Robert Charles "Bump" Rogers

1945 - 2024

"Being alive is enough reason to be happy."
Bump Passed away peacefully at home, after 78 years of life. He was born on Staten Island, New York to Mary Kathryn Rogers (Hicks) and James William Rogers. As a baby his family moved to Easy Ave., West Long Beach, California where they surrounded themselves in a neighborhood full of friends and relatives. He shared a room with his two brothers Jimmy & Dan while his sister Judy and parents had the other rooms. Through the 1950's & 60's he experienced fishing off Pierpoint Landing in Downtown Long Beach, water skiing out of the mouth of the Los Angeles River, serving as an altar boy at church and attending boy scout activities with siblings and cousins. As a family and sometimes a neighborhood convoy they would take extended trips to Yosemite National Park. This became a favorite lifelong destination. He naturally reveled in the company of his older brother especially when he was included in going for a drive with Jimmy's Instigators Car Club. Bump's younger sister always gravitated to him for comfort and solace, even more so after their father passed away. He graduated from St. Anthony High School in 1963. He married Judith A. VanEman on December 19, 1970 in Santa Barbara, California. He earned degrees in Metallurgy and Engineering followed by an M.B.A. from Santa Clara University. He was a member of the TKE Fraternity and served in a leadership role as Vice President. In addition to academics Bump's relocation to the San Francisco Bay Area included the pursuit of nuclear engineering. His career began while working for Westinghouse, then he moved to Los Gatos and co-founded TBW Industries, INC. (The Buckle Works) with his wife and their good friend. He found great pleasure in making friends and clients locally, nationally and around the world for the next 30 years until he accepted an offer to sell the business in 2009 to industry colleagues. He took great pride in the home that he shared with his wife in Los Gatos and would start every day with morning coffee, the newspaper and a handwritten note for Judy that would begin with "Good Morning My Dear Queen." He provided fatherly attention to his nephew Brandon, where he made a lasting impression as a mentor and stable hearth keeper. Bump enjoyed attending baseball games his whole life and was a passionate critic of sports and current events. He enjoyed the stimulation of good conversations as it related to culture, philosophy, domestic and international politics. His ferocious appetite for reading included making his way through a rotation of library books and a personal collection of literature. He was guided by the principle of a joie de vivre "joy of living" and it was evident throughout his lifelong journey with sincerity and humor. In retirement life was spent just as he wanted…. "with my wife." And he found success with this too.