Claeys, Robert
CLAEYS, Robert Arnold
Robert Arnold Claeys, age 83, passed away September 23, 2023, in Atlanta, Georgia. He'll be remembered as a loving husband, father, grandfather (Pappy), successful businessman, teacher, and for his faith, wit and sense of humor.
Robert (Bob) was born in St. Boniface, Manitoba, Canada on May 3, 1940, the second child of Hector Claeys and Serena Marie Vandecaveye Claeys. His family immigrated to Detroit, Michigan when he was seven. He graduated in 1958 from Lakeview High School in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, where he played baseball and was a running back for the Huskies football team.
Bob attended the University of Florida, where he was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity and participated in ROTC. IBM recruited him in his sophomore year to become a Systems Engineer, seeing his potential and overlooking his initial interview attire of flip-flops and shorts. It was also at this time that Bob met his wife, Suzanne McLaughlin, on campus, and they were married January 11, 1964, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Jacksonville, Florida.
Following his graduation from the University of Florida with a B.S. in Business Administration, Bob donned the IBM uniform and launched his career as the company unveiled its innovative new technology, IBM System/360-- the first major mainframe that allowed for different combinations of computer size, memory capacity, and peripheral equipment. His first assignment was at the Jacksonville, Florida Installation Center, where he would work with customers on system and software design.
In 1971, the Memorex Corporation lured Bob and his family to Atlanta, where he served in a sales capacity as a Systems Engineering consultant, leveraging his technical skills to design data storage and communication systems that could be used with IBM mainframes. He went on to become a top sales leader, and moved to the Codex (Motorola) Corporation in the late 1970s, where he worked with major clients such as BellSouth, AT&T, Southern Company, State of Georgia, State of Alabama and Delta Airlines to meet their integrated data communications needs, utilizing the latest high-speed modems. Most notably, he worked with Delta on the system equipment design that would be needed to support DATAS II, an unbiased ticket reservation system so travel agents could see available flight information for all airlines.
In the late 1980s, with two of his children in college, Bob and Suzanne moved to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, allowing his youngest to pursue competitive figure skating. During this time, he served in senior sales leadership roles at Sprint Corporation and AT&T Paradyne. Throughout his career, Bob consistently earned recognition as a Top Salesperson, enjoying numerous trips with his wife to Palm Springs, Hawaii, Bermuda, Aruba, and the Caribbean. They loved their travel adventures and were grateful to also visit Alaska, Singapore, China, Russia, Turkey, Europe and South America, and were often joined by their children and grandchildren.
Bob and Suzanne returned to Atlanta in 1997, becoming parishioners at Holy Spirit Catholic Church. He began volunteering for tutoring initiatives at Centro Católico. Bob found that he liked sharing the excitement of learning with young people. Postretirement, he enrolled in education classes at University of West Georgia, and then began teaching English as Second Language programs for middle and high school students in the Atlanta Public School System. He later joined Suzanne in homeschooling their grandchildren during summers and year-round, while also volunteering to tutor math at LaAmistad, Inc.
Bob loved to celebrate holidays and birthdays with his family, and especially his wife of 59 years. This year he joined Suzanne on her first heavenly birthday, just a couple of months following her passing. Bob is survived by his children, Caroline "Carrie" Thompson (Mark), Robert Claeys Jr., (Elizabeth), Alice Sue Claeys; and grandchildren, Taylor Claeys, Sydney Claeys, Charles Claeys, Benjamin Claeys, Sarah Serena Thompson, and Phoebe Rose Claeys; his brothers, Russell Claeys and George Claeys and their families.
A Funeral Mass will be held in St. Mary's Chapel at Holy Spirit Catholic Church on Saturday, October 21, 2023, at 11:30 AM. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to Holy Spirit Catholic Church, American Stroke Association, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
