lit a candle 1h agoMy dad called me the second he saw this, he did contracts work in the 90s and said Bob Ford was the one who taught him what integrity on paper actually looked like.
Their story
Robert "Bob" Charles Ford II was a longtime Melbourne, Florida, defense contracting executive whose career on the Space Coast stretched from Harris Corporation in the late 1970s through senior roles at DRS, GE, and Alstom before his retirement in 2023. He died peacefully on 15 September 2026 at the age…
Robert "Bob" Charles Ford II was a longtime Melbourne, Florida, defense contracting executive whose career on the Space Coast stretched from Harris Corporation in the late 1970s through senior roles at DRS, GE, and Alstom before his retirement in 2023. He died peacefully on 15 September 2026 at the age of 73, surrounded by his family, after several months in hospital during which, relatives later said, he came to know nurses, technicians, therapists, and cleaning staff by name.
Born on 23 June 1953 in Kokomo, Indiana, to Robert "Bob" and Betty (Young) Ford, he was the youngest of four children. He graduated from Haworth High School in 1971, where he ran cross country, then studied at Indiana University Kokomo, where he met Ann Cobb of Bedford, Indiana, the nursing student who became his wife. He completed a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at Indiana University Bloomington in 1975. The couple married in 1976 and moved to Melbourne in 1977 to raise their three children, Aimee Adele, Amanda Brooke, and Dr. Robert "Bobby" Charles Ford III. Bob later earned a Master of Science in Business Management from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1983.
His professional life began at Harris in 1977 in defense contracts. Over decades he held executive positions with DRS, GE, and Alstom, retiring in 2023. Colleagues remembered him for integrity, leadership, and dry humor. Away from work he was a devoted Indiana Hoosiers basketball and football fan, a listener of 1970s music including John Cougar Mellencamp, and someone who prized road trips, golf, a cold beer, and making family and friends laugh. To his grandchildren he was "Popop," each with a nickname and a secret handshake. He and Ann were married nearly 45 years until her sudden death in June 2021; in his final years he often said he was ready to be reunited with her.
Bob was preceded in death by his parents, his in-laws Doyle and Adele Cobb, and his wife Ann. He is survived by daughters Aimee (Dave) Larkin and Amanda (Shannon) Sturgil; son Bobby (Holly) Ford; three sisters, Dixie (Butch) Lieurance and Connie (Ray) Ackerman of Palm Bay and Penelope (James) Martin of Melbourne; nine grandchildren; great-grandchildren; and his dogs Tuxedo and Levi. A funeral Mass is set for Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Melbourne on 26 September 2026. In lieu of flowers, the family asked donations to the Ann Adele Ford Memorial Nursing Scholarship at Indiana University Kokomo, which Bob established in Ann's honor.
Biography adapted from Brownlie-Maxwell Funeral Home obituary; Space Coast Daily (17 September 2026); Ann Adele Ford obituaries (Space Coast Daily / Brownlie Maxwell / Kokomo Tribune, 2021).
In their own words
“Mental toughness is to physical as four is to one.”
Bobby Knight line quoted in Bob Ford's Brownlie-Maxwell obituary
“Bob was a terrific person and a great contracts manager. He exhibited the highest levels of integrity, leadership and dedication to his job and to those he worked with.”
Gene Cavallucci guestbook tribute, Melbourne, 17 September 2026
Photos
1Robert "Bob" Charles Ford II
by People Forever
same, my uncle worked under him at DRS and never had a bad word to say