Robert O. Weisman

Robert Oldrin Weisman, having just e-mailed friends his quote of the day, was ready to enjoy another beautiful morning in Ann Arbor by going for his morning walk and sweeping leaves when he passed away on October 3, 2023 at his favorite place in the world, his home and garden. He was born to Simon and Grace Weisman on January 14, 1937 at Ohio State Hospital and was raised in Upper Arlington, Ohio. Bob thought his hometown was a wonderful place to grow up and considered himself very fortunate (a common theme in his life). Contrary to many of his high school classmates who matriculated to Ohio State, Bob went to the University of Michigan in 1955 and considered it a decision of a lifetime as it led to so many wonderful things, including meeting the love of his life, Darragh. Soon after college they married on December 20, 1958 in Battle Creek when Bob, serving in the U.S. Navy, negotiated leave with the Captain of the USS Northampton in exchange for being back on the ship by Christmas to give a fellow shipmate holiday leave with their family. Their honeymoon was a late December drive back to Norfolk, VA. While pursuing a PhD in history at Wisconsin, Bob decided he needed to earn a more immediate living to support his new family and left his academic path to work in college textbook publishing at Prentice-Hall, which eventually brought him back to his beloved Ann Arbor. He worked for Prentice-Hall for 35 years, retiring in 1997. He was legendary in the business for his productivity, longevity, honesty, reliability and good humor. He loved talking to professors about their specialties and ideas and became long-time friends with many of his customers. He won numerous national awards for his productivity and exemplary work.

As outstanding as it was, his career never truly defined him (except perhaps for being shockingly well organized). Instead, he was fond of the title his friends gave him: “A legend in his spare time.” His “spare time”, in the form of traditions and rituals, are what better defined him – from happily mowing his lawn, to supporting Darragh with her garden creations and maintenance, to reading four newspapers daily (and over 30 magazines and countless books), to going to Farmer’s Market every Saturday at 7 a.m. sharp for decades, to his daily walks. He created a woodshop in his basement that was featured in Fine Woodworking, perhaps more for his organization of a major workshop than actual production. Bob (and Darragh) went on runs almost every Sunday morning throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s with a wonderful group of runners/friends (back when running was “weird”) outside if weather allowed or at Waterman Gym and Yost Field House. He participated in a number of Dexter-Ann Arbor runs, including the original one in 1974, which was a 15-miler (with his close friend Fred Lee, among others). He was an early frequenter of Recycle Ann Arbor on S. Industrial in the ‘70s and an early participant in Project Grow on farmland off Washtenaw Ave.

He was a fully devoted grandpa, father and husband and relished his 62-year marriage to Darragh until her death in April of 2021. Though heartbroken, he moved forward as “Bob 2.0’.” After Darragh’s passing, he maintained her gardens perfectly – he considered it his duty to honor her legacy and felt fortunate to be able to do that. He loved interacting with people, had friends of every age and made new friends easily. He remembered everyone’s name that he met and the conversations they had, in detail, no matter how recently or long ago it was. If you walked by his house and he was outside and caught your eye, you were likely to end up having an hour-plus conversation and a new friend. He was a walking historical reference of sports facts and trivia as well as history, music, architecture, politics and so many other subjects. He converted short conversations to long ones by asking numerous follow-up questions and adding tangential anecdotes.

Later in life (after age 70), he took up weekly piano lessons and sent daily inspirational and humorous quotes to his many friends by 7 a.m. For decades (including the day of his passing) he mailed articles he read to people he thought would like them or find them relevant to what was going on in their lives. He gave books and magazine subscriptions to others frequently. We will all miss those regular reminders that we were being thought of and the ideas and perspectives he wanted to pass on to us.

Bob’s values revolved around relationships with people and ideas. Bob loved trivia, quotes, ideas, art and music, history, education, sports, reading, exercise and, of course, mowing his lawn, flying his flags, and shoveling his driveway while always saying hello to people walking by his house. He was as reliable and consistent as they come and never, ever had a ‘down day’. Though great at budgeting and investing, he was never motivated by money and regularly said that any decision based solely on money was a compromised choice. Through personal example, he signaled his values which centered upon the idea that everyone should be respected and appreciated regardless of socioeconomic status, gender, religion, ethnicity or race. Bob greatly valued education, but character was more important. Bob happily told his young sons at Christmas that he would have gotten them more presents, but he instead gave that money to the Salvation Army for people who needed it a lot more than his kids did.

Bob was preceded in death by his parents Simon and Grace, wife Darragh and brother David. His surviving family, Brett, Carmen, Brian, Kim and granddaughters Aria and Kelsey, would like to acknowledge and thank Bob’s neighbors and friends for being so supportive of him after Darragh’s passing and through his remaining days. He was so very proud and pleased to be part of such a community.

Bob dearly loved his family, friends, neighbors, Ann Arbor, the University Musical Society and the University of Michigan and felt, every day, that he was incredibly fortunate to have such a rich life. He didn’t have a chance to say ‘goodbye’ to any of us, but his relationships with us and his many examples of a life well lived (he often said he had zero regrets) suggest no goodbye was needed, as he’ll live on with us forever.

A celebration of his life will be announced in the coming weeks, likely related to a UMS event that Bob was so incredibly fond of. If you wish to commemorate Bob with any kind of donation, he would without doubt want the University Musical Society (UMS) to be the beneficiary.