ForeverMissed
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2014-10-28 01.29.48

Share a special moment from Robert's life.

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December 28, 2023
by Gloria Finkelstein
I met Bob Hart many years ago when we were just starting out in our apartments on E. 58th street in Manhattan. I had just bought a cake that I that I couldn’t resist.  I had one piece. To prevent myself from eating more, I decided to give the rest to the tenant across the hall. That is how I met Bob, and his brother, who was there at the time.
The three of us became friendly and went out together from time to time. Over the next several years I could not have asked for a better neighbor. We would visit with each other. Bob was always smart, helpful, creative, funny and kind. He had interesting friends and acquaintances from various walks of life, who added interest to my life as well. As he was fixing up his apartment, it was essential that everything should be made of wood. Even his flatware had wood in the handles. That is why I realize that his invention of salad fingers fit him to a T.
I wondered over the years what ever became of Bob. He just disappeared and the apartment remained vacant up to the time that I left.  I googled his name along with the name Arthur King, and found this web site. I am glad to know that he had a good life. That he found a soul made. And that together they raised their wonderful loving child. He had loving relatives and friends as well.
R.I.P. Robert Hart

One of a kind!

October 24, 2022
by Lulu Hart Bentley
Uncle Bobby was definitely one of a kind! Funny, loving, generous, thoughtful and unique. When my sister and I were little kids we used to love it when he would visit us and take us for a ride on his big motorcycle.  He was definitely the cool uncle! I miss him.

Pumpkin

November 23, 2014
by Lauren Hart
I know that there is a lot more to my dad life then what I was a part of but for the last 28 years from the moment the nurse said “it’s a girl” I became daddy’s little girl.  Dad started crying and the nurse said you can always try again…she didn’t realize that it was tears of happiness.  I know it took him and mom a long time to decide to have me but on July 2, 1986 here I came.  There is obviously tons of stuff that happened that I don’t remember that I have to be told about or see in pictures or videos but I there is also a ton of stuff I do remember and I think it is those things I will cherish most dear.  I remember our little getaways from the restaurant to Disney. I remember going to ship Salad Fingers together.  I remember making him loose his big toe nail at least twice.  I remember him always thinking of me even when money was tight and him bringing me flowers on Friday nights.  I know we had some rough times but at the end I truly loved out relationship.  I could ask or tell him anything without the fear of being judged.  I could call him up out of the blue and ask him to drive me to Miami and he would.  It is because of this relationship that we created that we were able to have an amazing last weekend of his life.  It was a weekend I will always treasure.  We actually felt like a family again.
 
My dad was one of a kind, truly, and I cannot believe that he is gone.  There is so much that he is going to miss out on.  He is going to miss my first day as a real engineer (which by the way is January 5th), he won’t be there to help inspect my first home purchase, he will not be there to walk me down the aisle or see me start my own family and he never got the chance to be a grandfather other than to two four legged furry creatures.  It is because of him though that I now have an extra little push of motivation to make the most of my life, live life to the fullest cause you never know when it will end and to try as hard as I can in everything I do.  Although I will never get to see his face again or hear his voice I know that he is watching out for me and seeing everything I accomplish and bragging about me to grandma, grandpa and Uncle Dick, telling him I told you she would be a civil engineer one day.  He is now with his family and best friends and one day, hopefully a long time from now I will see him again and everyone else that is there with him watching down on us as I know they are. 

Ditzian & Hart Bond

November 10, 2014
by Robin Ditzian

My sincerest condolences and sympathy go out to the Hart family on the loss of Bobby Hart.   The Ditzian family and Hart family will forever be bonded together.  It started when my dad, Frederick (Freddy) Ditzian and my Uncle Richard (Dick) Hart got into trouble in elementary school in New York.  When my grandmother Florence Klein and my Aunt Mae Hart went to school to bail out the 2 boys it started a friendship between these two women, their husbands and family that has spanned over three quarters of a century, three generations and two states Florida and New York. I worked with Bobby Hart at Terminal Fabrics on my breaks from college U of F and always enjoyed seeing him, talking and giving him a hug and kiss hello when we saw each other.  My mom still has the salad fingers and still has some of the crate art in the house we live in.  We will always be family. May your hearts soon be filled with wonderful memories of joyful times together as you celebrate Bobby’s well lived life.  Take comfort in knowing that now you have a special guardian angel Bobby to watch over you with Aunt Mae, Uncle Sid, Uncle Dick, my father Freddy Ditzian and my grandparents Florence & Harry Klein.  RIP Bobby.  Love and miss you xoxoxo 

The Wizard

October 30, 2014
by Rose Hart
05 My Funny Valentine

When I moved from Tampa to Miami in the early 70's I was hoping to meet someone who was avante-garde, bohemian, smart and unique...someone to soothe my wanton soul.  Well, be careful what you wish for because I got it in spades when I met Bobby Hart. We were kindred spirits from the start. The night I met him, April 20, 1974, was his 29th birthday.  We were together in one way or another since then until the day he died.

For us, if you could think it you could do it, which resulted in so many exciting adventures.  We traveled at the spur of the moment to nearby and faraway places.  One time while hosting a New Year's Eve party we decided to celebrate the holiday in three time zones and took off to meet friends in Los Angeles leaving our friends at our house partying with the instruction to have fun and leave the key under the mat!

We bought and sold antique art work, real estate which we restored then rented and became landlords and friends of our tenants.  We created businesses like SALAD FINGERS and traveled the country doing trade shows once landing on the front page of THE SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER home section with our product and with Bob opening for David Letterman who liked his hat with a salad on it!

Our home where we lived for almost three decades on Sunset Drive was not only historic according to the Dade County Historic Registry, but in every other way as well.  It was the 70's in Miami after all!  It was a coral rock house originally and was one of the first on Sunset Drive when Sunset was just a dirt road.  It was filled with love, art, lively conversation, a 1947 ROCK-OLA juke box and friends from all over the world enjoying my cooking from  our commercial pots on our commercial stove before most households had that.  Any additions or restorations we could dream up were never a problem for Bobby, the Wizard.  If it couldn't be done by conventional methods he would think of a way...for everything.  We were like the Lucy and Ricky or Sonny and Cher of South Miami. 

In 1986 we had Lauren Louise who was our long awaited princess.  Lauren fit right into our unusual life style and all of the creativity was passed onto her.

We decided we needed a Beach House and found one in Key Largo.  We asked brother and sister, Dick and Buff, to join us which they did and it has for a quarter of a century been the HART BEACH HOUSE. Lauren was only two and spent her long summer days there swimming with the fish as she grew up.

Like with Sonny and Cher and Ricky and Lucy, we also divorced after 28 years of marriage.  There were some rocky times as is the case with most relationships, but in the end we re-united as a family even though Bob had moved to Gainesville.  We spent most holidays together and had become especially close in the last few years spending a beautiful weekend together with all of our dogs, his last.

Bob forever changed my life as I did his.  I didn't realize until he left us how very much I still love him, how much my life will never be the same and how the void he left is unfillable.  He was then and will forever be "MY FUNNY VALENTINE."

 

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