Bob's obituary

Robert H. Ware, Jr., age 81 of Fairfield, beloved husband of Lois C. Ware for 55 years, died Friday, January 23, 2009 at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston. A role model, mentor, and teacher, Bob will be sorely missed by his family and by all who knew him. Born in Kansas City, Mo., he was the son of Robert Hayden Ware and Winifred Wilson Ware, grew up in Ann Arbor, Mich., and attended The University of Michigan School of Engineering. He served in the Navy in World War II, entered the Harvard Graduate School of Engineering, and transferred to the Law School, graduating in 1951. Bob did five years of patent litigation in the Manhattan firm Fish, Richardson and Neave, then joined Blair and Buckles in Stamford. He opened his Danbury office in partnership with D. Lewis Mattern. The firm became Mattern, Ware and Davis in Bridgeport, moved to Fairfield, as Mattern, Ware, and Fressola, and became Ware, Fressola, Van der Sluys and Adolphson, then moved to Monroe. Bob retired in 2004. The father of four, Richard, William, Robert and Martha, Bob took the family sailing and tent camping in the Northeast. A Committee member of Boy Scout Troop 90, he drove the boys and attended many troop weekend campouts and summer weeks at camp, taught merit badges and had one son earn the Eagle rank and another Life scout. All three sons are engineers, Martha is an illustrator and designer. For 25 years Bob enjoyed sailing his Venture 24, "Spring Tide", on Long Island Sound. He also enjoyed reading and history. Bob was a past commander of Housatonic Power Squadron and life member of Penfield. He taught Seamanship, Celestial Navigation, Weather, and other courses. A Rotary Club youth exchange chairman, Bob hosted students from many countries in his home. Survivors include his wife, Lois; three sons and a daughter and their families, Richard and Marian and their children, of Amherst, Mass., William of Framingham, Mass., Robert, and Anja and their children of Dayton, Ohio, Martha and her son of Medford, Mass.; a sister-in-law, Priscilla Close and her husband, Lawrence and their children, Suzanne Findlay of Anchorage, AK, Amy Nagy of Fairfield and Matthew Close of Brookfield. A memorial service will be held 11 a.m., Friday, February 6, 2009 at Trinity Episcopal Church, Southport. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the charity of your choice.
Published in the Connecticut Post on 2/1/2009.