Robert B. Vogel, 66 of Delray Beach, FL died on January 25, 2017 after a courageous fight with cancer. He was born in Hartford and grew up in West Hartford. He is the son of Jean B. Vogel of Boca Raton, FL and West Hartford, CT, and the late Stanley W. Vogel. He attended The Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Hobart and William Smith College and received his MBA from Harvard University. He enjoyed traveling, boating and called work his hobby. He loved exploring — from buying a car for European delivery and driving thousands of miles, to finding every lobster roll restaurant in Maine, to driving the mountains of the Carolinas. He was a true entrepreneur starting young delivering The Hartford Times Newspaper. After receiving his Harvard MBA, he was hired by General Mills in Minnesota as a brand manager. He would host the family for water skiing and sailing while in Minneapolis, but he liked the warm weather of FL. He and his father, Stanley, opened a chain of women’s retail stores in Florida. While managing the stores he also opened a computer store in the early eighties. Over the years he had a vision of how computers, technology and then the internet could be used efficiently in everyday life. He even wrote the computer programs and code for the retail stores and his web navigation skills were extensive. He was a voracious reader. If the subject interested him, he wanted to learn everything about it. He would read all kinds of feeds from news, shopping, politics, financials, to cars on a daily basis. If there was a deal to be found, he knew about it. If the information was available he had read it and he had researched it. He loved his family and leaves his brothers James W. Vogel of New Albany, OH and Philip J Vogel of Bloomfield, CT. and three nieces and a nephew, Jessica Vogel, Stephanie Vogel, Charlotte Vogel, Samuel Vogel, and many many cousins. The family expresses its deep appreciation to Dr. Timothy J. Hong and Sheila Burke at the Helen and Harry Gray Cancer Center, Hartford Hospital and also to his caregivers during his last days, Cynthia, Jovia and Kim for their extraordinary compassion. A private service will be held at a date arranged by the family. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Helen & Harry Gray Cancer Center 85 Retreat Ave #2 Hartford, CT 06106 or The Stanley Vogel Family Fund at The Loomis Chaffee School 4 Batchelder Rd, Windsor, CT 06095. Arrangements are entrusted to Weinstein Mortuary, Hartford, CT.
