Robert Timothy Finley

Robert Timothy "Tim" Finley, 61, of Houston, Texas, passed away on the morning of Sunday, August 16th, after a twenty-month courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. He was surrounded by his family, friends, and dogs in his final days and hours.

Tim was born in Dallas, Texas, to Sue and Olan Finley in 1964, and was raised in the lovely city of Denison, Texas. He graduated from Denison High School in 1983 and went on to attend Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas, where he received his Bachelor's degree in Accounting in 1987 (Axe 'em, Jacks!).

Tim began his career at the accountancy firm Ernst and Whinney immediately upon his graduation. In 1988, he joined the finance team at Compaq Computer, serving in various roles until the company’s acquisition by Hewlett-Packard in 2002. He left HP in 2010 to join the Port of Houston Authority, and his career culminated in his appointment as the Chief Financial Officer there in June 2015. He was also passionate about the service he performed as a member of the Board of Directors for the Maritime Workers’ Emergency Medical Fund.

It was Tim's first mother-in-law, Tina Smith, who introduced him to his first wife, Tana, at church. They were married in 1991, in Houston, Texas, until her death in 2017 from breast cancer. In her obituary, Tim wrote “We’ll be together soon, my love.” Now they are.

Above all, Tim was a devoted family man. He and Tana welcomed their first child, Sarah, in 1992, and were devastated when she passed away less than a month later. In the years that followed, they welcomed their sons, Matthew in 1994 and John in 1995. Sarah's death drew Tim and Tana even closer together, and they leaned on each other, and on their growing family, as they rebuilt their joy.

Tasked by Tana with the discipline of the household's more spirited moments, Tim would inevitably arrive home from work, deliver a stern "don't tell your mother," and, rather than deliver the requested punishment, follow it with a lecture running five to ten minutes, a habit his sons remember fondly and his former colleagues will find entirely unsurprising. Raising children was a passion for Tim, though the jury is still out on whether they really listened.

Tim’s one true hobby in life was motorcycles, a passion he pursued with the same intensity — he wished it formally noted that his land-speed record stood at 174 MPH on his beloved Ducati. By the end of his life, he had three motorcycles, two of which worked, and one which was beautiful beyond belief, and worked all of once. Tim and his closest friend, Mike Henry, spent years chasing the open road together, covering more American highway than either of their wives ever fully approved of. What exactly happened on these trips remains, by mutual agreement, classified.

Tim met and married Cheryl Klug in 2019, in Houston, Texas. Bonded in part by the stories he shared of his first wife and their mutual adoration of the Astros, the two grew inseparable, standing by one another through the end. Cheryl and Tim became the best of friends over the years they shared, filling their home with dogs, their calendar with ski trips and national park hikes, and their evenings with Astros games. In Cheryl, he found not a replacement for what he'd lost, but a second chance at everything he thought he'd never have again.

His stepdaughter, Amber, became a daughter to him in every way that mattered, and in 2024, he became a grandfather to Peyton Rose, a role that gave him nothing to do but love without condition. He excelled at it.

When Tim was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December of 2024, he knew it would be an uphill battle. He fought it courageously, with grace, levity, and his faith. All of those who he leaves behind will remember him for that fight, and for the better world he leaves behind through everything he shared with them.

Tim was preceded in death by his wife, Tana Finley; his daughter, Sarah Finley; and his father, Olan Finley.

He leaves behind his wife, Cheryl Finley; his sons, Matthew Finley and his wife, Faiza Chatoor, and John Finley and his wife, Keely; his stepdaughter, Amber Evans, her husband, Travis, and their daughter, Peyton, his beloved granddaughter; and his stepson, Joshua Klug, his wife, Kristen, and their children, Hailey, Nathan, and Kylie.

Tim is also survived by his mother, Sue Gallaher, and her husband, Noel; his sister, Jennifer Moscoso, her husband, Mike, and their children. He is survived by Tana’s mother and father, Tina and Wayne Smith, their daughters, Gina Satterwhite and Angela Smith, and his niece, Brittany Vano, along with extended family and many dear friends who loved him deeply.

Visitation will be held at Kingwood Funeral Home, 22800 Highway 59 North, Kingwood, TX 77339, US, on August 20, 2026, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, and the Funeral Service will take place there on August 21, 2026, from 10:00 am to 11:00 am.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to PanCAN at www.panCan.org.