Robert Goodyear

AIKEN, S.C. - Mr. Robert Millard Goodyear, 86 of Aiken, SC, died Sunday, July 24, 2011 at his residence. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Patty, who was his greatest support, love, and companion whether on the golf course, in the dove field, duck blind, or fishing on the Restigouche River for Atlantic salmon. She was the center of his world and love of his life. Bobby is also survived by his brother, Frank, his son, Bob, his daughters, Cici, Ginny, Dodie and Margie and ten grandchildren, Elijah, Aaron, Becca, Emily, Sarah, Seth, Laura, Dana, Amelia, and Anna. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Patsy. Bobby was born in Buffalo, New York on April 5, 1925. He graduated from the Groton School, and thereafter served as a navigator with the Eighth Air Force in the Second World War. After the war he attended Yale College and graduated in 1949 with a bachelors degree in Economics. He was a pitcher and right fielder on the Yale baseball team and played for Yale in the College World Series in 1947 and 1948. The first baseman and his good friend on these Yale teams was George H.W. Poppy Bush, 41st President of the United States of America. Bobby maintained his friendship with Poppy over the years and shared many stories emphasizing his great admiration for his teammate and friend. After Yale, he was determined to leave the confines of the Northeast and moved to Aiken, South Carolina in 1951, where he lived until his death. In Aiken he purchased Longleaf Plantation with his brother, Frank, and developed a successful Aberdeen Angus cattle breeding operation. Bobby was also involved in golf course development with his principal project, being Crag Burn Golf Club in East Aurora, New York, which was built in 1969 on his mothers (Dorothy Knox Goodyear Rogers) estate. The course was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. and is consistently ranked as one of the best courses in New York. Bobby was probably best known for his great athleticism, and his love of fly fishing and bird hunting. He was a low handicap golfer and in 1952 won the Palmetto Golf Clubs Eighth Annual Pro-AM with Ben Hogan as his partner, shooting a best ball 61. A member of the Augusta National Golf Club since 1951, over the years he brought many friends from around the world to share the course and incalculable joy to those friends who walked the Augusta fairways with him. Many years ago his first cousin and lifelong friend, Norty Knox, nicknamed Bobby, the Bull, and he was a bull in many ways. He was physically strong and was known, some say infrequently and others frequently, to be headstrong. He was never shy about expressing his opinions. You always, and clearly, knew where he stood. He was courageous, trustworthy, a man of integrity, and a man who enjoyed his life and a good martini. He was also a kind and generous man, a man with a sharp wit, and a wonderful, engaging sense of humor. On sad or sentimental occasions he was the first person in the family to wipe away tears. He will be missed by his family and many friends. The family asks that in lieu of flowers you consider a contribution in Bobbys memory to the Hitchcock Woods Foundation, P.O. Box 1702, Aiken, SC 29802. Memories and expressions of sympathy for the Goodyear family may be left at www.georgefuneralhomes.com. The Augusta Chronicle-July 30, 2011