Robert Francis ‘Bob’ Andrews

July 16, 1934 - February 14, 2020

SAN DIEGO — Robert ‘Bob’ Francis Andrews, 85, of San Diego, California, passed away February 14, 2020, in his Mission Hills home, surrounded by his family.

He was born July 16, 1934, in Butte, Montana, the son of late Nikola and Eliza Andrews, immigrants from Croatia. He was the youngest of 12 siblings, and worked in the Montana copper mines for many years during his youth.

Bob earned a basketball scholarship to Seattle University in Washington and finished college early to attend Marquette Medical School. He completed his residencies in neurological surgery at the Baylor College of Medicine and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

While completing a special fellowship in neuropathology at Harvard University, he met Maureen Joanne Galvin, of Boston, at City Hospital.

They married four months later Dec. 26, 1963 and moved immediately to Houston where he finished his residency as a neurosurgeon and where they had their first daughter Catherine.

In the spring of 1966, Bob was drafted into the U.S. Army to serve a much-needed role as a neurosurgeon in the Vietnam War, leaving behind Maureen, Catherine and newborn second daughter Jennifer. After a year in Vietnam, as a neurosurgeon with a tent for a hospital, he was

transferred to Ft. Lewis in Tacoma, Washington, and then honorably discharged from the U.S. Army with the rank of Captain, in 1968.

The family later settled in San Diego County, where for more than 25 years he practiced neurosurgery and where he became father to three more children, daughter Nicole and sons Theodore and Robert.

As a doctor, Bob was known for his brilliance in diagnosis and care of patients, going above and beyond his specialty to ensure support, love, empathy and compassion for everyone he treated, including their families. He was honored in a remarkable fashion upon his retirement from Tri-city Hospital with a standing ovation from other doctors.

Bob loved neurosurgery, and medicine in general. But when time allowed, he also enjoyed woodworking, golf, watching baseball and football and his timeconsuming role as family handyman. His hobby in his later years was reading history and studying math and physics online.

The greatest joy in his life was his family and his great pride and love for Maureen and their children and grandchildren. Although a shy man, he also was emotive, and expressed his feelings openly and frequently, good or bad.

Heissurvivedby Maureen, his wife of 56 years, and all their children, as well as his son-in-law Uwe Brandes and granddaughters Clare and Justine Brandes, of Washington, D.C.

A funeral mass will be held Saturday, February 29, 2020, 11 a.m. at The Immaculate Conception Church in Old Town, San Diego, with a reception to follow at the adjoining hall.

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