Bob's celebration of life was held at the orchard in Carbondale on Monday, January 5th. The auditorium was packed with friends, family members, and speakers who shared their memories of Bob.
"The program he was maybe most proud of was Latino Scholarship Fund later called First Generation provided all expenses paid to attend CMC for local high school students who were the first in their family to attend college.
He took a great personal interest and pride in their successes, and often showed letters from them or newspaper articles about their accomplishments. I'm sure some of those people are here today, and Bob would be pleased about that."
Bob's deep legacy in the Roaring Fork Valley started in the early seventies when he opened Alpine Bank in Carbondale with only the barest staff. Joe Scofield is now retired, but he spent 40 years working at Alpine in both Snowmass and Carbondale, and he had this to say about his former boss.
"I had a great close working relationship with him. He was a wonderful boss. Bob was really a strong believer in, you know, the community. The bank is only as successful as the community is. And so he was really good at, at encouraging us to get out of the community and do things and be active in all the different organizations and, and really do that and, and be able to donate, you know, to a lot of the different causes as far as in the community. And, and that was, I think, really what he believed is in his heart. He was really a community banker."
In 1995 and 1997 Bob was honored as a Western Colorado Philanthropist of the year, and in 2011 he was inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of fame. His passion for helping others continued throughout his entire life. Here's colleague Martha Cochran.
"Sometime in the nineties Bob decided that giving me the bank's money wasn't enough. So he started the J. Robert Young Foundation and gave away his own money. He asked Mariana Que Small and me to be on his board, and the three of us had our last meeting this summer. His personal giving was focused on social and educational organizations that served the neediest and most vulnerable, and on entities that built community.
He saw philanthropy not as a charity or a handout. But as an investment in the community that improved life for everyone, and a way to express gratitude for his good life and his good fortune. He often said, 'to whom much is given, much is expected.' "
Bob passed away in Florida in early December. He has survived by five children and seven grandchildren, and as the preacher at the orchard reminds the crowd, the good fruits of his hard labor.
