Robert M. Maher
Robert M. Maher passed away on April 20, 2022. Robert (“Dr Bob”) was born on September 23, 1940 in Los Angeles, California, the youngest of three siblings, to Edward and Katherine Maher. Dr. Bob grew up in Glendale, California and went to high school in Rumson, NJ, before returning to Los Angeles to attend college at LA State, where he studied zoology. He met his first wife Linda at LA State and they had two sons, Kevin and Michael. He was the first person in his family to graduate from college.
Continuing after college, Bob enrolled in the School of Dentistry at University of the Pacific in San Francisco, where he excelled and graduated as president of his class in 1970. He served as a dentist in the Army at the Pentagon for a few years, then he and his family moved to Napa, California, where they raised their children and lived for over 30 years. He initially practiced dentistry in Napa, then eventually at his own practice in Richmond for over 10 years. He never worked Wednesdays, which were reserved for time with his kids and later, for day trips to Northstar with his fellow dentist skiing buddies.
He married his second wife Dorothy in 1995. Late in his career they moved to Indian Wells. There, at the young age of 60, he opened a brand new dental practice specializing in cosmetic dentistry, which had become a passion of his as the practice and technology of dentistry evolved. He loved to share his skills and knowledge, and he committed much of his later professional years to teaching and mentoring younger dentists, including as an instructor for various dental schools and training programs.
He loved photography and was an avid hiker and photographer of the outdoors. He also always loved cars, racing them, fixing and fiddling with them, and endlessly buying and selling them. His love of the road and the outdoors continued into his retirement years. When it was finally time to hang up his dental drill, he bought a small business on the Oregon Coast in Lincoln City and moved there. From that home base he and Dorothy wandered the open roads and wild spaces of western North America in their RV. This time freely exploring, photographing, and hiking the west brought him great joy.
In his final years, he never stopped appreciating the beauty of nature and the finer things in life, and would enjoy nothing more than sipping a glass of wine while watching the sunset and the seabirds over the horizon on the Oregon Coast.
He will be deeply missed. He taught so many people so much, pursued his passions, treasured the good things in life, and inspired others to do the same. He was an encouraging, supportive, and proud father, who loved his family deeply. While he is no longer with us, he will always live on as a part of his family’s character, in the lives of those he taught and mentored, and in his family’s most cherished memories.
He is survived by his wife Dorothy, his sons Kevin and Michael, his daughters in law Jean and Lidia, his step-daughters Laurie and Janine, and his grandchildren Alex, Abby, Mila, and Sloane.
Posted online on May 27, 2022
Published in The Desert Sun
https://www.desertsun.com/obituaries/pds029857
