Robert George Thieman

Robert George Thieman, Jr. ("Bob") passed away peacefully at home on February 14, 2024, with his wife and daughter by his side.

Bob was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on February 4, 1952. He wasted no time charting a course for uncommon adventure and unlimited good times. He found plenty of both.

Bob attended Catholic schools throughout his childhood, always earning high marks with ease. He graduated from Cincinnati's famed Archbishop Moeller High School in 1969 (where he competed on the swim team and played the leading role as Oscar in the school production of The Odd Couple). He and his brother were both altar boys and Eagle Scouts, two experiences that permanently shaped his worldview.

After high school, he followed a blonde to the University of Cincinnati. While there, he had a short stint as drummer in a college band called The Unknowns. The band ultimately lived up to its name. He graduated in 1972 with a degree in sociology, but without the blonde. During school, he worked at Charley's Crab Restaurant and later at Edward's Manufacturing Company Restaurant. He fell in love with the restaurant business, and so began the adventures of his storied career.

He made his way to Memphis, Tennessee with the idea of opening his own restaurant. He found a partner and an SBA loan, and they began their dream of revitalizing the Beale Street area. They enjoyed wonderful success. He had more fun than should be legal in his 20's and early 30's, opening a new restaurant every year or so, including Sunset Café, No. 1 Beale Street, Captain Bilbo's River Restaurant, Sleep Out Louie's and Caramba.

Bob was a collector of friends, stories, jokes and wives, and his cup runneth over in all respects. He married Sally Gibson in 1985. On the recommendation of friends, they went to San Miguel de Allende in the mountains of Mexico for their honeymoon. They fell in love with San Miguel and bought a vacation home while there. By the late 1980s, the lure of San Miguel became impossible to resist. They sold their Memphis businesses and moved to Mexico.

Bob tried his hand at retirement, but soon realized that one can only play so much golf. He learned to fly and got his private pilot's license, a feat of which he was particularly proud because his flying lessons, study materials and qualifying exam were entirely in Spanish. Around the same time, he partnered with a local builder and they spent the next several years designing and building residential developments in San Miguel, including Privada del Sol and Cruz de San Jose.

In the end, his love of the restaurant business won out. He opened Harry's New Orleans Café (now called Hank's New Orleans Café) in the heart of historic San Miguel in 1999, and in 2003 he opened a second Hank's in nearby Queretaro. Today, Hank's is a fixture in San Miguel, wildly popular with both locals and tourists. Bob gets all the credit for that. He spent virtually his entire adulthood creating well-run, lively spaces full of cheer. He was a master of hospitality, and an amazingly charming and generous man who knew how to make people feel welcome.

Bob and Sally parted amicably, and Bob later married Karla Rosales in 2001. They welcomed a gorgeous daughter in 2002. The restaurant business can be hard on marriages, but he eventually found his soulmate when he married his long-time friend Lisa Tyson.

Bob was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March 2020. He sought treatment in Dallas, where he and Lisa have a home, through Texas Oncology and UT Southwestern. He put up a valiant fight with an impossibly positive attitude. He was no stranger to distressing health challenges. He survived a sky diving accident in his 20's that put him in a body cast for 6 months, an electrocution in his 30's while working on a restaurant's electrical system that required paramedics to restart his heart, and a turkey-frying disaster in 1999 that resulted in third degree burns on both legs - so cancer didn't scare him. Turns out cancer is a formidable foe. Stupid, stupid cancer.

Bob was predeceased by his cherished parents, Robert and Lois (Lehnis) Thieman of Cincinnati. He is survived by his wife, Lisa Tyson Thieman; daughter Amanda Thieman Rosales; sister and brother-in-law MaryLee (Thieman) and Don Zink; brother and sister-in-law Tim and Gail Thieman; nieces Alexandra (Zink) Vorachek and Jennifer (Thieman) Jackson; grandnephew Henry Vorachek; grandniece Annabelle Jackson; mother-in-law and father-in-law Amelia and Jim Spurlock; brother-in-law and sister-in-law Scott Nelson and Lisa O'Brien; and nephew Nicholas Nelson.

A memorial for Bob will be held in San Miguel de Allende.