Robert Arsen Moore

Robert "Bob" Moore, lawyer, entrepreneur, golf executive, pilot, music lover, community servant and family man, died at home in Pebble Beach on January 20, 2026, two weeks shy of his 97th birthday. A man of wisdom, dry humor, quiet confidence and deep generosity, Bob lived a long and engaged life in which he treated everyone he encountered with dignity and respect.

Bob was born on February 1, 1929, into a farming family in Kerman, California. A first-generation Armenian-American, Bob grew up steeped in Armenian culture but soon found his footing in the customs and ways of America. He graduated from Kerman High School, earned his bachelor's degree from California State University, Fresno, and his law degree from Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. He served in the Army at Fort Ord near Monterey during the Korean War, narrowly missing deployment when the war ended in 1953.

After the Army, Bob partnered with his friend Vartkes Miroyan, a fellow first-generation Armenian-American he had met at Hastings, to form Miroyan and Moore, a personal injury and business law firm in San Jose. As the South Bay grew in the late 50's and 60's, so did their practice, built on a reputation for integrity and smart advocacy.

In their early thirties, the partners purchased a bankrupt mushroom farm in Morgan Hill, rebuilding it into one of the most technologically advanced operations in the country. In the early 1970s, Ralston Purina acquired the Morgan Hill operation and used the model to build five replica farms across the U.S., ultimately making fresh mushrooms available to eighty percent of the U.S. population.

Noticing an inefficiency in the mushroom growing process, Bob and Vartkes secured the patent for a delayed-release nutritional supplement, which they coined SpawnMate. The partners commercialized the production and distribution of the compound, which allowed growers to significantly boost yields, and its use became standard practice in the industry.

It was at Fort Ord that Bob first discovered golf, the game that would come to define much of his later life. Golf was accessible at Fort Ord ($1.50 a round) and his love for the game drove him to create opportunities to make it more accessible to others. He contributed to charities that increased access to youth, and his leadership was celebrated: he served on the Board of Directors of the Northern California Golf Association (NCGA) for twelve years, including a tenure as President, a period that coincided with the organization's highest membership growth. He was a founding member of Spyglass Hill Golf Course, and he played a key role in opening Poppy Hills Golf Course, the first golf course in the country owned and operated by an Allied Golf Association. He also served on the California Golf Association Board of Directors and as President of the Pacific Coast Golf Association.

A member of the Monterey Peninsula Country Club since 1997, Bob served on the Board of Directors and was elected Club President for two terms. He was an NCGA Distinguished Service Award recipient, and in 2022, MPCC honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Bob played in multiple AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Ams and, in his later years, delighted in shooting below his age on the Monterey Peninsula's most demanding courses.

Bob loved to spend time in the outdoors: skiing, waterskiing, hunting, fishing and flying his family around California in his V-tail Beechcraft Bonanza. He was a believer in education and academic accomplishment; he pushed his children to work hard and be humble, while giving them the confidence to take risks and pursue what they loved. Behind the scenes, he helped many friends and family members, both financially and with wise counsel.

Bob was a seeker and a generous friend and community member. He loved music, dabbled with the trombone and the Spanish guitar and held a subscription to the Carmel Symphony, attending into his 96th year. Bob delivered Meals on Wheels in Monterey and Seaside every week for over thirty years, until he was 95, by which time nearly all his clients were younger than he was. Perhaps most famously, Bob and his wife Mary Ann hosted Armenian Thanksgiving in Pebble Beach for twenty-five years, barbequing his family's beloved shish kebab and brining cabbage, carrots and celery into his signature torshi. His extended family would come from all over the country to Pebble Beach every November to eat and give thanks, making it their most cherished tradition.

Bob is survived by his wife, Mary Ann and Mary Ann's daughter, Elizabeth Von Urff, her two grandchildren and four great grandchildren; Bob's sister Jeanne Moore Wickware (Jack) and brother Joseph Leland Moore (Cindy); his first wife, Gwendolyn Moore Walsh and Bob and Gwen's three children, Meridee Moore of San Francisco, David Moore of Loomis (Kelly) and Marla Moso of Corona del Mar, as well as their eight granddaughters and four great grandchildren.

A memorial Mass was held on Monday, February 10, 2026, at the Carmel Mission Basilica. Donations in Bob's memory can be made to the Carmel Mission or to the charity of your choice.