Robert Alexander Meeder

Bob Meeder, age 69, was a smart, caring, generous man who lit up any room he walked into. He died July 3, 2023, at home in Overland Park, Kansas, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

Bob was a baby boomer, having been born on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1953, in Somerville, New Jersey to William George and Jeanne Audrey Meeder (nee Plausics).

Over the years, the family moved from New Jersey, to Chicago, to Kansas City where Bob and his siblings, William, Patricia, and Jeffrey, graduated from Shawnee Mission East high school in Prairie Village. He was a starter on the high school varsity basketball team, a sport he continued to love throughout his life.

He graduated from the University of Kansas with a BS degree in Business and went on to earn an MBA at KU while managing a popular restaurant there and later in Kansas City. His professional career began with the Kidder Peabody brokerage firm and it took off when they sent him to New York for his introduction to the world of financial advisors. Bob earned the respect of individual and institutional investors at an early age. He enjoyed being a broker and sell-side stock analyst covering Midwestern companies, later advancing through different investment firms in his hometown of Kansas City, most recently with Raymond James. He viewed his current work team as family and often joked that he would never retire.

His first marriage to Peggy Ann Ferraro brought their children Michael, Katherine, and Sarah into the family. He later purchased a vacation home at the Lake of the Ozarks in southern Missouri, alongside a boat christened “Inconceivable” (a nod to his love of the movie “Princess Bride”). Bob’s parents had a house next door and, along with his three siblings, the entire Meeder clan enjoyed decades of summers vacationing together with family and friends. Bob loved boating, fishing, traveling to the Caribbean and golf.

In 2015 Bob married Sherry Ann Burkdoll. They continued to live in Overland Park, Kansas, where they cherished sitting in their backyard and spending time with their grandchildren. They particularly enjoyed hosting poolside barbecues, swimming with the kids and spoiling everyone with Bomb Pops. And when they weren’t hosting family, Bob was never shy about flying them somewhere warm to escape the winter season. Even as his health declined, Bob remained a joy to be around and will be missed by all who knew him.

He is survived by his wife Sherry, daughters Katherine Robinson (Mark), Sarah McNamara (Reed); Sherry’s children, Doug Chambers(Margaret), Jennifer Dubinick (Seth); and 9 grandchildren, Harper, William, Thomas, Everett, Rhett, Ruth, Ty, Jensen and Lily. He is predeceased by his parents William and Jeanne, and son Michael Meeder.

A celebration of life service will be held Tuesday 11AM, July 11, 2023, at Village Presbyterian Church, 6641 Mission Road, Prairie Village, KS 66208. Memorial gifts are suggested to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kansas City or Suicide Prevention in memory of his late son.