Robert Blakely Lesher, the second of four boys, was born into a Reform Jewish family on September 19, 1959, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to Stephan (a political journalist from Brooklyn, New York) and Sylvia Lesher (from Montgomery, Alabama). The family moved around a few times due to his father Stephan’s profession, eventually settling in McLean, Virginia—where they would all stay for much of Rob’s early life. Rob enjoyed activities such as baseball, bowling, basketball, tennis, movies, and swimming. He was also a great lover of food (particularly Indian and Mexican). Later in life, he began to travel around the world. But what he loved most of all was music. In his youth, he collected every Beatles record album as soon as they hit the stores. The Beatles were his favorite band growing up, and he still loved them in his later adult life. Rob played guitar, drums, and dabbled in piano. He and his brothers formed a band as kids—calling themselves “The Babies.” Michael (the eldest), wrote some original lyrics to popular tunes, and they all sang these parodies together. Rob would continue with his music hobby for his entire life—playing drums in many different rock bands over the years. In 1982, Rob graduated from George Mason University with a BS in Business Administration, and married Jersey native Shelley Martinez Howard shortly after. They were married for 25 years (until 2007) and had three children. Rob financially supported his wife Shelley for 16 years during their marriage so that she could stay at home to raise their children and homeschool them. Together, they went into Messianic Jewish ministry and continued for many years as worship leaders and speakers. However, Rob’s primary career was in finance—starting as a bank teller and slowly climbing the ladder—eventually becoming Executive Director of Client Services at Edelman Financial Engines in his most recent years. Rob passed away on March 24th, 2025, at his apartment in Fairfax, Virginia. He is survived by his three children, Ethan, Tabitha and Esther, his three brothers, Michael, Jeff and Joe, his sister Julie, his mother Sylvia, many nieces and nephews, as well as both of his ex-wives, Shelley Martinez and Christine Pongoh (married 2017-2022). His remains were cremated on April 7th, 2025. A celebration of life was held in his memory on September 14th, 2025, at The Lake House in Reston, Virginia, and his ashes were put to rest at Great Falls Park on September 15th, 2025.

Send to someone

Share this obituary with others

https://everloved.com/life-of/robert-lesher/obituary/

Copy