Robert Lewers, Sr.

Bob Lewers, former Sun Company Executive



Robert O. Lewers, Sr., 90, died peacefully on September 11, 2014 surrounded by his loving family. Beloved husband of Joan F. Lewers (née Shea) for 56 years, and father of Robert, Jr. (Laura), Michael (Patricia), James, Patricia Whittaker (Steven), Kathryn Scheffer (Mickey), and Joanne.



Bob was born in Tonopah, Nevada on February 23, 1924 to Hamilton and Hazel Lewers. He enjoyed a long life filled with love, adventure and travel. He spent his early years sojourning across the western United States with his mother and younger brother, Frank, as they followed his father working as an assayer in silver mines. Bob spent his teenage years in the mining country of Northern California where he attended Sutter Creek High School.

During his sophomore year at Regis College in Denver, Colorado, Bob enlisted with the U.S. Navy where he served as an Aviation Crewman on a Consolidated Coronado PB2Y Patrol Bomber in World War II. At the age of 19, he got an unwelcome taste of adventure when his plane crash landed during a fierce storm half-way to Honolulu from San Francisco. He and his fellow crewmen were rescued by a ship located nearby, just before their plane sank into the Pacific Ocean. A Coast Guard patrol vessel transported the crew safely to Pearl Harbor.



After the war, he earned his law degree at the University of Denver as a beneficiary of the GI bill. While awaiting the results of his bar exam, he travelled to his father's hometown of Aspen where Bob learned to ski, and so began his life-long passion for hitting the slopes. Upon his return to Denver, he took a position as an in-house lawyer at the Sun Oil Company. Sunoco proved to offer as much adventure as Bob could hope for, and then some. Bob worked for several years in Denver before taking advantage of an opportunity to work at Sunoco's office in Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela.



In addition to the political upheaval coursing through Venezuela at the time, Bob encountered another force when he met Joan Shea from Providence, Rhode Island. Joan had ventured to Venezuela to teach students of ex-pats who were working in the oil fields of Lake Maracaibo. When the father of one of her students suggested that Bob take Joan on a date, he jumped at the chance. After a six-week courtship, he persuaded Joan to marry him.

Bob and Joan spent the next three years in Venezuela, where their three sons were born, before relocating to Sunoco's office in Dallas, Texas. They enjoyed almost ten years in Dallas, the birthplace of their three daughters. While in Dallas, he earned an LLM at Southern Methodist University. Not long after the birth of their sixth child in 1970, Bob announced that it was time to move to Sunoco's headquarters in Philadelphia. Bob and Joan settled happily in Wayne. He spent 38 years at Sun and retired in 1989 as the Vice President and General Counsel of Sun Refining & Marketing.



Bob and Joan loved to travel; their journeys took them to Europe, China, Russia, Southeast Asia, South America, and New Zealand. There was no destination that Bob loved more, though, than a tranquil beach in Quonochontaug, Rhode Island where he visited at least once a year.



A devout Catholic, Bob was a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre and a dedicated parishioner at St. Katharine of Siena in Wayne. He was also active in a variety of community and charity organizations, including Catholic Charities, Aid for Friends, and the Elwyn Institute. In his free time, Bob was an avid tennis player and casual golfer.



In addition to his wife and six children, Bob is survived by six loving grandchildren, Michael, Patrick, Caroline, Jack, Kaelyn, and Liam.