Bob's Eulogy

Dear Betsy,

To summarize 58 years of friendship in a few minutes is an effort, but here goes!

Thank you. Bob, for coming to Upper Darby High School in 1956, transforming our average basketball team into a very good one for three years. Thanks for bringing your brains and good looks, noting you were elected our "Best Looking Male Graduate" along with our cheerleader fox, Sandy Sabatino.

Thanks for choosing Lafayette College as I did, rooming together and choosing Chemical Engineering. Thanks for the walk-on invitation in Freshman Basketball, as our team had only seven scholarship players. As a walk-on, I was excluded from the rush Hell Week at our Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, by our coach, because of practice and games.

Thanks for having a photographic mind, achieving honors in chemical engineering classes and helping me and others with some of the very difficult course work encountered in the four years of study.

Thanks for your personal friendship after college until your passing. I went to California in 1963, after graduating from Purdue. You stayed in Philly, working at Air Products and Chemicals, and attended Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Doug Bloom, sitting here today, was a fellow high school classmate and also a Wharton School classmate of yours. Doug graduated from our rival, Lehigh University, where our Lafayette College never lost in 4 years of basketball! Other sports, not so good!

Thanks for having some high scoring games, such as 37 points against a favored LaSalle College, played at the Palestra in Philly. We green shirts got a few minutes in the game, also at the Madison Square Garden in New York City, as the Leopards defeated Manhattan College. What a treat!

By 1980, you met and married Betsy, while working for ARCO Chemical, then the Solar Division. Coming to Woodland Hills, CA with the collies enabled us to continue to visit, playing golf and tennis for another thirty plus years. Always the competitor, Bob, your tennis and golf always improved over the years!

Thanks for opening up your home and vacation properties to our college buddies and our spouses. We started a tradition years ago at the Lafayette Class Reunion, pitting our four Chemical Engineers, Jim Lyttle, Frank Sarubbi, you and me as the spirited foursome in several alumni golf tournaments. We had fun and played fairly well. We continued the golf in local courses near your condo in Leucadia, and most recently in Sedona and Scottsdale.

We will miss the hospitality which you and Betsy provided so graciously.

Bob, you have been a great friend, fraternity brother, and formidable competitor. We will miss you very much.

Tom Burns

 I have had the privilege of working with Bob on a daily basis over the past 16 years and consider Bob a close friend and colleague.  I stand with you today to celebrate the life of my friend.

I met Bob in 1998 shortly after he became CEO of Alanco.  He was looking for a CFO and we met during the interview process.  After a number of interviews, including a dinner interview (I think Bob wanted to see how I would hold my fork) I joined Alanco as CFO and started a 16 year journey with Bob Kauffman.

During our journey, we traveled on numerous business trips, including trips to Wall Street in New York City to meet investment bankers and to New Jersey to review operations of Alanco’s StarTrak subsidiary.   You get to know a lot about a man traveling with him on business trips.  I knew that by the time we met for breakfast, Bob had already read the Wall Street Journal, analyzed the stock market and confirmed his instructions to his broker.  He had cleared his emails and was ready for the series of scheduled meeting, announcing what goals he expected to accomplish at each meeting.  To say you had to be on top of your game traveling with Bob was an understatement. 

We also traveled together internationally to Singapore to evaluate a possible merger candidate.  We arrived in Singapore and made it through customs without incident.  It was only after we met our business contacts and they explained that bringing chewing gum into Singapore was illegal and punishable by caning (Yes being beaten with a cane) that I started to worry.  I had just gone through customs with five packs of gum in my briefcase.  Bob thought that was hilarious.  I relaxed a little when they said I was safe because in Singapore it is also illegal to cane anyone over 50.

Bob was intense when in business discussion but in an instant he could become Mr. Personable.   He could talk on almost any subject and keep a party going.   That probably explains the emails and phone calls I have received since Bob’s death from Alanco business associates all over the world that considered Bob not only a respected colleague but a true friend.

Bob was not all work and no play.  He enjoyed life. 

Ø He was a good tennis player.  I certainly would not get on the tennis court with him.
Ø He loved golf, especially when he was winning.
Ø He loved basketball.  If you wanted to see him light up just ask about the last Sun’s game.
Ø I even talked him in going on a fishing trip to Canada with his son Scott and my son Jeff. We had a great time.

In summary, if I had only a few words in which to describe Bob, they would be:

Ø Husband and Father – he loved his family and wanted only the best.
Ø Smart Businessman– truly understood the business world and enjoyed it.
Ø Tenacious – Once he focuses on an issue, he wants it resolved and nothing would stand in the way.
Ø Personable – His personality gave him the ability to develop long term friendships from people from all walks of life and from all over the world.
Ø And finally in describing Bob, I would simply say “Bob was my friend”.

This is incredible!!  For the first time in 16 years with Bob – “I get the final word”.

Dad, 

I have Loved you ever since I was a little girl. If there could be one main thing I admired about you the most, it is how much of a hard worker you were. Because of that, along with you and mom having chosen me to be your daughter, you gave me the best life I could have ever dreamed of. I can never thank you enough for having chosen me.

