LAFF Society

SPOTLIGHT

Robert Tolles, 88, Former LAFF Newsletter Editor

 

 
 
Robert Tolles, one of the earliest members of The LAFF Society and long an editor of its newsletter, died November 6 at his home in New Canaan, Conn. He was 88.
 
Bob went to work in the Foundation’s communications office, then called the Office of Reports, in 1968 and stayed for 21 years until he retired in 1989. He began as a writer and editor and eventually became director of the office.
 
After he retired he worked as a free-lance writer, editor and consultant for several foundations and non-profit organizations, including the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, German Marshall Fund, Phelps Stokes Fund and Longview, Russell Sage and Century foundations.
 
He also wrote articles for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Hartford Courant as well as many book reviews and conference reports. 
 
He was active in many other areas, teaching English as a Second Language to recent immigrants and working as a tax prepayer for H&R Block.
 
Bob was a 1945 graduate cum laude of The Choate School and then served in the United States Navy. On his return he enrolled in Yale University and graduated in 1950 with a bachelor’s degree on American Studies. Years later he earned a master’s degree in economics from the New School for Social Research in New York City.
 
He began his journalistic career as a city hall reporter for the Norwalk Hour and was then a staff writer for Sikorsky Aircraft. He went to work with the United States Information Agency in Bogota, Colombia, where he was recognized for outstanding service. On his return to this country he became a staff writer for the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in New York before going to work for Ford.
 
In addition to his commitment to LAFF, Bob followed several other avocations in retirement, especially his love of carpentry. “I’m a chairman,” he joked. “I repair broken chairs.”
 
He was class agent for both Choate Rosemary Hall and Yale. As part of his work with the Yale Club of New Canaan he volunteered with the Horizon’s Student Enrichment Program at the New Canaan Country Day School. He was also a member of the Senior Men’s Club of New Canaan, recording the minutes of each meeting.
 
He loved playing tennis and was a regular at the New Canaan High School track and a long-time member of the YMCA.
 
He and his wife of 63 years, Barbara, frequently hiked throughout England, Scotland and Ireland and liked to explore the English countryside on family vacations.
 
Besides his wife, he is survived by a son, David Erving Tolles of New Haven, Conn.; a daughter, Amanda Katherine Tolles of New Canaan, and a brother, Peter Franklin Tolles of Seal Beach, Calif.

 

 

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