Bob Soli

Bob Soli passed away April 17, 2018 after a brief illness. He was 82. He led a remarkable life. A small-town Midwestern child of the depression, he would get engineering degrees from both MIT and Stanford, work on the Apollo space program, plus a long career designing radar guidance systems.

A transplant to New England, he embraced all of the things he found here. Despite no experience with oceans or boats in his home state of North Dakota, he learned to sail at MIT and crewed for decades on racing boats in Marblehead. Outside of racing season, he could be found climbing the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Never content to just climb, he set goals for himself and eventually bagged all the 4,000 footers, earning a pin from the Appalachian Mountain Club. He instilled his passion for the outdoors in his children, hiking many peaks with his son and sailing and skiing with his daughter. Bob also led walks for the AMC through Estabrook Woods in Concord for many years.

He shared his love of adventure with his wife Margaret. Married 57+ years, they met in high school and traveled the world together. Of course he set goals for this too. He visited all the countries in Europe, all the countries in South and Central America, all seven continents, and even did an around-the-world whirlwind trip, despite recovering from a serious car accident. “Anything worth doing,” he would say, “is worth over-doing.”

Not content to sit on the sidelines, Bob wore his passions and politics on his sleeve, his shirt and the bumper of his car. He was elected to Town Meeting several times during his nearly 50 years living in Reading as well as serving on the board of Reading Municipal Light. And when he wasn’t serving in office he was active with the Democratic Town Committee, serving as co-chair with his wife for several years.

After taking early retirement from Raytheon, Bob volunteered to help low-income seniors do their taxes each spring, a habit he continued until this year.

Bob is survived by his wife Margaret, children Eric and Lisa, and grandchildren Nate and Ben. A memorial of Bob's life will be held at the Brooksby Village Chapel, Peabody, on May 5 at 2 pm. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to the Brooksby Village Resident’s Care Fund, the Appalachian Mountain Club or the ALS Association of Massachusetts.