Robert G.W. Kappel

Robert George Wendell Kappel, loving father and husband, passed away in Riverside, CA on May 19, 2025. Robert “Bob” Kappel was 89 years old at the time of his passing and was born in Granger, WA on November 26, 1935. Bob attended schools in the greater Seattle area including Auburn Adventist Academy where he met the love of his life, Patricia “Pat” Ann Hallock, who preceded him in death on December 7, 2004. During his 48-year marriage to Pat, he cared for and raised four daughters, Lori Chinn, Viki Spain, Karynn Gutierrez, and Janel Christiansen. He is survived by his daughters as well as seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

After completing his BA degree in Business Administration at the University of Washington in 1957 and then receiving his CPA license in 1963, Bob began his lengthy accounting career by working for the Internal Revenue Service and working for a private firm in Olympia, WA.

Bob then accepted a teaching position at Union College (now Union Adventist University) in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1968, and went on to obtain his MBA from the University of Nebraska. Bob served the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in many capacities over his lifetime including teaching accounting and business courses at Walla Walla College (now Walla Walla University). He also served as the controller/comptroller at both Harding Hospital in Ohio and Portland Adventist Hospital in Portland, OR.

Finally, a former college student of Bob’s played a pivotal role in his career when Lanny Stout asked him to be a partner in his accounting firm in Redlands, CA in 1980, and then Bob ended his 35-year California career working with Ron Kisinger of Kisinger Accountancy Corporation in Redlands, CA. In addition to his accounting work, he also taught business courses at the La Sierra Campus of Loma Linda University (now La Sierra University).

Bob truly enjoyed the warm weather in California and was an avid, life-long stamp and coin collector, as well as being a true-blue Los Angeles Dodgers fan. May his memory be a blessing and while he will forever be missed, we are comforted to know that he has joined Pat in eternal rest. Graveside services were held on June 10, 2025 at Montecito Memorial Park and Mortuary.