Robert Richard Dunning, fondly known as Bob, was born July 13, 1935, in Oakland, California. He died on May 26, 2023, at the age of 87. 

He was the only child of Agnes Frances Fairbourne and Robert Moulton. Bob's grandfather, Elmer Fairborne, raised Bob until he reached the third grade. Later Agnes married William Dunning who adopted Bob. 

Bob was drafted and served 2 years in the US Army.  When Bob returned from the Army he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering with a major in Aerospace Engineering from UC Berkeley.

There were three areas of Bob’s life where he created a legacy: gymnastics, engineering, and Toastmasters. 

As a young man, Bob was very active and a competitive gymnast, competing in all-round events. He was also a runner and ran many marathons.  At age 58 he won the Long Beach Marathon for the best in his age group. 

Bob had an extensive professional career in Engineering, which started at Aerojet General. Then moved to Buffalo, New York to work for Bell AeroSystems. After leaving Bell, he moved back to California to work for Lockheed Aircraft Company in Burbank. Then retired from TRW Space & Technology in Redondo Beach. During retirement he was a consultant for M-4 Engineering.  

In 1972 Bob joined his first Toastmasters club. They met at a coffee shop in Sacramento on Wednesday mornings at 6:30 am. It was an all-men’s club as women were not allowed to participate until 1973.

He recently shared the story that in the second club he belonged to, a speech was given about seatbelts. That speech had encouraged Bob to started using his seatbelt and the following week, he was in a serious accident during an icy, snowy storm.  Bob believed that the ‘Seatbelt’ speech saved his life!

Bob held various leadership roles within Toastmasters International by serving as an Area Governor in 1985, earned his Distinguished Toastmaster designation and Division Governor in 1986. In 1987-1988 he was District One Governor for approximately 100 clubs with 2500+ members. He said ‘he was involved in the formation of approximately fifty new clubs in District One’.  Due to Bob’s selfless dedication, continuous support and passion to serve the International President of Toastmasters awarded him the Toastmaster Presidential Citation award in 2020.

The year after serving as District One Governor, Bob reported that he met “this pesky woman who sat next to him during the business meeting at a conference and she continued to ask him a lot of ‘pesky’ questions.”  That was the day the love story began.  In 1989, Bob married this ‘gorgeous’ woman, Sandy. He said it was the best decision he ever made!

On June 9th, they would have been married for 34 years. Bob and Sandy loved to travel and took many vacations.  Two of the most memorable trips were to Africa and to the Galapagos.  They were avid skiers and enjoyed skiing in many exciting locations including Mammoth, Montreal, Banff, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. 

Bob was a loving husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather and loyal friend. Bob leaves his wife, Sandy, 4 children:  Dana Putnam, Denise Marble, Brad Dunning and Camille Davis; 6 grandchildren: Joshua, Julien, Oliver, Jagger, Jayleigh, Drae, and 2 1/2-year-old great grandson Jacob, as well as a host of other family and friends. 

Bob’s kind ways made a difference in many lives.  He is missed tremendously and will always be in our hearts and memories.