Robert Lene’ Nielsen

Jul. 25, 1929 - Mar. 22, 2019

Bob Nielsen was born in Fullerton, California to Harold and Ellen Nielsen, both from Lexington, Nebraska, though with roots in Denmark and Sweden respectively. As a boy, Bob worked in the orchards driving a tractor through Orange County citrus groves, including those where Disneyland now stands. He attended Fullerton Union High School, where he was student body president, and then Stanford University, graduating in 1951. At Stanford, he played on the Freshman Football team and was a member of Beta Theta Pi, forming many lifelong friendships. While at Stanford, Bob met Marian Beaver, whom he married in 1952.

In 1952, following college, Bob enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving two tours of duty in the Pacific during the Korean War as a supply officer on the USS Bremerton and the USS Taussig. After active duty, Bob came back to Stanford where he attended the Graduate School of Business, graduating in 1957. He spent the next thirty years with the Zischke Organization (later Towers Watson) in San Francisco, specializing in profit-sharing plan design and administration. Bob continued his naval career as a reserve officer for twenty years, retiring from the Supply Corps in 1989 with the rank of Commander. He was a long-time member of the Olympic Club in San Francisco, where he enjoyed the happy fellowship of the early morning workout group. He served on the board of the Inverness Yacht Club in the 1960s, where his personal fleet included a Penguin, El Toros, a Sunfish, and a Day Sailor, with which a large handicap once enabled him to win the Drakes Cup though finishing last. He was a board member of the Oakland Museum Association, president of the History Guild, and a member of the American Museums Association Trustees Committee. Bob and Marian raised their three children in Palo Alto and Berkeley, moving to Orinda in 1968 and Rossmoor in 2008. Together, they had many happy years with family and friends; highpoints included summers at Inverness and travels in Europe and Asia after Bob retired. They enjoyed dining out and evenings at the San Francisco Ballet and the San Francisco Opera. They were also Stanford sports fans, making football tailgates a part of their life up until 2014.

Bob is survived by his wife, Marian, three children, Sally Eleanor and Lucy Elizabeth, both of San Francisco, Andrew George (Nancy) of Denver, and four grand-children, Cara Keller of Oakland, Peter, Phoebe, and Eleanor Nielsen of Denver, as well as his brother, Thomas Nielsen, of Newport Beach, and many nieces and nephews.

A family farewell will be private.