Robert (D. "Bob") Moses

Bob was born to Eli and Ida Lublin Moses in Hartford, CT and attended Hartford High School. He then went on to graduate from Michigan State College, now University, with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1940. Later in life, Bob completed an M.B.A. at University of Hartford.

After college he was employee no. 4 at McDonnell Aircraft (later McDonnell-Douglas) in St. Louis, MO, and was a lifelong friend of Sandy McDonnell, the founder. There he met and in 1942 married Greta Westerfeld. The Army called him up from his critical skills deferment in 1944. Bob was preparing to invade Japanese held islands on 6 August 1945, when news that Hiroshima was hit with an atomic bomb, spared him from combat. He was transferred to serve as a liaison to the State Dept. to sell Army airplanes in the Philippines and completed his service in 1946 with the rank of captain.

He went on to work for Piasecki Helicopter in Philadelphia, PA until 1950, when he took an engineering position with Kaman Aircraft in Bloomfield, CT. He worked his way up to the executive ranks and ran divisions including the music company that developed the Ovation acoustic guitar from composite technology used to make helicopter blades, the industrial bearing company, a machine automation company, and the airport fixed-based operations company (including BDL and JAX), among others. Bob was also assigned duties lobbying Congress and the Pentagon and served as a director of the Greater Hartford Chamber of Commerce and the Connecticut Chamber. He retired in 1984, but continued to lobby and consult for Kaman for a couple of years.

Bob loved to fish anywhere and did. That’s partly the fault of his best fishing buddy Paul Leblang (Greenwich, CT), who helped make it a most private competition between them. The fault was shared, since Bob showed that you could fish until you dropped, from his back porch or from a walker. His fishing stories were legend.

He lost Greta, his wife of 49 years, in 1991.

The friends he developed in Jacksonville found him a new permanent Bridge partner in Renee Wolfson. They were married after Thanksgiving in 1992. A particular sub-group of the Jacksonville friends formed the Lunch Bunch. Most Wednesdays, Marvin, Walter, Sidney, Perry, and later, Rabbi Bob, would gather with Bob at a restaurant for lunch. Perry summed it up, “The food was always great!”

Perry and Shirley Cohen became Bob and Renee’s travel buddies. Of course the Cohens made sure “the food was great!,” whether they were cruising the Caribbean, France, the Bahamas, or touring Israel. The Cohens also came to visit in Connecticut several times.

He skied the slopes of Vermont until his son made Utah powder irresistible and skied until he was about 85. He played tennis into his early nineties.

Bob lost Renee after 21 years of marriage in 2014. He split retirement between Connecticut and Florida, making one last visit after having his heart broken a second time. Although his health stayed well for another year and a half, his heart just wasn’t in it. On Saturday afternoon, April 2, in Jacksonville, FL, surrounded by family, Bob Moses slowly closed his eyes and simply expired after an exhaustive 97 years of an active, accomplished, and full life.

His family extend heart-felt gratitude to his healthcare aides, who did what his family could not do long distance. Bob wanted to stay in his home if at all possible, and they made it possible.

He was preceded in death by his parents, all of his 26 aunts and uncles, sister Dr. Leah Krieger (Ellenville, NY), brother Dr. Herbert Moses (Trenton, NJ), brother-in-law Dr. Larry Bonham (Seattle, WA), daughter Dr. Dana Moses (St. Thomas, USVI), son-in-law Paul Litwin (Potomac, MD), grand-nephew Trapper Bonham (Houston), and Bob’s two wives. He is survived by sister Selma Bonham (Seattle, WA), sister-in-law Sally Moses (Trenton, NJ), daughter Linda Litwin (Potomac, MD), son Elliot (Jolene) Moses (Ogden, UT), grand-children, Seth (Jennifer) Litwin (Portland, OR), Jared (Tysie) Litwin (San Francisco, CA), Josh (Ashley) Goodman, Tia Moses, Morgan Moses; and four great-grand children.

Bob adopted Renee’s family in his heart and was preceded by in-laws Ruby (Morris) Price and step-son Bob Wolfson. He is survived by step-children David Wolfson (Jacksonville Beach, FL), Gary Wolfson (Tallahasee, FL), Ricky (Karen) Wolfson (Jacksonville, FL), Dr. Bud (Lisa) Wolfson (Jacksonville, FL), step-daughter-in-law Vicki Wolfson (Norfolk, VA), step-grandchildren Amy Wolfson (Tanzania), Mandy (Ross) Firoved (Norfolk, VA), Andy Wolfson (Sydney, Australia), Jordan Wolfson (Los Angeles, CA), Mia Wolfson (Dominican Republic), Rebecca Wolfson (Jacksonville, FL), Benjamin Wolfson (Missoula, MT), Jacob Wolfson (Jacksonville, FL), Jared Wolfson (Jacksonville, FL), Alex Wolfson (Jacksonville, FL), Allison Wolfson (Jacksonville, FL), and three step-great grandchildren.

Funeral service were held on Friday April 8, 2016 at Hardage-Giddens’ Hendricks Chapel, 4115 Hendricks Ave., Jacksonville, FL. Service and internment will be conducted graveside at 10 a.m., Sunday, 8 May 2016 at the B’nai Israel Beth Olam Cemetery, 75 Edith Rd., Vernon, CT.