Robert Leroy Chambers

Robert Leroy Chambers SARATOGA, CA - Bob Chambers, 89, died peacefully in his home at the Saratoga Retirement Community on October 24, 2007. An advertising slogan for his first company - "My Daddy can do anything - he has a Shopsmith!" - captures the determination, creativity and self-reliance of this enthusiastic entrepreneur. Bob was born on September 9, 1918, in Salt Lake City, UT, the second son of George Brower Chambers and Vilate Ellen Schofield. His father died in a drowning accident just before Bob's second birthday. A few years later his mother married Dr. Henry Raile, and they added a daughter, Ramona, to the family. Bob's delight in the precise use of language led him initially to pursue journalism. At the University of Utah he was an outstanding and honored student, while writing the "Who's News" publication and for three years edited the "Utah Alumnus" magazine. On Christmas Eve, 1938, he became engaged to Leah June Musser, also of Salt Lake City. After graduating with a BA in political science in 1939, Bob started his first company, the Collegiate Guide Service, hiring college students as local tour guides. He received his MA from the Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy in 1940, and he and June were married that summer. Bob then completed his MBA at Harvard where he was elected a George F. Baker Scholar, the School's highest academic honor. During WWII, June worked for the Navy in San Francisco and Bob handled cost accounting at the Kaiser Shipyards across the Bay. After the war, Bob helped Stanley Hiller, Jr., develop Hiller Helicopters, before moving on in 1947 to found Magna Power Tool Corporation with his brother, Frank Chambers. Using a design by Hans Goldschmidt, Magna produced the first multipurpose home power tool, the Shopsmith, still in production today. In 1953 Bob was named a member of President Eisenhower's Committee on Government Contracts, formed to ensure federal procurement contract compliance with nondiscrimination requirements. After selling Magna, in 1959 Bob founded Bartlett-Snow-Pacific, Inc., and in 1969 Envirotech Corp., which grew to be a Fortune 500 company. Bob also served as a director on numerous boards, including Consolidated Freightways, Inc., the Herrick Corp., Memorex Corp., and Varian Associates, Inc. Retiring from Envirotech, Bob and Robert C. Wilson formed a venture capital firm in 1983, Wilson & Chambers, Inc., where Bob was able to encourage a new generation of entrepreneurs with his personal philosophy, "You have to think big right from the start, no matter how scared you are." That philosophy informed his early participation in the Young Presidents' Organization, serving five national offices including the presidency in 1957, and into his founding directorship of the Children's Health Council of the Mid-Peninsula, in Palo Alto, CA. It was also reflected in the joy with which Bob and June embraced opportunities in their lives. They were married for 64 years, until June's death in 2004. During that time they traveled to every continent. They built four houses, three in the Bay Area and one at Lake Tahoe. And they danced together blissfully, from their Salt Air days in college, across the oceans on their many voyages, and at the Menlo Country Club's Thursday evenings. They were spectacular parents to their three children, and loved sharing in the lives of their in-laws, grandchildren, siblings, nieces and nephews, co-workers, and friends, all of whom they valued highly. Although there is happiness that Bob is at last reunited with his June, his presence is deeply missed by his three children: Pamela C. Champe of Montgomery, WV, Penelope C. Percy of Seattle, WA, and James H. Chambers of Dallas, TX; his five grandchildren: Mark A. Champe, Peter S. Champe, R. Cameron Percy, Robert M. Chambers and Katharine E. Chambers; great-grandson, Alexander Gilliland and great-granddaughter, Uma Champe; his adopted daughter Jane Tom of Berkeley, CA, and her children Simon, Jean, Julia, Joan, and Sean; his 33 surviving nieces and nephews; and his countless friends. All who loved Bob are especially grateful to Donna Verna of Los Altos, CA, and Sam Lee of Sacramento, CA, who made such an enormous contribution to his happiness and wellbeing in his last years. A Visitation with the family will be held at Spangler Mortuary, 650 Live Oak Avenue, Menlo Park, CA 94025, Mon, Oct. 29, 2007, 12:00 to 2:00 PM. Interment will be at the Nephi City Cemetery, 400 East 400 North, Nephi, UT 84648. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Bob's name to the Children's Health Council, 650 Clark Way, Palo Alto, CA 94304, 650-326-5530.