Robert Charles Cagen

“Strong as an ox and twice as smart”

Robert Charles Cagen was born in Cleveland, Ohio December 13, 1945, but in truth his tale extends far back in time to his mythological beginnings in the hinterlands of Vikingdom where he bravely faced winged beasts and dangerous foes. He was a legend among his tribe.

Growing up in the Midwest, Bob’s father, Samuel, had a small construction company, travelling all over northeast Ohio, often with Bob, to inspect jobs and play pool. He and his father spent weekend days out on Lake Erie trolling for muskies or deep fishing for salmon or pike. His mother Esther was a librarian with a complete set of encyclopedias that Bob absorbed from A to Z. Soon, young Bob knew everything anyone ever wanted to know about reptiles and amphibians, as well as having developed a precocious talent for the game of pool.

The legends tell us that in Columbus, Ohio where he attended Ohio State, Bob played intramural baseball, and received a broken nose at a pool hall, but otherwise successfully fought off the impending doom of adulthood. At 21, he decided to get serious. He took the LSAT and scored the highest grade in all of state of Ohio. He was admitted to Case Western Reserve University Law School where he faced something that would become his friend and foe, something that called itself “The Law.”

“The Law” turned out to be a way for Bob to begin his trans-continental quest to travel and explore, and so he set out of California to join his two sisters (Lenore and Barbara) who had moved to the small city-state of San Francisco, an expensive fishing village set on the tip of a peninsula, where he studied and passed the bar. His first expedition took him into the world of private law, until he thought better of the situation and became an attorney in the Legal Division of the California Public Utilities Commission where he did battle against such beasts such as Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Southern California Edison Company.

At the CPUC, he began an illustrious career as a player on the CPUC Gulls softball team, and it’s also where he met Helen W. Yee, who became his best friend and partner, and later his wife. From 1978 to 2010, Bob represented the public interest working as an attorney for the Office of Ratepayer Advocates, and later as a retired annuitant for the Safety and Enforcement Division. Among the many cases he worked on included the Edison Mojave Explosion; the SDGE – Edison Merger; the PG&E General Rate Case; Edison Performance Base Ratemaking; Malibu Fires; and many reasonableness reviews. His biggest professional achievement was his hard work exposing the safety violations of PG&E in the San Bruno Explosion and Fire of 2010 where eight people died from a gas explosion resulting in the biggest settlement in regulatory history against the utility. He was a champion for ratepayers and for public safety, and a dedicated public servant. He was a true public advocate.

But Bob also liked hot dogs, and he loved to fish on the Pacific and there was always a book in one of his hands – something obscure like the Black Plagues or an atlas of California geology. He simply loved the arts, and visited museums all over Europe and the United States. His favorite museums included the Cleveland Art Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and the Natural History Museum in New York, Norton Simon in Pasadena, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Viking Museum in Norway, and the Victorian and Albert Museum in London. He loved all things involving Vikings. He also enjoyed visiting the various aquariums in San Francisco, Monterey, Chicago, and Louisiana.

Most of all, Bob loved animals. He could never walk pass a dog or cat, without engaging in a conversation. Sometimes, his long-time friend Pearl would bark at just the sound of Bob’s booming Viking voice over the telephone. Bob went to a lot of county and state fairs, where he enjoyed engaging with the cows, goats and pigs. It was rare to take a drive with Bob and not have him point out the breed of cow (Holstein or Black Angus) sitting on hillside or the hawk flying discreetly overhead. He developed an interest in cameras and took a lot of pictures of nature and animals out at Land’s End and all of his travels, which he shared with his nephew-in-law, Vince, and Lenore and her husband, Abba.

Bob raised a daughter, Cassandra, and shared with her his passion for the arts, aquariums

and national parks. A favorite trip was going to see the buffalos in the Grand Teton, and wolves in Yellowstone. He enjoyed the sightings of moose and elks in Alberta, Canada. He possessed and read a lot of books, especially those about art and science. He also shared his love of the arts and nature with his niece and nephew, Julia and David, and his son-in-law, Michael.

Bob was funny and self-deprecating (“Good Enough for Government Work”) and had a heart the size of a fjord. He gave charitably and discreetly to many important causes, but mostly he was kind to people and genuinely interested in them, especially underdogs, the people he felt needed his help. A life-long Democrat, he railed against the rich and the powerful interests he felt were hurting this country that he loved. He had a unique laugh, a cackle that people down at the Cliff House could identify the moment he walked through the front doors on one of his regular visits.

Warriors like Bob are rare and special. On March 22, 2021, he left behind his legend, his never-ending love for his family and friends, and the gratitude of all who were lucky enough to share a meal and a drink with him.

Skol!