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Friday, September 10, 2021

Bob Leroux

 My friend Bob Leroux recently passed away.

I knew Bob for over 50 years and remember him as a person who would help anyone with anything. Always on the move and always happy to assist. We formed a group in High School with Bill Evans and did all sorts of fun and crazy things together - model boats, model planes, board games, going to his cottage, bicycling. I remember the time Bill and Bob actually cycled from Montreal to the cottage (about 100 miles) in one day to prove it could be done. Over the years, as we moved around, we kept in touch and got together, I was best man at his wedding. I remember once being stranded in Toronto due to the airports being closed and spending the night at Bob's little apartment. I napped when he cooked dinner and woke up to the apartment being full of smoke as Bob was barbecuing vigorously on the balcony, I thought the place was on fire. As we got older, Bob was always the same, a happy bundle of energy helping folks. People say he had a strong temper like his father, but I never experienced it personally, although I saw it when Bob and his Dad would be knee deep in mud under the cottage arguing over what was wrong with the jet pump (which seemed to fail every year). Was it the check valve, the jet valve, the foot valve, or the pump, who knows? I also remember when Bob met Diane and was smitten by her. We once drove to the cottage with Diane in the passenger seat and Bob driving with me telling Bob every 5 minutes "look at the road, not Diane!". I am still wondering if they were the ones who planted flamingos on our front lawn for my birthday. Bob was also an inventor, I did not know until recently that he had patents from working at Nortel, Dragonwave, and Huawei. Anyway, we kept in touch and visited as we moved around. Finding out that Bob had PKD was terrible news, and its progression was tragic, but I want to remember Bob for who he was, a great friend and a great person.