Robert Edward Arras, Jr., July 9, 2025

Dick Livingston and Henry Fuller passed on the news that Robert Arras died peacefully at his home in Heredia, Costa Rica (a suburb of San Jose, Costa Rica) in early July.  Dick added:

Rob graduated from Phillips Academy Andover in 1965.  He played soccer for Yale and was the varsity lacrosse goalie.  A resident of Pierson College and a member of DKE fraternity, Rob was a gregarious, fun-loving and very humorous individual, always with a twinkle in the eye.  He was a caring friend and devoted to his family. He is sorely missed.

Rob, known to some friends as Bobbo, had struggled with Parkinson’s for the past 10 years.  Last year, he was able to visit with Fuller shortly before our 55th reunion in May 2024.

Rob grew up as an expat child attending elementary school in Venezuela. He went to middle school in Cuba, and attended Phillips Andover Academy. After Yale and a 1Y draft classification, Rob worked on oil rigs and as a writer for the Ventura Star Free Press in California. He married Karen Koehler from Lima, Peru in 1971.

In 1973, they sailed across the Pacific on a 40-foot boat to New Zealand.  After the sailing adventure, life took them to Panama, where Rob started a shipyard building steel fishing boats.  His two daughters, Annie (Y’97) and Ruth, were born there. The family spent a three-year stint in Seattle before moving to the Philippines. For over a decade in the Philippines, Rob was the CEO for Asian Alcohol Corporation with subsidiaries in the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Japan.

In 1991, Karen and Rob had another child, Sam, and because family was important to them, they moved from the Philippines to Milton, MA.  while Annie and Ruth attended Milton Academy.

In 1996, Karen, Rob, and Sam moved to Costa Rica where they were later joined by their daughter Ruth and her family.  Rob created a community of friends and family in the coffee-producing mountains of the Central Valley.

Rob died at his home on July 9, 2025, surrounded by Karen, his three children and his siblings — with a view of the mountains and the sounds of the river and birds that had been a part of his life for the last 30 years.

Some comments from letters of condolence received by the family:

• Rob was a truly remarkable man—someone I deeply admired and respected. His kindness, integrity, and quiet strength left a lasting impression on me and I will always treasure the privilege of knowing him.
• Rob is one of the kindest, funniest, most lovable people we have ever known.
• He was a great guy. Smart as a whip, generous, kind and witty.
• What a gentle, generous, broad-minded, adventurous, and loving friend, father, husband.

Rob’s 1994 25th Reunion Essay caught him at a turning point where he had returned to Connecticut from a “highly charged decade in the Far East” so his children could be educated as day students and not boarders.  The Far East reference referred to his career as CEO of Asian Alcohol Corp and affiliated companies in the Philippines, Japan and Hong Kong.

In his 50th Reunion Essay, Rob observed

In our 25th reunion essay, I said that sustaining honest and loving relationships with family and friends was the most important metric in my life, and it still is. I have been married to Karen for 48 years and cannot imagine a better companion on the adventure that has been our life together. We have three children, each of whom is successfully getting on with their lives.”