Robert “Bob” William Maag
November 15th, 1951 – February 24th, 2025
Life Story of Robert William Maag
Birthdate: November 15, 1951
Date of Death: February 24, 2025
Bob was born in the South Side of Chicago on November 15, 1951. From birth onwards, Bob was never Robert, or Rob, or Bobby, and even though he was technically a Junior, he was never a Junior either; his father insisted the only name to be used was Bob.
He was raised Catholic and attended elementary school at St. John Bosco School. When told his parents couldn’t afford to send him and his sister to Catholic high school, Bob went out and got a job to pay for tuition, bypassing sports opportunities like track and football due to time constraints. He graduated as an Honor Student from Saint Patrick High School and studied Marketing at the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle. Upon graduation, he began working while obtaining his Master of Business Administration from DePaul University. He liked to say that he attended 14 years of Catholic schooling.
Even though he worked and studied full-time during his early 20s, he still found time to go out with his brother James to drive racecars on the weekend. During his last year, he loved it when “Jimmy” sent him photos from those days when Speed was the name of their game.
At 33, he met and married Jacqueline Reinholz. They shared many happy years in the house they built in Downers Grove, IL., until 2005, when Jackie passed away suddenly after just a week’s illness.
After Jackie’s passing, Bob expanded his love of live music and met Kerry Spaedy at music haven Ballydoyle Irish Bar in 2017. They were friends at first, going out dancing with their friend Lynn van Haren. They began dating in 2019 after Bob casually asked Kerry why the two of them had never gone out. She replied that she didn’t want to take the chance of losing their friendship. Bob said, “Let’s go out on Tuesday and talk about it.” Well, they never talked about it. It was Bob’s second chance at love, and that second chance was symbolized in the wedding ring Kerry designed using Jackie’s engagement diamond and small diamonds from Jackie’s 10th-anniversary ring. Kerry brought Bob back to the Catholic Church by attending Sunday Mass. He began going with her shortly after they got together, and his rebirth of Catholic faith grew so much that when they decided to get married last December, marrying in the Catholic Church became just as important to Bob as it was to Kerry.
Life with Kerry brought something new into Bob’s life–children. Kerry’s two daughters, Shannon Klinger and Susanne Job, and her three grandchildren, Kaitlyn and Rose Kennedy, and Brialynn Mica, brought many new aspects of life to Bob. When Bob and Kerry moved to Florida, he shared his love of boating and Florida beaches with the girls.
Bob and Kerry’s move to Florida in 2021 was precipitated by a casual remark by Bob to Kerry that he “always wanted to live in Florida.” They followed Bob’s sister-in-law Sue Riviere and her husband Clay to Winter Haven and Lake Wales, where they found many true friends in the community of Lake Ashton. They enjoyed many nights dancing to live music at Lake Ashton and they quickly took advantage of boating on the Chain of Lakes. Bob loved hosting friends on the boat and especially enjoyed his last boating session in October with friends Clive and Colleen Greeff, Chuck, and Terresa Caesar, as well as Chicago buddy and dancing friend Lynn van Haren.
While Bob’s interests were many, like listening to live music and dancing, he probably spent most of his free time on anything with an engine! He acquired a 1970 Mustang Mach One and in 1988, bought Jackie her own Mustang. In addition to boating, his Mustangs were two of the main reasons he wanted to move to Florida—so he could drive them, responsibly, of course (ha!) throughout the year versus just during the summer months in the Midwest. He used the cold winter months in Illinois to build models of WWII planes, tanks, and battleships, which followed his love of the history of both world wars.
Bob was also an avid NASCAR fan and especially enjoyed watching the races during his last year with his good buddy Jeff Prunty. But no description of his life can be complete without including his love of politics. When Kerry moved in in 2019, she quickly realized Bob could monopolize their conversations with talk of politics. And so a 90-second rule was instituted to limit Bob’s political talks to what Kerry could tolerate!
Bob loved to travel. His Lake Wales home is filled with photographs from the many trips he and Jackie enjoyed. His last trip was a favorite one to the Bahamas with Kerry and then the Inn on the Lakes in Sebring for their honeymoon over the Valentine’s Day weekend this past February.
Bob’s career put him in various management positions, with his last position before retirement at Illinois Tool Works, where he served as Logistics Manager for 12 years.
Bob’s booming “radio” voice was missed during his last months on earth when cancer took his voice, but his facial expressions always told the story when his lack of a voice couldn’t. In typical Bob fashion, his last words–and vehement expressions!–to Kerry, the morning he died at Good Shepherd Hospice was, “Get me out of here!” God listened and brought him home.
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