Robert Jacob Olson, born April 7, 1937, in Evbanston, Illinois, passed away in Pasadena, California on August 23, 2015. Bob spent his early years in Chicago,Illinois. After he graduated from high school, he worked as a golf caddy at Bryn Mawr Country Club while attending and later graduating from Lake Forest College with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Adminstration in 1959.
His father, George Bernard Olson, born in Chicago, was a registrar at Illinois Technical College. His mother, Marie Nottoli Olson, born in Lucca, Italy, came to the United States and settled in Chicago, Illinois, when she was three years old. As a homemaker and an outstanding cook she always included her large family for Sunday evening dinners. Bob remembered his grandfather from Italy as one who loved opera.
Bob's brother, George, who is currently living in North Carolina and his sister, Joy, who is currently living in Wilmette, Illinois, were his best friends.
After graduation from college, Bob married Mary Lowry and they had four children: Stacey, Kirsten, Lori and Heather. They divorced after 15 years of marriage. He later married Diana Craft Colson on May 30, 1976. On their honeymoon through Europe, Bob recieved a call that Lori, age 10 and Heather, age 7, their mother and her fiance' were killed in the fiance's' private airplane in a crash in the mountains of Colorado. The loss of Bob's two children, Lori, Heather, and their mother, Mary was traumatic for everyone.
A new family of four living in San Francisco, included Bob and Diana, Stacey age 15 and Kirsten, age 12. Not an easy start where everyone was grief-stricken. The next year, the new family took a trip to China just as international travel opened for the first time in 40 years. In september, 1979, Stacey went to college. Bob, Diana and Kirsten moved to La Canada Flintridge, and bought a home on Meadow Grove.
In 1985, Bob and Diana moved to Pasadena where they lived, prior to his death. Bob has two granddaughters, Emma Olson, and Rosa Olson-McKenzie, and a great granddaughter, Lola Pitman, age 4.
In San Francisco, Bob was a Senior Executive in charge of the west coast office of American Re-Insurance Company. When moving to Pasdena, he was a financial analyst/stockbrother with Dean Witter and then with Cal Fed Bank where he was a member of the Million Dollar Club. He started Stellar Financial Services, a company that offers a National Disaster Income Protector policy.
Bob was always creative with writing poems, songs and books. Diana noted that he also wrote her beautiful love letters! He wrote a book, "Santa Wants a Chauffer" for young children that won a Mom's Choice Award. His poems have won many awards in the National Library of Poetry.
Cooking was his favorite creative hobby. He cooked Diana's meals for forty years! He also enjoyed golf, tennis, walking, and lawn bowling. Fine dining, symphonies, plays, operas, and museums were the arts that Bob and Diana Frequently enjoyed. He enjoyed relaxing and was a voracious reader of novels.
As a Christian, his faith was a great part of who he was and how he lived. He wrote the lyrics to several Christian songs. His family and friends were also very important to Bob. As one who was deeply loved, he enjoyed bringing people together and giving love to others. Bob Olson was an expressive, dynamic and loving man. He waill always be remembered and will live in our hearts forever...