Walex Products Co. announced that its co-founder, Bob Williams, died in November at the age of 92. The company had wanted to wait for the holidays to come and go before announcing the news.
RV PRO presents the following statement released by the company on Thursday.
“Robert Alexander Williams was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, on November 5, 1930. He had a very full and well-lived life. Bob was a brilliant man who was genuinely kind and extremely generous to everyone he met. He died on November 18, 2022, at the age of ninety-two.
“As a man, husband, father, grandfather, and friend, he was boundless in his energy of drive and compassion. To those who knew him well, he was affectionately known as Bob, Dad, Thumper, Boombob, or Mr. Bob. He is survived by his wife of sixty-two years, Barbara Williams, whom he met on a blind date and married four months later, his son and best friend Bill Williams and wife Kendall, his daughter Beth Penton and husband Howard, and his granddaughters, whom he loved deeply Emilia, Ava, Alexanne and Emily Elizabeth.
With his mother’s death at the age of five, Bob was raised by his mother’s sister, Sarah Clouston. She was his “Aunt Sally” and he loved her dearly. He spent his time working and hunting on the Clouston family farm in West Virginia, where he would spend endless days enjoying the outdoors and doing farm chores like milking cows and feeding livestock. He often spoke of growing up on this farm with many fond memories. Bob attended Washington and Jefferson College at the age of sixteen and, upon graduation, went on to Penn State University for graduate studies in physics. After college, he joined the U.S. Navy as a Lieutenant and worked for the Bureau of Ordinance, and served on the destroyer USS Tweety. After the navy, he held technical and research positions at Monsanto Chemical and Burlington Industries.
Upon his retirement from Burlington, he and his son Bill began their new venture of Walex Products Co. Bob invented the products, and Bill sold them. They started the company in their kitchen and made their first products in the garage. It was the start of a long and successful business venture that now sees Walex products sold and used worldwide withing many industries such as Portable Sanitation, RV, Marine, Septic, Janitorial, Landfill, Bus, and Airline. Bob drove to the office every day until eighty-eight and was always the first to turn on the lights. His amazing friends at Walex are his extended family, and he genuinely loved and cared for everyone there. He enjoyed lunching with the guys and having a few good laughs over a glass of wine. Bob was a faithful Christian who served as a founding member and elder at Jamestown Presbyterian Church in Jamestown, North Carolina. In addition, he was an active member of Little Chapel on the Boardwalk at Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.
“He saw the potential in everyone he met and loved helping and seeing those around him succeed. He was a friend to all, loving, kind, and humble. A man with a huge heart and a great sense of humor who always wanted to be involved in the fun. He will forever be in our hearts and remembered daily by how he enriched us with love, generosity, kindness, support, and strength. He was one of the good guys.”
