Robert Nelson HaittMay 11, 1936—February 11, 2018Bob was born on a farm in Maryville, Missouri to Marjorie Horton and Nelson Ricker Hiatt on May 11, 1936. When Bob was three months old, his father died and his mother moved to St. Joseph, Missouri to attend secretarial school with the goal of supporting her family.

In St. Joseph, she met and married William Smith. They moved to Kansas City, Missouri and then Evanston, Illinois where Bob lived until graduating from college. He attended Evanston schools, won a Cherub Scholarship to Northwestern University as a high school junior and then a full scholarship in the School of Communication. On campus Bob was active in many organizations, president of his fraternity, and elected to the Student Governing Board.

Upon graduation, his natural business acumen, high IQ, and innate strategic ability were recognized. He was hired as an associate at Proctor and Gamble, unique at that time for a non-MBA grad.

After ten years at P & G Bob became a consultant with the Glendenning Group in Westport, Connecticut serving a variety of clients including the Cunard Cruise Lines. From there he went to Playtex, where as a vice president he had new and personal products to market, one of which resulted with his working with Jane Russell. He assumed several leadership roles at Playtex and subsequently went to Esmark to head up the Swift fresh meat division. This brought him home to Chicago until he was tapped by Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in Louisville, Kentucky to head the burgeoning international KFC market As the vice president of KFC, he opened fifty-two franchises throughout the world. He had colorful tales to tell of dealing with franchisees new to American fried chicken restaurants. One story was of the bottomless glass, where Bob's KFC representative reported not getting out of bed for three days after dinner with the franchisee.

From KFC he went to American Cyanamid, where he ran the Shulton division and oversaw the company's diversification into multiple separate companies. His next position was his favorite. In 1990, Bob was named CEO of Maybelline Cosmetics, based in Memphis,Tennessee. With Bob at the helm, his "Maybe she's born with it, maybe it's Maybelline" became a widely recognized tag line, with Christy Turlington as the brand spokesperson. Under his leadership the company became publicly traded and was soon a leader in the international cosmetics marketplace where it has continued to grow and thrive.

When Maybelline was sold to L'Oreal in 1996, Bob was asked to move to New York City to run the company, but he opted to serve as chairman in Memphis during the transition and then retire. An active retiree, he participated in and chaired multiple nonprofits in the Memphis area and was a Director on the Boards of Harry and David and Boston Beer. In California he was a Director of the California Historical Society and asked to sit on the Marin County Grand Jury.

On the personal side, in 1958, Bob married Suzanne Peterson, his P & G colleague, with whom he had two wonderful sons, Tom and David. The family lived in Cincinnati, and later in Westport, Conn. In 1977, Bob married Carol Campbell who passed away in 1991.

At a Northwestern reunion in 1993, Bob reconnected with Kaye Karlan Chapman, a classmate. They married in 1994 in the Shakespeare Garden at Northwestern. Bob and Kaye moved to Mill Valley, California in 2002 and decided they had found an earthly heaven.

Bob was a lovely and a loving husband, a caring father and grandfather. He had a superior intellect, a witty and dry sense of humor, and memorable one-liner responses. He was ethical and logical and played a mean game of backgammon (it always bothered Kaye that Bob threw so many doubles). In the over two years he was confined to a wheelchair, he did not complain or criticize and took each day in a gentle, welcoming way. Bob had a very good eye for art, an ear for music, and a taste for good food and wine He loved anything Celtic, bagpipes, the Northwestern Wildcats, the Chicago Bulls, Bears and Cubs, Gus' fried chicken, Dewer's Scotch, Memphis barbecue, Sharpe's Rifles, well-written historical nonfiction and British television mysteries. Even after traveling for four years for KFC he was always up for more. He and Kaye travelled extensively and had memorable worldwide adventures including trips to Scotland, Peru, China, and South Africa.

Bob will be especially mourned and missed by Kaye, sons David (Linda) in Glenview, Illinois and Tom Hiatt (Andrea) in River Vale, New Jersey; grandchildren: Peter Casella, Grace, David, Amaris, and Paxton Hiatt; step-daughters Courtney della Cava (Marco), Nicholas and Sebastian della Cava in Mill Valley, California; and Cathleen Chapman in Oakland, California, extended family members, and good friends.

He passed away peacefully from multiple health issues. We were blessed to have had him as long as we did, though it is never long enough. We wish to thank Felipe and TC who took very good care of him in the months he was at home after a life-altering brain injury.

If anyone wishes to make a donation in Bob's memory, please send it to Northwestern University (633 Clark St, Evanston, IL 60208) attention: Hiatt Cherub Scholarship Fund or a charity of your choosing.

A memorial gathering is planned at a later date.