Robert (Bob) Cottor was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on August 7th, 1932, to Emil Cottor and Edna Strand Cottor. He was the youngest of three children including his sisters Anne Cottor Kuhn and Doris Cottor Johnson Omlie.
Bob attended Breck School from sixth grade until his graduation from high school in 1950. He went to Macalester College, graduating with a BS in Pre-Medicine in 1954. In 1955, he married Carolyn Sanstead, and in 1956 they moved to Marine-on-St. Croix and purchased his grandparents home where he had dreams of becoming the town doctor. Bob received his Doctor of Medicine in June 1958 from the University of Minnesota. In 1959, they moved to Stillwater where he was a General Practitioner. In 1962, he was accepted in the Child Psychiatry Residency Program at the University of Minnesota. Bob became a Fellow in the Child Psychiatry program in 1964 and completed this training in 1966. In 1965, they adopted their first child, Mary Lynn. In 1966, they moved to Duluth to further his psychiatry career and adopted their second child, Suzanne. In 1969, despite having marital issues, they moved to California and filed for divorce later that year. Carolyn died of a cerebral aneurysm in early 1971.
In March 1971, he married his true love, Sharon Holscher, who was a respected colleague he had met in Minnesota. Sharon had previously adopted two children, Jonathan and Elizabeth. The two families became one and Bob and Sharon relocated to Arizona in August 1971 with all four children. Bob partnered with his wife, Sharon Cottor, MSW, in a joint professional practice when they moved to Phoenix. Bob focused on family therapy, consultation to healthcare organizations and collaborative care in his practice. He developed a specialty in forensic psychiatry regarding divorcing families, their irresolvable conflicts and their custody issues. He also became a consultant to family businesses regarding their family and business relationships and their generational succession issues. Throughout his years in practice, he taught and trained a large number of mental health professionals. Bob closed his practice in 2007 after 45 years of clinical work.
Bob and Sharon founded the Institute for Creative Change in Phoenix in 1980. Bob received a special citation for Outstanding Contributions to the Field from the Arizona Association of Marriage and Family Therapy in 1992. He also received an Award for Significant Contribution to Family Law from the Arizona Association of Family and Conciliation Courts in February 2008. Bob was actively involved with the Taos Institute since its inception in 1993 and became a Taos Associate in 1996. He was appointed as an Advisor to the Taos Board of Directors in 1999 and then joined the Board as a member in 2003.
Bob and Sharon continued to work closely together consulting with businesses and organizations seeking creative and effective change. They also become involved in the emerging field of pediatric palliative care and family respite care. The Cottor family, in 2004, founded Ryan House, a nonprofit healthcare provider in Phoenix that offers pediatric palliative care, family respite care and end-of-life care for families with children with life limiting illnesses and conditions. Ryan House is a legacy honoring Bob’s grandson Ryan.
Bob loved his family dearly and outside of work, everything centered around family. He loved the water and the outdoors. Countless family vacations were taken in the Airstream to South Dakota to visit family, yearly visits to the Grand Canyon and the mountains in Pinetop. He loved to travel both within the US and internationally. During his retirement, he thoroughly enjoyed spending weeks of time each year hiking, reading and relaxing in Sedona. He instilled upon others a love of life, a strong work ethic and strong family values. Bob was passionate, courageous, brilliant, caring and loving. He was the best dad/husband our family could have had. Bob and Sharon were happily married for 52 years.
Bob is survived by his wife, Sharon Cottor and four children and their spouses: Lynn Cottor Curlovic/Ken Curlovic, Suzanne Cottor Sikora, Jonathan Cottor/Holly Cottor and Elizabeth Cottor Bellerson/Darin Bellerson. He had 5 grandchildren, Catie Sikora, Ethan Cottor, Jim Sikora and Lukas Bellerson. Bob was preceded in death by his grandson, Ryan Cottor.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.greenacresmortuary.net for the Cottor family.
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