Bob R. O'Brien

Bob Randolph O'Brien passed through his 9th and final life on July 1, 2006 after a hard-fought struggle with cancer. Bob was born August 11, 1930 in Decatur Texas and spent his last hours surrounded by family, with a bird-feeder on the window and a view of the mountains he loved. Bob was born August 11, 1930 in Decatur Texas, the son of Randolph and Bernice O'Brien. His lifelong love of exploration, adventure and knowledge began early: as a young man, he became an accomplished mountaineer with notable ascents in the Cascades, Grand Tetons, Mexico, and many of the Rocky Mountain "thirteeners". While serving overseas during the Korean War, he summated Japan's Mt. Fujiyama. Bob also loved running rivers, and over a span of 50 years explored famous streams of Idaho, Colorado, California, Arizona and Utah. In 195x Bob met and married Patsy Gilmer, to whom he proposed on the summit of Wyoming's Grand Teton. Bob earned BS and MS degrees in Geology from U. Texas, and his Doctorate in Geography from the University of Washington in 1965. He taught initially at Montana State University in Bozeman, and in 1966 moved his family to San Diego where he began a 40+ year-long career as an energetic professor in the SDSU Department of Geography. The platform of his courses was field trips ranging from urban- and National Parks of California, to varied landscapes of many European countries. His passion for adventure travel compelled him twice to Nepal, where he trekked hundreds of kilometers among the world's highest mountains. He also completed walks entirely across the countries of Switzerland and England, twice completed the Sierra's 222-mile John Muir Trail, and ascended 47 of the fifty high points in the United States. In addition to extensive travel throughout Europe, he visited all 7 continents and explored places such as the Amazon, Tanzania, and sub-arctic Norway. A passionate conservationist, Bob actively supported wilderness issues with time and money, gave many programs at his local Sierra Club chapter, and in 1999, published Our National Parks and the Search for Sustainability. Bob officially "retired" in 1995, but continued to teach until Spring 2006. As his final outing, he led a large field trip through California's Yosemite Valley, one of his favorite places on earth. Bob is survived by his mother Bernice O'Brien,100, of Decatur, Texas; his daughter Laura O'Brien and son Gary O'Brien; daughter-in-law Tammy Rittenour; his grandchildren Nate, Liam, and Sweet pea; and niece Cecile, all of Logan, Utah. He also leaves behind many friends, students, and colleagues whose lives he touched with his smile, knowledge, humor, wisdom and gentleness.