Bob Crosby 1947-2012
by Mike Yuen on
February 6th, 2012
I am sorry to inform you that my friend Bob Crosby from Edmonton Canada had passed away.
This obituary was written by Susan Culham.
The Edmonton Bridge Club and the entire Bridge community has suffered a great loss. Bob Crosby, age 64, suddenly and unexpectedly died of a massive stroke Jan. 27.
Bob was an outstanding player as well as teacher, mentor and coach.
After taking up bridge while studying at the University of Alberta, Bob earned a BSC in Computer Science. He also gained a passion for bridge which continued throughout his life.
Bob worked for the Canadian Federal Government as a Systems Software Analyst for 30 years. During this time he semiretired from tournament bridge as marriage, work and family took up most of his time.
Once retired he pursued his two desires…to become a ‘golf bum’ and rejoin tournament bridge at the highest levels.
Bob’s bridge philosophy was bridge is a partnership game. Invite partner to ‘join the party’ rather than flying solo and making all the bridge decisions yourself. He coined the phrase ‘bridge terrorist’ and used it frequently in his articles to describe a solo artist who thinks the only purpose of bridge is to destroy the opponent’s auction. They open on anything, preempt on anything, and take partner right out of the picture. He did not mind playing against this type of player, just not with them.
In 2002 after receiving a gold medal as NPC of the winning CWTC team he formed the ‘Pitbull’ Website. Throughout his retirement Bob rekindled his interest in bridge theory and developed his website by writing over 2,000 articles. He was getting over 1,000 visitors a week from all over the world.
Bob celebrated many successful results over the span of his bridge career.
In 2005 Bob won the gold medal at the Canadian Championships by winning the Imp Pairs event with his favourite partner Tom Gandolfo.
Most recently, at the 2011 Canadian Championships, he won a silver medal by placing second in the Seniors Teams.
Whether mentoring at an afternoon game at the bridge club, or playing at the National or International level, Bob displayed a calm, quiet demeanor. He never was illtempered or displayed the slightest emotion. He had an amazing ability to understanding partner’s predicament when they went wrong.
I had the privilege of playing with Bob, learning from him as my coach, and most of all enjoyed his friendship.
Bob cannot be replaced and he will be missed by many.
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Dear Mike:
I wish I had known him. The Bob Crosbys of the bridge world appear few and far between.
We have indeed lost a master theorist. His site was my favorite reference and I have not yet read all the articles.
Yes Judy, Bob was quite a character, always had a story to share. Sorry to see him gone too soon.
Larry, Bob had lots of good ideas and was a prolific writer. I hope his site http://www.pitbulls.shawbiz.ca/ could be preserved.