Robert C. Condon, 73, died Sept. 16, 2014, at his home in Williamsburg, Va., surrounded by his family. He was born Feb. 11, 1941, in Morris, Ill., to Edith C. and Frank E. Condon. Throughout his childhood he was actively involved in Boy Scouts, attaining the premier rank of Eagle Scout and becoming a member of the Order of the Arrow. He graduated magna cum laude from Denison University in 1963. While at Denison, he met and married the love of his life and wife of 52 years, Carolyn T. Condon. In 1966, he graduated with a JD degree from the University of Illinois, College of Law. He served from 1967 to 1972 in the U.S. Air Force as a JAG officer and as a military judge. From 1972 to 1987 he was in private law practice in Joliet and New Lenox, Ill. From 1987 until 1999 he worked for Northern Trust Bank, first as division head in the trust department in Chicago, and then as the managing director of the San Francisco office of Northern Trust of California. From 1999 until 2006, he was head of the Trust and Investment Department of Lake City Bank, Warsaw. He and Carolyn retired to Williamsburg in 2007. He and Carolyn have two children, Patrick and Jennifer. In spite of his rigorous career obligations, he always made his family his first priority. He attended countless soccer and tennis matches, taught Sunday school classes and led Scouting clubs and retreats. He was blessed with six doting grandchildren who filled his later years with constant visits and lots of laughter. His second love, after family, was the innumerable charitable organizations he volunteered for which became almost a full-time job after his retirement. Some of his most meaningful volunteer work was with the Raphael House, a shelter for homeless families in San Francisco; the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Northern California, where he was chairman; the Kosciusko County Community Foundation as chairman; elder at Williamsburg Presbyterian Church; and The Mason School of Business at The College of William and Mary, where he was a mentor. Perhaps his greatest charitable love was a program called Cocha Cashu, a tropical ecology field station located in southeastern Peru that focuses on conservation education and research. He cared deeply about education and conservation and Cocha Cashu combined both passions. His hobbies included genealogy, fishing, gardening, wood working, spoiling his cats, writing poems, journals and children’s books and travel. He traveled to all corners of the earth including Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, France, Jordan, Egypt, Guatemala, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Russia and England. Family and friends will remember him for his contagious belly laughs, boundless generosity, fierce devotion to his family, love of animals and upstanding ethics. Surviving are his wife, Carolyn T. Condon; his daughter and son-in-law, Jennifer and Bryan Phelps, Weybridge, Vt.; a son and daughter-in-law, Patrick and Cristal Condon, San Antonio, Texas; and his six grandchildren: Andie and Haven Phelps; and Catherine, Carter, Javier and Maribel Condon. ***** Memorial services will be held at 3 p.m. Oct. 25 at Williamsburg Presbyterian Church. Memorials to Cocha Cashu at the San Diego Zoo Institute, c/o M. Aleksic, P.O. Box 120551, San Diego, CA 92112.
