gmhTODAY 08 gmhToday May June 2016 | Page 38

Bob Dyer with his children (l-r) Maura, Rick, Loni, and Michael. Bob Dyer … Gilroy Will Miss You Bob Dyer with wife, Diane. H undreds of people gathered at Eagle Ridge Country Club in April for a ‘Going Away Party’ for beloved Gilroy businessman, Robert James Dyer, founder and owner of R.J. Dyer Real Property Investments, who passed away on March 8, 2016. Dyer was thought of as a native of Gilroy, although his hometown was Moline, Illinois. It wasn’t until 1977, when he and his first wife Carol became part of the Gilroy community at the urging of his 38 good friend and Gilroy business owner, John Kent. Dyer, who after twenty plus years in the United States Air Force, retired a Lt. Colonel, and went to work for Kent’s company, providing Dyer his introduction to the world of real estate. As it turned out, it was a perfect fit. John Taft, a real estate broker with R. J. Dyer Property, Inc., recalls Bob telling him, “I think I’ve sold just about every piece of property here in Gilroy, at least once.” In the years that followed, Dyer became GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN MAY/JUNE 2016 a respected business owner. During that time, he and Carol went their separate ways. In 1990, Dyer met local resident, Diane Vanni, and five years later, the couple married. “People saw a change in him after we married,” Diane said. “We just clicked, we enjoyed things together. We laughed a lot.” And it was Dyer’s humor, and his never give up attitude, that Diane appreciated most about her husband. “He just never gave up on anything, gmhtoday.com Written By Kimberly Ewertz