Robert Lewis

1925 ~ 2012
Robert, or Bob to many who knew and loved him, was born on October 6th 1925, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He passed away peacefully at his residence in Tucson Arizona on April 11th, 2012. A dedicated and devoted father and husband, he inspired those who knew him with his integrity, sense of humor and selfless giving. He grew up in SLC where he graduated from East High School and then attended the University of Utah. It was at the U of U where Bob was a proud member of the University of Utah Basketball team's "Blitz Kids" who won the NCAA tournament in 1944. This honor resulted in his induction into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame. After achieving a Masters in Engineering from Stanford, Bob had a successful career in the aerospace industry; first with Hughes aircraft and later with Thiokol. Later, he decided to move into the financial planning industry. While he was an accomplished businessman and entrepreneur, Bob was happiest when on the tennis court with members of his family, friends or some of the hundreds of students he taught. Despite being intensely competitive he always put others before himself. Bob and his beautiful wife of 60 years, Bonnie, retired to Tucson in 1995 where he enjoyed teaching and playing tennis. He was instrumental in creating the Tennis 1-2-3 program at SaddleBrooke and wrote an instructional tennis book "Lifetime Tennis".
Bob is survived by his lovely wife Bonnie, his daughter Melodie Brandstrom (John) of Rhinebeck NY, his sons Jonathan (Joy) of Bellevue, WA, Mark (Mary) of Milwaukee, WI, Marks children Kaitlin and Kyle and Bob's brother Fred Lewis (Hilda) of West Hills CA. We will miss him dearly and his warm smile and gentle spirit will be with us always. If you would like to honor Bob and acknowledge his devotion to the sport of tennis the family would like to suggest a donation to any charity that devotes time and resources to helping underprivileged children have the opportunity to enjoy this wonderful sport such as The Tennis Outreach Program http://www.tennisoutreach.org/index.php?p=Contact%20Us or Tenacity in Boston Mass http://www.tenacity.org/.