Bob the Driver

Born 9/17/1950-Died 3/19/2012 Robert (Bob) Geldert.

Born 61 years ago to Lucille and Robert Geldert. Bob was baby brother to 3 sisters, and was given the nickname of "George" by his father, which most of his family used for his entire life.

Bob was deeply rooted in Northeast and stayed there his whole life. He went to Holy Cross grade school, Edison High school, graduated from the U of M and worked most of his entire career for Hennepin County workhouse. (he was know by the incarcerated as "Bob the Driver").

He was a sponsor at the Northeast Neighborhood House where he touched the lives of many kids. A few of the young boys he mentored grew into men and played poker with "George" in later life.

He regaled us with stories about workhouse characters he came across. He loved sharing them and we loved hearing them as they provided nonstop hilarity.

It didn't matter what walk of life people were from, however – he enjoyed meeting everyone.

Bob loved music: The Doors, Jackson Browne, Alan Parsons. But The Beatles were his favorite, which one could see by the collections and memorabilia in his house as well as the sweatshirts and hats he wore. He claimed that John and George were his favorites. He also took his love of music to his drum set. He and the guys in the "Terminal Garage Band" never really took off, but loved to get together and play nonetheless.

His partner and soul mate in life was Roberta, his lifelong girl friend. For 30 years they traveled, religiously attended MN Twins games (where for many years he would keep stats on every player).

He could name almost every player and position on any professional team. On sports talk radio, he would call in and answer questions put to the audience and win all kinds of prizes. He won so many times that the radio show put limits on his calls, so he would use other names and the prizes kept rolling in.

Bob loved to debate and argue over religion, politics and any other hot topic. The more convicted he felt, the louder he got. Sometimes a little brandy would help with this as well…and often times Roberta would end up as designated driver. But no matter how heated the topic was, he was respectful of others' opinions.

Underneath this sometimes tough and gruff exterior was a gooey and sweet interior that just loved a lively debate.

Bob was not blessed with the best of health. He had polycystic renal disease. 29 years ago, he had a kidney transplant, from his mother that prolonged his life and benefited us that we could be with him all these years. Every year on the anniversary of his transplant, he would celebrate the 'kidney birthday' where family and friends would meet for lunch or dinner - and each year he gave his mother flowers.

We would bring gifts for the kidney - such as cans of kidney beans – all in fun but we were truly thankful with each passing year.

Roberta took care of his heart and health throughout his long, scary and often painful health journey to the very end of his life. Bob fought a tough battle till the end and endured more than most of us could fathom. He died peacefully at home at age 61 from cancer, surrounded by family, friends, his cats and Beatles music in the background.