Robert (Bob) Edelman died peacefully, surrounded by his children and their spouses, on Thursday, April 9th. In the days before his passing, several of his grandchildren were able to say their “goodbyes,” and he met his newest great-grandchild for the first time. At 98, he had lived a full, rich life. 

A devoted husband to Helen (1928-2019) for 65 years, he was a caring and involved father to Kurt (Lynn), Douglas (Genie), and Barbara (Darryll); a caring grandfather to Bridget (Tom), Thomas (Amy), Conor, Amanda, Robert (Anuja), Luke (Laurel), and Sarah (Padric); a proud great-grandfather to Grace (Jameson), Meg, Ellie, Tommy, Ishan, and Varun; and inspiring uncle to Helen and Matthew.

Helen and Bob raised their family in Irondequoit before moving to Pittsford. He had lived at Cloverwood Senior Living since 2015.

Bob grew up in Buffalo, NY where he attended Bennett High School. He studied and taught mechanical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He always enjoyed teaching and took many opportunities to teach during his career. Much of his work was related to developing new products, first at the Taylor Instrument Cos. and then at Eastman Kodak Co.

An outdoor enthusiast, he took many camping and canoe trips with his family and was scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 127, leading the troop on monthly weekend campouts year-round, as well as several extended summer canoe trips in the Adirondacks. He and Helen shared an island in the 1000 Islands for 30 years with John and Anna Bundschuh. John and Bob greatly enjoyed their many construction projects on the island.

Always community-minded, Bob contributed his time, skills, expertise, and resources to a number of organizations. The YMCA was an important part of his life, personally, and he believed deeply in its mission.  While still in high school during WWII, he was the staff Program Director for the Delaware YMCA in Buffalo. During the 1960’s, he helped lead FORE, an organization that recruited and supported candidates for the West Irondequoit School Board who would advocate for quality education – including participation in the Urban-Suburban Inter-district Transfer Program in Rochester, NY, the nation's oldest voluntary school desegregation program. Later he was elected to the School Board and served as its president. For many years, he and Helen engaged with Global Volunteers, participating in service projects in 13 countries.

Those who knew him were inspired by his kind, gracious, good-natured personality; wide-ranging intellect; community engagement; lifelong exercise discipline; continuous curiosity; and ability to fix just about anything around the house.  His inventions led to multiple patents - as well as dozens of unique and elegant household tools and fixtures.

Bob chose to donate his body to the Anatomical Gift Program at the University of Rochester to support future physicians and medical research.

A celebration of Bob’s life will be held at 1:30pm on Saturday, June 6th at Cloverwood Senior Living (1 Sinclair Drive, Pittsford).

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to Planned Parenthood (plannedparenthood.org) or Maplewood YMCA (rochesterymca.org)