Robert Cauthorn Alexander – 50th Reunion Essay

Robert Cauthorn Alexander

Date of Death: 25-Jul-2004

College: Saybrook

(This memorial appeared in the November/December 2006 Class Notes.)

Robert C. Alexander died July 25, 2004, after a year-long battle with cancer. After graduating from Yale cum laude, he married his college sweetheart, Rosie Bailey. Bob graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was editor of the Law Review. He was a partner at the San Francisco law firm of Heller, Ehrman, White, and McAuliffe for 25 years, and co-chaired the Tax Practice Group. Bob was a photographer, naturalist, birder, hiker, and a gardener. We will miss you, Bob.

From Kyle Gee: “Bob was gentle, smart, and funny, and Rosie was the love of his life for as long as we knew him. In about junior year, Rosie wanted to call the thing off, and Bob jumped on a plane and was gone a few days. He came back a very happy man, they married after graduation, and they were together at the time of his death. Bob and Rosie spent the first night of their married life near the Cincinnati airport, with their suitcases and car keys locked in the trunk of a car at the church (the fault of an unnamed groomsman). The next morning, the groomsman—with the bags—was arrested for speeding on the way to the airport where Bob and Rosie waited to leave on their honeymoon. Bob’s dad had to get out of bed to pay the traffic fine.

Bob was a good squash player, but he had suffered a serious injury to his right knee during his last year at Choate. When we played squash in college, he would beat the tar out of us until we noticed that he had to push off the right wall to get back to center court. Then we had a chance.”