Bob Harr
One of our club’s most recent members, Robert G. Harr, passed away February 24, 2012. We will miss his conversation and fellowship in our morning meetings.
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Born August 30, 1956 in Dayton, OH, Bob was the beloved son of George and Wanda Harr. The Harr family relocated to Dover, OH in 1970. Bob graduated Salutatorian in 1974 from Tuscarawas Central Catholic High School in Dover.
While in high school Bob served as a Co-captain for the football team. In later years, he was an avid runner and completed numerous marathons.
Bob attended Bowling Green State University on a full academic scholarship where he was recognized as an outstanding English major. In 1977, Bob married Karolee Kasch, formerly of Toledo, OH. He graduated from BGSU in 1978, and they moved to Phoenix, AZ where he was awarded a teaching assistantship at Arizona State University. Their children, Cory and Stephanie, were born in Arizona.
After completing his Master’s degree at Arizona State University in 1983, Bob and his family moved to Dallas, TX where he began his career in Technical Communications. While in Dallas he was employed by CLR Fast-Tax and Texas Instruments.
In 1991, Bob accepted a position with Motorola, Inc. in Urbana, IL as a Technical Communicator. During his 20+ year tenure with Motorola, Bob’s roles ranged from Sr. Technical Communicator to Manager of Technical Communications. His work on UNIX Operating System and cellular phone documentation resulted in multiple awards from the Society for Technical Communication (STC) at the regional and national levels. In addition to being a founding member of the local STC chapter, Bob presented at various national conferences on topics ranging from managing change to mentoring interns.
In addition to professional mentoring, Bob participated in the Champaign Schools Unit 4 mentoring program. Bob’s desire to give to others was also evident in his activities at WEFT, the local non-commercial radio station where he used his extraordinary love and knowledge of music as a volunteer host. Recently, Bob had become a member of the C-U Sunrise Rotary Club as a means of fulfilling his desire to be more involved in community service work.
Bob appreciated all genres of literature and loved reading about the various places he traveled for work as well as pleasure. In addition, he enjoyed short-story writing.
Bob is survived by his wife, Karolee and their children Cory of Phoenix, AZ and Stephanie of Champaign, IL. In addition, Bob is survived by parents, George and Wanda Harr of Dover, OH; a brother, Tom (Marta) Harr of New Philadelphia, OH, and sisters, Terry (Jim) Seal of Navarre, OH; Kathi (Mike) Fiegl of Rose Hill, KS; Barb (Jeff) Eirinfried of Dublin, OH; Jenny Harr of Dover, OH as well as numerous nephews, nieces and cousins. He was preceded in death by his sister, Becky Harr Fisher of Houston, TX.
In lieu of other expressions of sympathy, contributions may be made to the family for distribution or to the charity of the donor’s choice.
