Robert W. Medearis

Robert W. (Bob) Medearis, husband, father, real estate developer, and entrepreneur passed away on September 16, 2024.

Bob was born the third of three brothers in Kansas City, Kansas on May 18, 1932, to physician Dr. Donald N. Medearis and Gladys Sandford Medearis. Growing up in Kansas City, Bob was an avid tennis player and basketball player.

Bob headed west to play basketball at Stanford University. There, he also participated in ROTC, and majored in civil engineering. While at Stanford Bob met and fell in love with Helga Biermer, a fellow student who had migrated to California from Germany prior to World War II.

Upon graduation in 1955, Bob joined the U.S. Navy to fulfill his ROTC commitment while Helga completed her nursing education and became a nurse in San Francisco. They married in 1957, and a year later moved to Boston where Bob attended Harvard Business School.

After graduating from Harvard Business School, Bob took a job with real estate developer Lusk Corporation in Tucson. Four years later he moved back to Atherton, California, to open the northern California market for Lusk.

In 1969, he accepted an offer to help form a new company called Builder’s Resources which partnered with various developers on projects around the world. During this time he was invited to teach a graduate-level course in real estate finance in the construction management program at Stanford. This evolved into an adjunct faculty member - a role he would hold for over three decades.

Subsequent to leaving Builder’s Resources in the early 1970s, he embarked on a career as a professional corporate director, serving on boards of both established and start-up companies such as Geographic Travel and Expeditions, Wilsey and Ham, Risk Management Software, PAMA, Solaicx, Engage 3 and Silicon Valley Bank, which he left after ten years, more than 30 years prior to its demise in 2023.

During their time in Atherton, Bob and Helga warmly opened their home to generations of guests, including students from Stanford University and abroad. Together Bob and Helga supported many programs at the university. In the early 1990’s, Bob began training top Russian and Georgian students in western business practices.

In 2007 Bob and Helga retired to Davis California, where he served on the Dean’s Advisory Board at the UC Davis School of Management.

Bob loved and adored his family. He found joy and peace in the family hiking and skiing trips they took together for many years in the American west, Nepal, Canada and other parts of the world.

Bob was predeceased by his parents, Dr. Donald N. and Gladys S. Medearis, two brothers, Don and Ken, and his beloved wife Helga. He is survived by three children and their spouses - Ken (Sarah), Ilsi (Clare) and Dale (Amy), four grandchildren (Rob, Eliza, Tori, and Mia), and a special friend and cherished companion, Anne Corley of Davis, California, for whose steadfastness, friendship and love he is exceedingly grateful.

A service celebrating Bob’s life will take place, 11:00am, Saturday, December 28, 2024, at the Davis United Methodist Church, 1620 Anderson Blvd., Davis, California, 95616.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Yolo Cares, 1909 Galileo Ct., Davis, CA 95618 - https://yolocares.org