He worked throughout his college years as a busboy and later as a waiter at the Hanover Inn. This admirable work ethic was complemented by a creative deficit financing strategy he was known to employ with the unknowing cooperation of Mo Tanzi and other local merchants. And despite occasionally bouncing a check in his own impecunious state, I’ve seen Bob give his last dollar to a schoolmate who needed gas money to go see his girlfriend or to an unemployed local resident who he had just met at a diner. And years after our college days, when I personally was going through some tough times, he opened his home to me when I needed a friend. He had a heart of gold!
What I loved most about Gil, however, was his sense of humor. No matter how down I may have been, he could always make me laugh. It was a tradition in the Sigma Nu house for the secretary to be an English major. His main duty was to record in his minutes not just the proceedings of the prior chapter meeting, but also the house events of the previous week. And to do so in a biting, satirical style from which no brother was exempt. In our senior year Bob was the Sigma Nu secretary. Each week he had us belly laughing when he read his minutes. In fact, the reading of the minutes became the highlight of each chapter meeting. In fact, his minutes are all that I remember about any house meeting.
A few years ago at our 50th reunion, a copy of the minutes book from 1966 miraculously appeared. Bob’s humor had stood the test of time — a half century in fact! Only we who were there in the 60s could fully appreciate it, but Gil’s sense of humor still had us all belly laughing.
Tina and their children (Kate ’05 and Cameron) were with Bob when he died peacefully. Their loss is shared by all of us who knew him.