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Dr. Robert M. Gesler, of Ahwatukee, AZ, passed away April 30, 2010, in Denver, Colorado, surrounded by his loving family. Born October 26, 1926, in Evanston, Illinois, Bob spent his youth in Aurora, Illinois. He joined the Navy in March, 1944, retiring as a Lieutenant in 1966 after several years of active and inactive reserve duty. Bob graduated in 1947 from the University of New Mexico with a BS. He was a lifelong member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and was admitted to the Phi Kappa Phi honorary fraternity. In 1950 and 1952 respectively, he received his MS and PhD from Northwestern University. In September, 1947, Bob married Evelyn Wilma Mellard of Hope, New Mexico, after falling in love "at first sight of her" at a Sigma Chi fraternity party. He and Wilma raised five sons. During their fifty-one years of marriage, they lived in Aurora and Chicago, Illinois, Washington D.C., East Riverdale, NJ, Albany and Elsmere, NY, Libertyville and Deerfield, Illinois, Albuquerque, New Mexico and Ahwatukee, Arizona. Bob worked as a research pharmacologist at Sterling Winthrop Research Institute in Rensselaer, NY, and at Baxter Laboratories in Morton Grove, Illinois, as Head of the Pharmacology Department. In 1972 he retired from the pharmaceutical industry and realized a lifetime dream of returning to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he built and managed two family oriented swim and tennis clubs, two sports he believed were lifelong activities. Bob, an avid tennis player and skier, played in many USTA sanctioned tennis tournaments in the Southwest and was training to become a member of the Sandia Peak ski patrol when hip replacement surgery ended that adventure. Bob and Wilma moved to Ahwatukee in 1992 where Bob started the Table Tennis Club at the Ahwatukee Recreation Center. He was also active in the ceramics club, served for four years as the ARC Woodworking Club president and was volunteer manager of the ARC gift shop. Bob loved wearing his purple Navigator's jacket as a volunteer at Sky Harbor airport for over six years. Bob was preceded in death by the love of his life, Wilma, in 1998, his mother, Marie Gesler, in 1998 one month after her 100th birthday, his father, Wendell Gesler in the fall of 1946 and grandson Adam Gesler in 2003. He is survived by his sister Marion White, of Canton, Connecticut; five "fine" sons; James of Wooster, Ohio; Robert of Dallas, Texas; Peter of Mesa, Arizona; Thomas of Simi Valley, California; and David of Denver, Colorado; and their wives, Lana, Valinda, Gwen, Kim and Amy, 11 grandchildren and six great grandchildren. A marvelous Father, Grandfather and Great-Grandfather, his family loved and admired him greatly. Bob felt he was blessed to have had so many years of great family, great friends and great health. A memorial service will be held on May 29, at the Lakeshore Mortuary, 1815 South Dobson Road, Mesa, AZ, at 2 PM.
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