Robert Louis O’Connell

Robert Louis O’Connell

(1941-2022)

Robert Louis O’Connell was born on August 26, 1941, in Washington, DC to John William and Anna Ruth (Maloney) O’Connell, spending his childhood in Baltimore and Bethesda, Maryland, with his 4 siblings.

He died on September 29, 2022.

Bob married Terese (Tess) Hesh on March 24, 1985, at Pomo Tierra Ranch.

As a young man, he served in the US Army Reserves and completed 1 year of college at Corcoran School of Arts. 

He also became involved in the struggles for civil rights, had life long friends from his days at Glen Echo Park and the many other civil rights actions he took part in.

After both parents passed, and as guardian for his 13 year old sister, Bob moved to the West Coast in 1967, settling in Berkeley, joined by siblings.  During these years he worked in San Francisco doing commercial art drafting for Creative Arts.

In the early 70’s he participated in the establishment of what is now Pomo Tierra, a community collective in rural Anderson Valley. 

Moving from the City, he chose a completely different line of work, becoming a counselor and caregiver for teenage boys in residential group homes, later as a Social Worker Assistant working with children in foster care and their families.

Bob always had his camera(s) with him, documenting important events and gatherings as well as photographing the world as he saw it, sharing his images with the rest of us in prints and digital albums. 

Bob was preceeded in death by his parents, his older brother J. William (Bill) O’Connell, II, his youngest sister, Mary Elizabeth O’Connell, and his brother-in-law John Baltz.

He is survived by his siblings, Rebecca Baltz and Thomas O’Connell, sister-in-law Beth Anne (Pierce) O’Connell, his children Babu (Jenny Aires) Tree, Lily (Brett) Padgett, Sean (Eva) O’Connell, and Quinn O’Connell, his grandchildren Ylana, Miloh, Sophia, Anna, Jasper, and Felix, as well as nieces and nephews.

As anyone who knew him already knows, Bob was one of the most honest people walking among us, and he was kind.

He will be deeply missed by many.

He is being celebrated on April 2, 2023, at a Memorial being held at Pomo Tierra Ranch in Anderson Valley.

Memorial donations will go toward a memorial bench on the coast and the ACLU.

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