This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 27, 2009 - Anyone acquainted with Robert T. Ebert Sr., an attorney and former municipal court judge in Florissant, knew that he spent every spare moment on a golf course. The golf course was Mr. Ebert’s second home until his health failed in recent years. He died on Saturday, Jan. 24, at Parc Provence in Creve Coeur, Mo. He was 81.
“We did a lot of golfing together,” said John Gray, another attorney and Mr. Ebert’s friend of more than 40 years. “For 35 years or so, from the time our children were small, we all went on golfing trips to Alabama and the Florida panhandle. We were foolish enough to play golf when it was barely 40 degrees or pouring down rain. He was good at it; I was not, but we both enjoyed it.”
Mr. Ebert was said to be quite good.
“He enjoyed two holes in one. He never bragged about it, but he would bring it up now and then,” laughed Mr. Ebert’s son, Mike. “He was always talking about golf, golfing, or you knew he was thinking about it. So much of his fun time was his golf. As kids, we used to caddy for him; it’s the thing we all did together. And it was absolutely amazing.”
Apparently, Mr. Ebert also enjoyed an amazing sense of humor as he not only permitted, but encouraged, his children to call him by a nickname.
“We called him ‘Bobby Baby,’ the inverse of what we call our youngest brother, who is Robert Ebert Jr.; we call him ‘Baby Bobby’,” Mike Ebert said. “My brother hates it, but Dad loved it and neither one of them could ever shake that nickname.”
Before he was “Bobby Baby,” he was just Bob, a kid born and raised in St. Louis. He graduated from Beaumont High School in 1945, and immediately went into the U.S. Army. Following his military service, he enrolled in college, graduating from St. Louis University School of Law in 1951.
Mr. Ebert practiced law in the St. Louis area for more than 50 years. He was a law partner with several firms, including Walsh, Howe and Ebert in Clayton. Beginning in the 1960s, he served more than a decade as a municipal court judge for Florissant.
“As a judge he was compassionate and fair and did his job very well,” said Gray. “He was also a lawyer of outstanding character. He was conscientious about the interests of the client without regard to what it meant in fees. He was a constant embarrassment to other lawyers because he was so modest in his charges to his clients. In many cases, he did pro bono for people he felt needed a break.”
Mr. Ebert was modest in other ways. Until his death, his home was the house in Florissant he and his wife, Dorothy, bought in 1962, when their oldest child, Nancy, was in second grade. It is the home where they raised all six of their children.
For about 10 years prior to his retirement in 2001, he shared office space in Florissant with Mr. Gray. It gave the two old friends an opportunity to help each other with cases and to reminisce whenever they liked.
“It feels like we were friends for a hundred years,” Gray said. “I remember the parties we went to – Christmas, New Year’s, all the holidays. Bob was always ready for a lot of fun. And we always laughed.
“There was an occasion when he and I were on vacation and watching the "Pink Panther" and Peter Sellers did something that made us laugh at the same time; we laughed so hard we thought we would die. We saw a lot of movies, but that one will always have a special meaning for me because of the sudden convergence of our amusement.”
Mike Ebert is not surprised at the longevity of his father’s friendships. “Dad was an extremely loyal, generous friend and father,” Mike Ebert said. “He was an unassuming man with a low ego; he was a very simple, conservative guy, but what was really important to him was generosity. He was loyal to a fault and quiet about his generosity. He maintained a fun-loving spirit, good times or bad.”
Mr. Ebert took time from his beloved family and golf game to help found the Florissant Optimist Club and serve as a faithful member of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne Catholic Church, where his life will be celebrated on Wednesday.
He was preceded in death by his parents John and Delia Ebert, and one sister, Betty Szepanski.
In addition to his wife of 55 years, Dorothy (nee McCarthy), of Florissant, he is survived by his six children: Nancy Long of Montgomery City, Mo.; Michael (Marianne) Ebert of Andover, Mass.; Daniel (Susan) Ebert of Wentzville; Donald (Karen) Ebert of Irvine, Calif.; Robert (Darla) Ebert of Ballwin; Katy (Brian) Cushing of Wentzville and his sister, Mary Ann Conlon of Florissant.
Friends may visit with the Ebert family from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 27, and at 9:45 a.m. Wednesday, Jan 28, at Hutchens Mortuary, 675 Graham Rd., Florissant. Mass will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at St. Rose Philippine Duchesne Catholic Church, 2650 Parker Road, Florissant. His remains will be interred in National Cemetery at Jefferson Barracks. The family would appreciate contributions in Mr. Ebert’s name to the Alzheimer's Association, 9374 Olive Boulevard, St. Louis, Mo. 63132-3214, 314-432-3422, www.alz.org .
Gloria Ross is the head of Okara Communications and the storywriter for AfterWords, an obituary-writing and production service.