You were my first love and my best friend. Loosing you saddens my heart but I know you are still protecting me even from the other side. 

 I will forever remember how much I enjoyed spending time with you. The things you have taught me that have made me enjoy life have been, playing tennis, golf, shooting guns, going to antique shops, and driving around looking at houses. The laughs we had during all of those activities will be cherished for the rest of my life. 

You have all the characteristics I look for in a man, a friend and definitely within myself. Some one who knows how to work hard and play hard. You and I were a lot alike. We are both Hard headed, stubborn, smart "Allics", Smart, Hard working, Kind of a hermit crab, and a natural athlete. 

I am very happy to have had the privilege for 23 years and 3 months of my life, to have called you Dad. You are irreplaceable and one of a kind. I wish you were given more time to listen to me tell you how much I love you and thank you for all you have done and how grateful I am that you chose me. 

Some people say that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Well I'm not from your tree but I fell pretty far from the one I came from and got picked up by you and who knew I would be the perfect daughter for you and you the perfect father for me. 

God had a plan, and I'm so glad you were apart of mine.

We don't always get to choose our children or parents, but since you and mom did, I'm glad you chose me.

 I love you Dad. This is not a good bye, but a see you later. 

Love, Kelly 

Robert “Bob” Richard Kauffman passed away suddenly at home on Saturday, March 8, 2014, in Scottsdale, Arizona, at the age of 73.  He is survived by the love of his life, his wife Elizabeth “Betsy” Woolridge Kauffman. “Bob”, as he was known to family and friends, was born in Philadelphia, PA, on March 17, 1940, to Robert Edgar Kauffman and Anna Gamble Kauffman. He was raised in Upper Darby, PA. He graduated from Upper Darby High School where he was a top student and a star basketball player known for his “spectacular jump shot and driving like a demon” down the court.

Bob had the same drive and ambition to be the best in academics that he displayed in basketball. He earned a BS in Chemical Engineering at Lafayette College in Easton, PA, while astounding his Phi Kappa Psi fraternity brothers with his combination of social stamina and academic dedication. Bob was an integral part of Lafayette’s winning basketball team and according to his former basketball mentor was “a star the moment he walked onto the Lafayette campus.” Bob earned a coveted spot on the First Team of the Middle Atlantic Conference. He served as president of Phi Kappa Psi and was president of the senior class. He was also a member of the Tau Beta Pi mechanical engineering honor society, the Knights of the Round Table, and Lafayette Senior Honor Society. He was awarded the Texaco Scholarship and the American Institute of Chemical Engineering Award.

He earned his MBA in Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School. As a Wharton graduate, Bob’s business interests were wide and varied. Living up to the press from his basketball career, he had an “explosive ability to be a game changer, great speed, and was a terrific marksman.” A great leader never lacking in courage, he had a keen mind as well as an intense curiosity and desire to learn. In the words of a colleague, “he could strike swiftly at the heart of an issue, identify weaknesses of a project, and come up with intellectually sound solutions without ever coming off as arrogant. He was kind, gentle, humorous, and able to command affection and respect in equal proportions.” He relished finding and help developing promising small companies and was a mentor and friend to many of his business associates and friends.

Bob began his career at Air Products and Chemicals in Allentown, PA. In 1966 he joined Atlantic Richfield’s Chemical division and held a number of key executive roles including President of ARCO Polymers. In 1982 he was named Sr. VP of Arco Solar Industries, the leading manufacturer of Photovoltaics in the world.  From there Bob joined Photocomm in Scottsdale, AZ, which he brought from a small distributor and to the forefront of the solar energy business. As President and Chief Executive Officer, he took the company public in 1988. In 1995 Bob was a finalist for the Arizona Entrepreneur of the Year.

Bob was on the board of IsoRay, a brachytherapy cancer treatment company located in Richmond, WA, and of ConeTech, a spinning cone wine alcohol adjustment company in Sonoma Valley, CA.

Bob traveled all over the world for business, enjoying each country and its people. He and Betsy also shared a love of travel, planning trips both far and near in their life together. A lifelong athlete, Bob turned in his basketball shoes for a tennis racquet and golf clubs, quickly excelling at both sports. He and his family enjoyed quiet times at their cabin in northern Arizona and on the beach in California. Throughout his life he could be found napping with various canine companions many of whom were collies named Rex.

One of Bob’s most endearing qualities was his ability to tell a story, regaling others as much as he regaled himself, invariably being overcome with his own laughter. His laughter was so infectious that the pleasure of watching Bob tell the story often outshone the story itself.

 Loving husband and father, loyal and supportive friend, Bob will be greatly missed by all who had the opportunity to know and love him. He is survived by his wife of thirty-three years Betsy, his children R. Eric Kauffman, Scott R. Kauffman, and Kelly Elizabeth Kauffman, and his goldendoodles Bentley and Hudson.

A Celebration of Life was  held on Saturday, March 15, 2014, at 11:00 a.m. at Messinger Mortuary. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you donate to your favorite charity in Bob’s name.