Robert was my older brother. He joined Colonial Packaging in 1995 after a 25-year career in banking. He became disheartened with the direction that the banking industry was headed in the mid-1990s and was ready for a change.
Colonial Packaging was the next chapter in his career. He worked for Colonial for 13 years before his tragic and untimely death on May 22, 2008.
Robert was an adventurer at heart and loved to take on DIY challenges. His first DIY started out with the purchase of an MG automobile in high school. He loved his car dearly but soon found out that in the mid-1970s, getting parts for a British automobile was not going to be easy, especially in our small town of Bishopville, South Carolina.
His sense of adventure shone through when he earned his pilot’s license while in college and, from there, skydiving several times. He also ran a marathon and said his knees were never the same after! He and his wife renovated several houses that were in desperate need of help, and by the end of the renovations, they had turned them into beautiful homes. All this to say, he was a man who, if he set a goal, he would almost always follow the goal through to the end!
Robert graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1980 and began his career in banking. He also married his high school sweetheart this same year. They had two beautiful children who both married and have given them five grandchildren. Robert never had the blessing of meeting his precious grandchildren, but I know he would be very proud of each of them!
After starting his career at Colonial, Robert became fascinated with boats and he set the goal of learning all there is to know about sailing. Purchasing and repairing various boats along the way taught him a lot, and he gained knowledge and confidence through these experiences. He had set plans to take the Great Loop Boating Route from South Carolina up the East Coast via the Intracoastal Waterway into New England, through the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico, and back to his home port.
His final boat was a 39-foot trawler that he refurbished and docked on the Ashley River in Charleston, South Carolina. He and his wife planned to live on the boat, but he died before that dream became a reality.
Robert was a man who never met a stranger. He would do anything to help those in need. I cherished our time together in his 13 years at Colonial Packaging. He was eight years older than me, and our relationship really blossomed and grew closer during our years working together.
I think of him often and miss him dearly. He would have been 68 years old in August.
< BACK TO NEWS
