Robert Keating

Bob (Robert) Keating, 73, of St. Augustine, Florida, died peacefully in hospice at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville of leukemia on March 28, 2022, with his wife, Jane, by his side.

Born August 21, 1948, Bob grew up in Needham, Massachusetts, where he was a state-ranked cross-country runner who received an athletic scholarship to UMass Amherst, ultimately earning BBA and MBA degrees there. He was the oldest child of Dick (Richard) and Claire (née Fleming) and brother to Patty, Teddy, and Carol. The Keatings spent summers in Maushop Village/Mashpee on Cape Cod, where all the kids worked at the Popponesset Inn and Bob worked his way up maître d' in 1970–1971.

Bob married Jane Rhodes Ridgley on July 31, 1982, in Waquoit, MA, and the two spent the next 40 years together, living mainly in the Greater Boston area and New Seabury, MA, before relocating to St. Augustine in 2004.

A career in high-tech sales and marketing management took Bob from IBM and other large multinational companies to small start-up operations across the Northeast. For the past 20 years in semi-retirement, he worked in sales and marketing for several premier resort golf communities in MA and FL. Bob and Jane loved entertaining and were known for throwing lively parties for friends and family, especially during the summers and for important holidays.

An avid and competitive golfer, Bob maintained club memberships wherever he and Jane lived, including the New Seabury Country Club, Rhode Island Country Club, Country Club of Roswell, Georgia, and World Golf Village, home of the King & Bear and Slammer & Squire courses in St. Augustine. He was a founding member of The Ridge Club in Sandwich, MA.

Bob is survived by his wife, daughter Katelyn Keating and son-in-law Chad Cliburn of Palm Springs, California, sister Patricia Keating and partner William Manion of Rockville, Maryland, brother Teddy (Edward) Keating and partner Robin Pierson of Cataumet, MA, sister Carol Cole of Falmouth, MA, and many cousins, nieces, nephews, and beloved friends.

A memorial will be held on Cape Cod this summer. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (lls.org) or to Mayo Clinic (mayoclinic.org), where Bob was a patient and participant of several research trials.