Obituary of Robert Connor Bryan

Robert Connor Bryan passed away at his home in Fellowship Village, Basking Ridge on Tuesday, October 27, 2015. Bob was born in Kansas City in 1926 to L. Thomas Bryan Sr. and Amy Swank Bryan. Soon afterward his family moved to Brooklyn Heights and then settled down in Maplewood in 1928. He went through the Maplewood public school system and attended Columbia High School for two years before taking his senior year at Mercersberg Academy in Pennsylvania where he graduated in 1944. He entered Dartmouth college that same summer and enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was able to complete a semester before he was officially inducted into the Air Corps in 1945 and after basic training was sent to Denver to photo school in 1946 where he became an aerial photographer. He was posted to Japan in 1946 just as the war was ending and the need for photographs was no longer a priority. He served in Japan at Showa Air Force Base until 1948. Most of of his service time was spent running the base dispensary. He returned to Dartmouth and graduated in 1949. The Bryan family moved to Short Hills about that same time. He joined the family firm of Dunn and Bryan Inc.which had been founded by his father and Robert M. Dunn in 1938. They were manufacturer's representatives for several lines of hand tools and their territory extended through New Jersey, Delaware, New York and part of Pennsylvania. He married Ann-Barrett Holmes in 1950 and they moved to Oreland Pennsylvania and establish the Penna. office of Dunn and Bryan. They had two children -a daughter, Leslie and a son Jeffrey. Bob participated with Jeff in the local Indian guides tribe for several years in Oreland and as Jeff became a year around swimmer Bob helped officiate at AAU swim meets throughout the mideast over about a ten year span. His dedication to swimming meets continued after the family moved to Short Hills in 1970 and he was a familiar figure on pool decks for many years. Bob had been a member of Canoe Brook Country club since his teenage years and could be found on the paddle tennis courts through out the winter weather. In his leisure time Bob worked on TV Channel 36 in Summit for about ten years-he ran the cameras for many of the talk shows and also filmed the Summit Council meetings. He had a great interest in photography and specialized in flowers though he also has an extensive collection of slides taken on trips to Kenya, Antarctica,the Galapagos Islands and Turkey. After his farther's retirement from Dunn and Bryan Bob became CEO in 1970. He closed the business in 1992 and joined Janel Inc in Boundbrook until he finally retired in 2004 which was a year after he and Ann moved to Fellowship Village in Basking Ridge. Robert was an active member of the Summit Old guard and was President of the Fellowship Village Resident Council for two years from 2005-2007. He also belonged to the Fellowship Village Medical committee and the Operations committee. His favorite job was working in the Fellowship Village Store on Monday afternoons. He is survived by this wife of 65 years, Ann-Barrett Holmes.daughter Leslie S. Bryan and her husband Charles Luce of Weehawken, NJ as well as brothers, Barry R. Bryan of Fishers Island, New York and L. Thomas Bryan.Jr. of Lexington, Mass. In lieu of flowers memorial remembrances may be sent to the Fellowship Village Endowment Fund or to a charity of your choice. A memorial service will be held at Fellowship Village on November 9, 2015 at 2:00 pm. For further information please contact Gallaway and Crane Funeral Home at 908-766-0250, or to light an online condolence candle please visit our website at www.gcfuneralhome.com »(Do not delete this line. It does not print. Text that is to appear on web must be entered before this line)