Robert Wayne Kearl

1957 - 2025

Robert Wayne Kearl passed away at home on February 27, 2025, in Austin, Texas.

Robert was born to Wayne Kearl and Dorothy Hatch Kearl on July 24, 1957, in San Antonio, Texas. He was the was the third of three sons; his brothers were Edward Brandon Kearl and John Stanley Kearl. Robert attended the Keystone School and Alamo Heights High School in San Antonio, Texas; the Lewis Wadhams School, an experimental free school in the Adirondacks; and Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts.

Following his time at Emerson, Robert moved to New York City where he studied dance with the American Ballet Theatre, American Dance Machine, and worked at Studio 54 as a floorwork dancer. He met his wife, Christina Marie Contros, one snowy night in 1980 just before Christmas at Ruelle's on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Tina was hanging out with a classmate from the Pratt Institute who worked bar, and Robert came in with his good friend, Ethan. Tina invited the boys to play cards, and the rest came easy.

Following his dance career, Robert worked in construction in New York City, where he learned to paint, plaster, and became a master carpenter. Over the years, Robert continued in the trades, eventually running a business as a general contractor in partnership with his wife Tina, an architect. The pair moved to Austin, Texas shortly after the birth of their first and only child, Zoe. Over the years, Robert and Tina renovated an impressive slate of homes, primarily in Old Enfield and Pemberton Heights, shaping the landscape of the neighborhoods as they went. Robert also enjoyed woodworking and made a collection of furniture that now graces the homes of family and friends.

Ever since youth, Robert loved to travel and felt at home wherever he went. He was an exceptional trip planner, and he and his family spent time in countries all around the world, often well off the beaten path. Upon return, Robert pinned each place visited on a wall-sized map of the globe. He always had ideas about where to visit next. Towards the end of his life, Robert spent a lot of time seaside both in Tamarindo, Costa Rica, where he ran a small hotel, and Koh Samui, Thailand. He loved to swim, whether offshore in tropical waters or as part of his exploration of former USSR swimming pools or during his daily visits to the local pool, Deep Eddy. Robert also loved to fish, though he was never very lucky in his catches, and spent hours happily gardening. He truly loved a wildflower lawn.

Friends will remember Robert as remarkably personable, big-hearted, and quick to laugh. He was truly one-of-a-kind, able to relate to almost everyone he met, and generous even with strangers. Robert was exceedingly proud of his wife, Tina, and daughter, Zoe, and never missed an opportunity to tell any willing listener about their various accomplishments. He spent almost his entire life outside, whether on job sites or in the sun next to a body of water or sitting on the front patio waving at each neighbor who walked past in the mornings and evenings.

If there is anything after this, I hope it's just like jumping into a cold body of water on a summer day and making the biggest splash. If there's not, the world is better for having had him here.

Robert is survived by his wife, Christina Contros, and their two slightly feral black cats, Minnow and Poppy. His daughter Zoe Contros Kearl and her wife Emily Cowperthwaite, as well as their seventeen-year-old black cat Taco, and their dog Mischa, a Borzoi who was obsessed with him.