Robert Alexander Long

Bob Long, a much loved and loving man, had the good fortune to enjoy 97 years of life in which he brought so much joy to Sherry, his wife of 50 years, and to his close friends and family, including his nephews John, Steve, and Rob, his namesake. Always ready in conversation to craft a joke or a pun (some good, some not, and many actually quite brilliant), Bob was also famously kind and generous.

Born in West Plains, Missouri, to John Hampton and Lewis Isabel Long, Bob grew up in Jefferson City and Columbia, Missouri, receiving his undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri in Political Science and Education. His Army service in military intelligence during the Korean War (1951–1953) brought him to the west coast with assignments in Seattle and Portland. He never left the west, later discovering the allure of California, when he took advantage of the GI bill to earn a Master’s Degree in Education at Stanford University.

At an early age, Bob discovered that he could do just about anything—from building a diving bell to see the bottom of the Missouri River to teaching middle and high school students to canning tomatoes at United States Products to excelling at management systems analysis at Lockheed. His curiosity and intellect led him to pursue all kinds of interests and challenges—skiing, woodworking, scuba diving, landscaping, flying airplanes, photography, golf, cheffing, and more.

At age 36, Bob made a pivotal decision to return to Stanford for a PhD in Consulting Psychology. Upon securing his doctorate in 1969, he joined CTB/McGraw-Hill where he again showed his versatility in contributing to the company’s success, first in Product Development with the publication of the California Achievement Test, a flagship product, and then to directorships in Product Management and Sales & Marketing, including the successful negotiation of several statewide testing contracts. Across his almost 20 years at CTB/McGraw-Hill, he earned the moniker “unflappable.”

Even after retirement in 1989, he was pressed into service to build a sales team for Hampton-Brown, a K-12 educational publishing company founded by his wife (that took courage). In his three years there, he made more friends, helped on everything from sales to trade shows to inventory, always contributing wisdom, perspective, and humor. And finally, he really did retire and enjoyed going for breakfast daily at Jeffrey’s where he could take his dog and his time to read the news.

Bob and Sherry married in 1975 and, in their 50 years together, they enjoyed every single day, especially those that involved travel to Mexico, Central and South America, Africa, and Europe. It was France that stole Bob’s heart, where his father served in WWI, and he visited there at every opportunity, eventually purchasing a home in St-Rémy-de-Provence. He relished walking into the village each morning, buying croissants, sacristans, the International Herald Tribune (carefully folded and carried home in his back pocket), and then enjoying them all on the back terrace. He named his home the “Friends’ House,” and his birthday parties there at age 80, 85, and 90 were the highlight—full of love, laughter, and Van Gogh’s starry starry nights.

Four dogs were part of those 50 years as well and each ever so lucky to have landed in Bob’s world, for he was a dog lover 24/7, 365 days a year. When the American Kennel Club rejected registration of his first dog because of his clever name—D for Dog—he outfoxed the organization by frenchifying the name: D’fuere D’auge. And for every pup thereafter, he always included D’Auge as the last name—Delilah D’Auge, Chulawula D’Auge, and Beaucoup D’Auge.

Bob’s cleverness and his sense of humor made life so much fun for all of us who knew him, including his caregivers Alex, Coco, Socorro, Sydnee, and the caring people at Hospice of the Central Coast.

Simply put—Bob Long was a wonderful man!

Photographs by Enrique Paraiso

Donations in Bob’s memory may be made to Medecins sans frontières (Doctors without Borders), Monterey County SPCA, or the Alzheimer’s Association.