Robert Dean Wilson passed away on Good Friday of April 15th, 2022, after a three-year battle with the progressive disease of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. Bob brought joy and enthusiasm to all he did in life and an optimism and energy to all who knew him.
He was a man of many hats. Following the advice of his dermatologist many years ago, he never left the house without wearing one of the many broad brimmed varieties he came to own. Just as those hats filled the hallway, Bob’s many interests and pursuits filled his life: photography; gardening; music (opera fan, choral singing); golf; running (two NYC marathons and a Boston triathlon); enthusiastic sports fan (in recent seasons becoming a dedicated Brooklyn Nets fan). Photography, a passion begun with the birthday gift of a Brownie camera at 8 years old, in retirement brought time to experiment with digital options to the images of his film scans, the process of printing his own work, and the much-enjoyed experience of a one person show at a Vermont gallery.
Born in New York City in 1938 (July 8), the only child of Harry Robert Wilson (professor, noted choral arranger, head of the music department at Teachers College of Columbia University) and Nadine Cox Wilson (artisan, former singer, teacher, and author of a book on the art of Early American Decoration), Bob grew up on Morningside Heights and was a devoted New Yorker, always admiring and energized by its diversity and vitality.
From elementary education at Agnes Russell School (a progressive elementary school started by Teachers College in 1948), the following years at the Horace Mann School in Riverdale, NY, brought the highlights of team comradery on the football and track fields, and the valuable challenges of competitive athletic competition. The early required reading of the Iliad and the Odyssey, a shock to the deficiency of his early reading skills, awakened a lifelong love of the Greek and Roman classics.
Bob was a member of the Harvard Class of 1960, graduating with an A.B. in Economics. Of the enjoyed years at Harvard, amidst close friendships formed there (Bob was a freshman in Greenough and an upperclassman in Winthrop House), Bob felt the greatest gift to be his interaction with the geographically diverse and intellectually stimulating classmates – the spirited discussions and lively debates (often late into the night). In later years, he often smiled remembering the fun of reading aloud bits of Pogo, Winnie the Pooh and Wind in the Willows with his roommate, Dick Middaugh.
Boston proved to be the Cupid city for him, as in his senior year he met Nancy Feuer (from Larchmont, NY) outside of a Harvard mixer the first week of her freshman year at Boston University (SFAA, School of Fine and Applied Arts), beginning the more than 60 years of a deep and growing love. Following a six-month service in the Air Force reserves (in Biloxi, Miss) and the ensuing years at Columbia Law School, with the attainment of his law degree, Bob and Nancy married in the summer of 1964.
During several law school summers saw his adventurous stint as a NYC taxi driver, travelling its highways and by-ways to earn money for what would be the unforgettable adventure of a European motor scooter trip with two Harvard friends, Wes Walton and Bob Gendron. After further European travels with Nancy on their three-month honeymoon (minus the scooter), Bob began work at the medium size Wall Street law firm of Burke and Burke, while attending NYU in the evenings, gaining an LLM degree (with a specialty in anti-trust law) in 1969.
1972 saw the purchase of an 1841 Victorian style Brooklyn Heights brownstone with the vision of a welcoming home in which to raise a growing family (four children added over a span of 16 years). With it came the joys – and challenges – of renovation. For many years the sadly neglected interior of its parlor floor became a workshop – and to the delight of two toddlers a wonderfully empty space to ride their tricycles. Remarkably, with all four grown children now living in one Brooklyn neighborhood or another, it still beckons as the warm gathering place for many family occasions.
In the same year of moving to his new home, Bob accepted employment with the Texaco Corporation, joining their in-house legal department. When the company left its offices in the Chrysler Building of midtown Manhattan, he began the daily commute to the Westchester campus headquarters in Harrison, NY. Bob greatly valued his long and satisfying career with Texaco, handling large and stimulating anti-trust cases as well as the pleasure of working with colleagues he both admired and with whom he found lasting friendships. Following the intricacies of the Texaco/Chevron merger, which completed in 2001, Bob chose to retire rather than make a move to the new company’s headquarters in Houston, Texas.
Adding to an already full and busy life, during the 1980s, with a growing interest in NYC real estate, Bob and his good friend, Michael Moss became business partners, forming a real estate/management company. Together with investors, they acquired several mid-size apartment buildings. With the satisfying challenge of development over the years, riding the years of a financial roller coaster, the majority of the properties were sold and the company closed in 2021.
In retirement, along with weekends, vacations, and extended family gatherings, Bob found great joy in ambitiously landscaping the sprawling grounds of his upstate Austerlitz, NY country home (with the added adventure of a tractor), moving trees, creating ponds, and planting extensive gardens of glorious flowers every spring.
In the final decade of his life, he was writing a book, tentatively titled “One Photographer’s Perspective”, considering the relationship of photography to the nature and perception of reality- exploring the intersecting fields of science, physics, religion, metaphysics, philosophy, and art in relationship to the perception of this reality.
Bob supported various children’s charities, moved by their important work in alleviating the heavy burdens children and their families face worldwide. Along with his family, he greatly valued and benefitted from the work of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) in educating and supporting those whose lives are impacted, while tirelessly fighting to destigmatize the public perception of these illnesses. He was deeply inspired and proud of the ongoing journey undertaken by his youngest son, Warren, in meeting the challenges of living with schizophrenia. For Bob, it was a source of joy to live with Warren and see his son achieve and accomplish much success in his goals.
Bob is survived by his loving wife, Nancy, children Saralyn (Sari), b. 1968 (Josh Neufeld), Dean, b. 1970 (Paisley Gregg), Evan, b. 1978, Warren, b. 1985 and two grandchildren, Kai , b. 2005 (Dean and Paisley) and Phoebe , b. 2007 (Sari and Josh).
On September 24, 2022, a memorial/celebration of life was held for Bob at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights where Bob had been a member.
The love, protection, guidance, and companionship of Bob in our lives is cherished by his family.
