Robert E. Harris passed away peacefully at home at the age of 86, surrounded by family on Wednesday, Oct. 23rd after a brief illness and complications of Alzheimer's disease.
Bob, as he was fondly known by family and friends, was a devoted husband, dad, grandpa and friend. He was born in Huntsville, Alabama. He served in the Army after the Korean War working on the Atlas Missile Project.
He moved to San Diego in 1965 to become a San Diego Police Officer and eventually became a detective at Northern Division. He received numerous commendations prior to retiring after 23 years in 1988.
Bob always loved fishing on the ocean, and after retirement, he got his Merchant Marine Officer's license to captain 100 ton vessels. He did this for several years aboard such sport fishing boats as the Qualifier 105 and the Holiday and became known as "Captain" Bob. He was also known as FOG, which now means favorite old guy. While on the boats, he started dressing as Santa Claus for the San Diego Parade of Lights, and played Santa for many years on many different occasions. One of his greatest loves was to travel with his wife, Lynn. They traveled all over the world with Overseas Adventures and cruising on Holland America cruise lines. Bob was proud to have made his 4-Star Mariner status on Holland America. Bob was also an ordained minister and performed numerous wedding ceremonies for family and friends, including all of his children.
Bob met and married his ex-wife Kay while living in Tucson, Arizona. He had two sons with Kay, Robert Travis Harris of San Diego and Brian James Harris (Kim) of Tacoma, Washington. Bob was married to Carolyn (Lynn) in 1975, who preceded him in death in 2014. He was Dad to her four children, Sheryl Quick-Robbins (Terry) of Poway, Mark Pearcy (Linda) of Escondido, Brian Pearcyof Santa Clarita, and Lorel Wirkus (Thomas) of San Diego. He has several grandchildren and was Grandpa (and Santa) to Debra (Jesus), Serenity (Anthony), Kaleb, Aaron, Noah, Christopher (Gina), Matthew, Sarah (Javier), Joshua, Ryan, Angel, Tracy and Valerie. He also has great-grandchildren, Michaela, Alicia, Antonio, Charolette, July, Penelope, Gabriel, AJ and Hayley.
His sarcastic wit and frequent jokes will live on in us all. Going to miss that FOG!