Robert H. Hastings

Hastings, Robert H.
Robert "Bob" Humphrey Hastings, beloved husband, father, brother and uncle, died July 2, 2002 in Santa Monica. Bob was born New Year's Eve 1939 in Vicksburg, Mississippi. He was a true renaissance man. The son of a career army officer (the late Col. Wallace H. Hastings, Sr.) and artist (the late Virginia Hastings), Bob spent his childhood at army posts in Washington, D.C., Rome and Naples, Italy (where, as a boy, he recalled spying Lucky Luciano sipping coffee from his adjacent balcony in the late mornings). Bob attended South Kent Prep School in Connecticut and graduated from Princeton University with a B.A. He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to attend and teach at the University of Caen in France where he earned a doctorate in Economics. Bob received his law degree from Boalt Hall and later became a CPA. His career paths were many. They took him to Beirut and Paris as Adnan Kashogi's real estate advisor, through Oklahoma, Arizona, Texas and California as a successful real estate developer and, finally, to Santa Monica from where he ran the family real estate business in his trademark Brooks Brothers deck shoes, circa 1968. Bob married the love of his life, Annie Hastings, and they celebrated their 19th anniversary last year. They traveled the world together and were rarely seen apart. Bob was a great teacher, poet, historian and curmudgeon. He loved a good argument and good scotch, and he had the heart of a lion. Bob is survived by his wife Annie, his three sons Andrew, Guil and Brad, his brothers Wallace and Charles, ten stray cats he rescued over the years, and seven nieces and nephews who were privileged to call him Uncle. In accordance with the wishes of the Hastings' family, memorial bequests may be made to the John Douglas French Alzheimer's Foundation.