Deceased October 19, 2009
View alumni profile (log in required)
Read obituary
In Memory
Barbara Pirie didn’t worry when her husband Bob was overdue from his short evening drive to downtown Allendale for a lottery ticket. But worrisome it was meant to be. Bob was found dead in a parking lot, a victim of heart disease. The date was Oct. 19, 2009.
Robert Bruce Pirie, Jr. was born Dec. 15, 1927, near Holyoke, Mass., where he played high school sports and spent summers at a family cabin in Vermont. He graduated from Mount Hermon School and entered Amherst with the Class of 1949.
At Amherst, Bob earned his numerals in basketball, as a guard, and in football, as a bruising halfback. He also participated in field sports where he hurled the javelin. He left to serve in the U.S. Navy, returning with our Class. He joined DU and lived in the house our senior year.
Bob served his career in the woolen industry, retiring as president of the F.W. Tipper Co., of which he was the principal owner.
During his early business years, he met Barbara (“Bobbi”) who had graduated from Connecticut College and was herself in the woolen business. They settled in northern New Jersey, where Bob served on the Allendale Planning Board and Shade Tree Commission, the Bergen County Planning Commission and as a high school sports coach and referee.
His gentlemanly demeanor earned Bob the reputation of being warm, friendly and sociable to all. He had many friends. He regularly attended the 1951 Class dinners in New York. Bob and Barbara were delightful “Maloney” travel companions. He enjoyed sojourns to the Pirie summer home in Long Beach Island and was an attentive and loving father and husband.
In addition to Barbara, Bob leaves his daughters, Virginia Pirie-Harbeck and Nancy Pirie-Daisey; his sons, Rob and Jim; and eight grandchildren. He will be greatly missed.
Gary Holman ’51
Walter J. Hunziker ’51