Robert "Bob" Farr

Robert "Bob" Farr, 82, of West Hartford, CT, passed away on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. He was born in Hartford, CT to Nicholas J. Farr and Janet Campbell Farr on December 28, 1943. Bob was a life-long resident of West Hartford. He is survived by his wife, Diana MacPherson; his children, Anya Malkin (Max Germer), Matt Malkin (Wendy Janis Malkin); his sister, Jane Farr; his brother-in-law, Kenneth Elterich; his grandchildren, Maya Germer and Eva Malkin; and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his sister, Marie Elterich.
Bob attended the original Hall High School in West Hartford, then earned an electrical engineering degree and a law degree from the University of Connecticut. He worked as an engineer at Electric Boat Company in Groton, CT, and later was a founding partner of Heffernan & Farr, where he provided legal services to his community.
Bob brought his considerable energy and integrity to community service and local and state government throughout his life. He formed the Young Republicans while at UConn and went on to serve on the West Hartford Town Council as Deputy Mayor. One accomplishment on the Council was the initiation of newspaper recycling in town; later expanded to the town recycling program of today. Bob continued throughout his career to be a member of the West Hartford Republican Town Committee.
In addition to surveys and listening sessions, his election campaigns featured his trademark logo, an old-fashioned penny-farthing bike, and his handouts of "Bob Farr" notepads as he walked to and knocked on each door in his district. Bob wore out a pair of shoes each campaign.
In 1981, he was elected to his first term as State Representative of the 19th district in the Connecticut Legislature. He was reelected for 12 more terms. During his time in the General Assembly, Bob became known for his comprehensive understanding of the many issues and drafts of legislation that came before the body. He worked across the aisle with all members of the legislature, seeking to create public policies that would prove beneficial to the state and make life better for his constituents.
Some of his initiatives included post-incarceration prisoner rehabilitation, and alternatives to incarceration. He was proud of initiating seat belt laws for CT drivers. He was a strong proponent of welfare reform and programs to fight teen pregnancy. He championed the Fatherhood Initiative, a proposal to get absent fathers involved in the lives of their children. He also worked to make policing and crime prevention more efficient, including working to initiate paperless re-arrest warrants, a DNA data bank, and live-scan fingerprinting. He was a budget hawk.
He served on many legislative committees, including Judiciary, Appropriations, and Higher Education. Bob also served on several national boards dealing with legislative and criminal justice issues. For many years, Bob was also a member of the Connecticut Law Tribune's Editorial Board where original opinions for the legal community were drafted, argued, edited, and published.
In addition to his hard work in the legislature, during his law practice in the 1990s he brought lawsuits against McDonalds and other fast-food entities to make them non-smoking. There was a settlement, and smoke free has been in place for years.
In 2007, Bob was appointed by Governor Rell to head the Connecticut Board of Pardons and Paroles. During his four-year term of service on the Board, he improved the operation by, among other things, developing a risk-assessment strategy for parole evaluation. He also integrated two victim service advocates, cleared a backlog, and established video conferencing in the parole hearing process. In 2015 Bob was appointed to the Connecticut Sentencing Commission, where he led and participated in revising the state's criminal laws.
Even in family life, Bob was energetic and thoughtful. He was famous in the family for his long stories filled with humor and wit. He loved holidays, participating in Pi Day, April Fool's Day, and Halloween with gusto. Bob also loved family feasts, his cats, and traveling to interesting places. His kids were precious to him, and he liked having the house alive with their young friends. He didn't like their music, but loved their original ideas and inventions. Even with all his professional involvement, he worked hard to have dinner with his family every night. His favorite foods were chocolate, anything with noodles and red sauce, and ice cream; he taught himself to make a killer linguini alfredo. He also taught his family to harvest apples to make fresh applesauce, and how to pick sour cherries. Bob was interested in the details of everything and how those things worked.
Bob was intensely devoted to his wife, Diana, over the 45 years that they were together. He doted on her, depended on her, and loved her with all his heart. They shared everything with each other, from arcane legal discussions to their regular vacations on Block Island. For Diana's birthday each year, Bob gave her the exact number of red roses as her age.
Calling hours will be Sunday, (June 1), from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Sheehan Hilborn Breen Funeral Home, 1084 New Britain Ave, West Hartford, CT. A Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:00 a.m. on Monday, (June 2), at St. Mark the Evangelist Church, 467 South Quaker Lane, West Hartford, CT, followed by burial at Fairview Cemetery, 200 Whitman Ave, West Hartford, CT. Please meet directly at the Church.
The family would like to thank long-time aides Ishmael Marfo, Daniel Falvey, and Andrew Henry for their care and companionship. We also thank the outstanding nurses and staff at The Atrium at Cardinal Drive in Agawam, and at Brookhaven Hospice for their caring support. Memorial contributions may be made to Parkinson's Foundation, Attn: Donor Services, 5757 Waterford District Drive, Suite 310, Miami, FL 33126, (www.parkinson.org), or to the charity of your choice. Online condolences may be made at www.SheehanHilbornBreen.com