Robert "Bob" Yellin
The world is a greatly diminished place without Bob
Bob Yellin left his physical body on Monday, October 19th, 2020, in Austin, TX, where he resided with his much loved and loving wife, Genevieve. He was 67. Bob was one-of-a-kind, brilliant, fun, hilarious, dedicated, loving, sweet, trusted, trusting, hardworking, and as handsome as they come.
He is so terribly missed by all who knew him.
Bob was born on December 30th, 1952, in Brooklyn, NY. He graduated from Stoneybrook University in 1974. He began his career as Director of Database and Data Communication at Aetna Life and Casualty in 1975. By the age of 30, he was running the largest database management system in the world. He moved on to build the development team as VP of Development for Business Systems Technology (BST) Inc, a Boston area-based startup that specialized in change control and configuration management software. BST was acquired by Legent Corporation, a systems management vendor. There, Bob assumed the role of Senior Vice President of Development and Technology. In 2001, Bob joined IBM Tivoli Systems as Vice President of Technology. In this capacity, he was responsible for the technical architecture of IBM’s systems management product line.
Bob retired from the hi-tech corporate world in 2005. He began tinkering in his garage, and decided to teach himself Electrical engineering to solve a problem he had with a home theater - a memorable line from Bob after a loud ZAP! in the garage: "now I know why they call it the "smoke test!" He also taught himself basic mechanical engineering principles and learned how to machine parts over a course of 2 years. He loved to “get his hands dirty” and this was the beginning of his much loved ZBot, LLC, a robotics design and OEM manufacturing company. It started in a 3-car garage; 2 years later, ZBot was in a 4000 ft2 R&D industrial space and eventually upsized to 10,000 ft2 space. ZBot designed and manufactured products for companies such as Tormach, Screen Innovations, Sony, Epson, and many others. Bob was truly amazing-he could do anything he set his mind to.
Bob (Bear) was a much-loved son, husband, father, step-father, brother, uncle, great-uncle mentor and friend. Bob was an incredibly happy man, he loved his life, family, and friends and found humor in EVERYthing. We all miss Bob Yellin – there will never be another like him.
To honor Bob's legacy, contributions may be made to the Bob Yellin Legacy Fund (managed by M.Allen) HERE; it is a part of the Yellin-Rosemont Foundation. All donations made in Bob's honor will sponsor programs that increase educational opportunities for under-represented populations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Donations are tax-deductible.
