Robert O'Neill "Bob" Laird

Robert O’Neill Laird passed away peacefully in the early hours of Saturday morning, September 3, at Montereau in Warren Woods. He was surrounded by his wife Dorothy S. Laird and several of his children and children-in-law. Before a debilitating stroke in March 2003, followed a few years later by a diagnosis of what proved to be an aggressive form of Parkinson’s, Laird had been very active over the course of several decades in the business and civic affairs of Tulsa. Born to Robert Simms and Katherine (née O’Neill) Laird on December 9, 1930, in Cameron, Texas, the Laird family moved from Texas to Tulsa in 1932. Laird attended Holy Family School and graduated from Cascia Hall Preparatory School in 1948. He went on to study at the University of Notre Dame, the University of Tulsa, with subsequent post-graduate work at the University of Virginia and the University of Nebraska. Laird took over as Managing Trustee of the Alexander Memorial Fund upon his father’s (R.S. Laird) retirement. The Fund’s focus was and remains for the direction of proceeds generated by its assets to support various charitable organizations. Most notable among these have been the Alexander Burn Center at Hillcrest Hospital and Tulsa’s 12 and 12, Inc., which supports substance-dependent people and their families in their paths to recovery. Apart from the business and charitable initiatives of the Alexander Memorial Fund, Laird gave himself generously to the civic life of Tulsa. Most notable among these were 19 years of volunteer service to the Tulsa Urban Renewal Authority (TURA), 15 years of which he served as its Chairman. Under his leadership as Chair, the TURA focused its efforts on the development of downtown Tulsa. Moreover, he served on the Board of Hillcrest Medical Center from 1971 until his retirement, where he served on numerous committees and was instrumental in the re-naming of the Hillcrest Burn Center as the Alexander Burn Center. He also served for 22 years on the Board of the Oklahoma Osteopathic Hospital, as well as on the Board of Downtown Tulsa Unlimited, as whose president he served for 3 years. For these and other services to the City of Tulsa he was awarded Downtown Tulsa Man of the Year. Above and beyond his dedication to the development of downtown Tulsa, he served 24 years on the board of the Tulsa Psychiatric Center; 13 years on the Tulsa Transit Board, 5 of these as its Chairman. These years of service overlapped several years of service on the American Public Transit Association (APTA) based in Washington, D.C., during which 2 of these years he served as the APTA’s Vice President. Most of all he was a family man and was consumed with interest in the lives of his wife, Dorothy and their five active children. It is fitting that Tulsa marks the passing of a tireless and dedicated servant of Tulsa, a compassionate, ethical businessman, but most especially a gentle, loving husband and father, whose death itself was marked by the loving circle of most of his family. Bob Laird is survived by his wife, Dorothy (née Sottong) Laird, and their five children: Robert O. Laird II and his wife Patty Laird; Cece Davis Gifford and her husband Jim Gifford; Lindsay Reeds and her husband Theodore Reeds II; Rev. Martin S. Laird, O.S.A; and Scott Laird and his wife Polly Cavill; his 9 grand-children and 2 step-grand children: Bobby Laird, Katy Laird, Lindsay Davis, Dillon Davis, Connie Bendel, Trip Reeds, Laird Reeds, Alie Laird, Simms Laird, Wyatt Cavill, and Frankie Cavill. A public viewing and wake will be held on Wednesday at 6:30 PM at Fitzgerald’s Southwood Chapel, 91st and Harvard. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 AM on Thursday, September 8, at Christ the King Church, 1520 South Rockford, Tulsa, OK, 74120. The Laird family wishes to express its profound thanks to Judy Russell for her dedicated care and friendship to Bob. The family likewise thanks all the nursing staff at Montereau. In lieu of flowers, donations are requested to be sent to the Cascia Hall Alumni Association, 2520 South Yorktown, Tulsa, OK, 74114. Fitzgerald Southwood Colonial Chapel

Robert O'Neill "Bob" Laird

December 9, 1930 - September 3, 2011