One of our most interesting residents here at Stellar Care is easily spotted by his well-groomed mustache and Jimmy Buffett shirts. Robert, or “Bob” as he likes to be called, has an infectious smile that he is always eager to share, and can carry on conversations on topics ranging the parallels of Roman Polanski’s Chinatown with William Mulholland’s life to the history of politics in East Africa, and enough side tangential subjects to make one’s head spin. He is easily one of our most well-read and informed community members, whose life has led to the fascinating and eclectic wealth of knowledge he holds.

Bob grew up a San Diego native, as the only child of parents running a small horticulture business in La Mesa. As such, he spent much of his time helping out at any one of their three locations, acquiring knowledge and skills that would be applied for a lifetime. After graduating high school Bob studied briefly at UCSD where he pursued his passion in mathematics and physics. He soon found, however, that his true talent lay in his roots, and he decided to transfer to UC Davis to complete his bachelor’s degree in Botany.

He went on to get his Master’s degree in Botany as well, and was working on finishing his doctorate degree when he had to choose between starting a family or continuing his education. He decided on the latter, and postponed his academic pursuits to move back to San Diego to get married in 1978. Bob did put his education to good use, and kept busy running the family business while simultaneously teaching as an adjunct professor at Cuyamaca College and raising his two boys. Despite being busy as a business owner, teacher, and family man, he stayed heavily involved in the academic horticulture community, and served as president of an international plant group in 1990.

After finishing his term, he stayed involved with the board of directors, and thus was plugged into all of the major industrial agriculture events of the past half century. At one point in his career, he was featured on television when SDSU was working with the zoo and the United Nations in Honduras to help the Miskito Indians, during which he taught the natives how to grow orchids (all in Spanish, of course).

In 2007, Bob moved on to the next part of his life, selling his family business and moving up to UC Davis to work as a grant manager of a $3 million grant from the State Water Boards. Far from being a calm, stable change, Bob used the flexible hours of his position to embrace new opportunities. Ever the adventurer, Bob was once briefly involved with a Ugandan company via the Peace Corps, and served as an environmental consultant in the cleaning up of an old copper mine.