Dr. Robert Dennis Board

August 31, 1942 - September 28, 2026

Bob Board passed away from complications of Parkinson’s and congestive heart failure just shortly after celebrating his 84th birthday. He had had a long and storied life, full of adventure and marked most notably by his love for science, music and photography and helping others. He had a quiet, playful sense of humor, a deeply curious, inquisitive mind and a servant’s heart and used his gifts to mentor countless friends and strangers over the years. From coaxing a nervous new swimmer to paddle all the way across his swimming pool with a promise of a dollar bill on the other side to training to be a volunteer firefighter and paramedic just because, Bob always found ways to rescue others in ways he never could have experienced himself. If his challenging earliest years growing up in a fractured home had deeply wounded him, they had also given him an affinity for others in need.

Born on August 31, 1942 in Princeton, Indiana to a labor and delivery nurse and a Kentucky coal miner, Bob found solace in scouting, enjoyed woodworking and shop classes and later worked as an apprentice to a geologist who encouraged him to study science. After graduating from high school in 1961, he married, became a father, and in three years earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Akron. He worked for Goodyear Rubber Company while a student in Akron and then, from 1965-68 he received his doctorate at Purdue University, where he studied Analytical Chemistry under pioneering scientists Fred McLafferty and Jon Amy, who introduced him to the field of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, an innovative technology that could identify trace substances from a test sample.

Bob became one of the earliest Silicon Valley pioneers when, in 1968, he was recruited to continue this work at Hewlett-Packard, working alongside Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard at HP Labs in Palo Alto, California. There he quickly assumed managerial positions and was involved in research and development at HP’s Scientific Instruments Division on Page Mill Rd. His work in the emerging field of biotechnology spanned three decades, many in leadership at HP. As Silicon Valley began to grow in the early 1980s, Bob was often tapped to guide new ventures and worked at some of the first tech start ups, as R&D and Marketing Manager at Nelson Analytical and then later as CEO for biotech firm HP-Genechem, a joint venture he stewarded between Hewlett Packard and Genetech. In the late 1980s, Bob became CEO of PE-Cetus, another historic joint venture between scientific instruments maker Perkin Elmer and Cetus Corporation, which had just invented the DNA amplification process that would become foundational to the Human Genome Project. Bob was especially proud of this work. With four daughters, he was also proud of his advocacy for equal pay, and when he realized some of the female scientists on his teams at Perkin Elmer were being paid less than their male counterparts, he raised their salaries. Throughout his scientific career, Bob specialized in solving management problems and worked as a private consultant before making the next huge leap—the greatest new venture of his life—in his move from California to Oregon.

In 1997 when he was 55 years old, he earned his third degree and started a low-fee private practice as a Marriage and Family Therapist in Roseburg, Oregon. From 2000-07 he worked as an ER psychiatric intake specialist for the Behavioral Health Unit at Mercy Hospital. He often shared stories of the people in crisis he had counseled—some he had even kept on the phone late into the night until someone could arrive to check on them—and has said this was one of the most satisfying jobs he ever had. When Mercy closed the BHU and the county lost all access to critical mental health care, Bob relied on his executive background and founded Community Partners Counseling, forming a Board of Directors and recruiting other volunteer therapists to join him, and for two years they offered free counseling services until the county could provide them. He forged wonderful friendships among the health services community in Roseburg, working as a skills trainer for Douglas County Mental Health, volunteering for Casa de Belen, a shelter for homeless and at risk youth, where he counseled troubled teens and their families, and most recently, another venture he helped launch called FARA (Family Faith and Relationship Advocates) and where he was a valued board member until fully retiring in 2024, at 82 years old! More important than earning any salary or recognition, Bob found mentoring and counseling spiritually healing. It brought him the peace he had chased for so long. And from this work, it brought him the blessing of deep and abiding connection in the later part of his life, especially the musician-therapist friendships he enjoyed while performing electric bass in a cover band called most aptly: The Multiple Personalities.

He was a sweetheart and a bad ass in tinted Ray-Bans. A black belt in karate, who kayaked Class IV rapids on the south fork of the American River and ski-camped atop Sentinel Dome in Yosemite in February during a whiteout storm. He skippered a 50 foot boat and sailed around the tip of Baja and once bought a sheep ranch in central Oregon. He was both fearless and afraid. But he never let go. He was all of these things and so much more.

Bob is survived by his six children, who he was endlessly proud of: Christine Board (Mitchell), of St. Louis MO; Jonathan Board, of Fairfax, CA; Rebecca Board Liljenstolpe, of Soquel, CA; Christopher Board, of Albuquerque, NM; Larissa Board, of Portland, OR; and Serena Board, of Santa Rosa, CA. His six grandchildren: Travis Mitchell II and Trinka Mitchell, Ryann and Blythe Liljenstolpe, Matthew Board (NM), and Colette Board (CA). And two great grandchildren, Seven Santana Williams and Karter Mae Mitchell.

The family will come together to celebrate his life over the winter holidays and, to honor Bob’s memory, request any gifts be made to The Salvation Army or FARA at https://www.fara4kids.org/donate