Obituary
Robert (Bob) Gary Scully, 80, died peacefully in his home in Chapel Hill, NC on August 8th, 2024, after a valiant fifteen year battle with Parkinson’s Disease. He was surrounded by his loving wife and two daughters.
Bob was born July 10th, 1944 in Wilmington, Delaware to Helen (Sabotta) and Edward Scully. Bob was very proud of his Irish roots and identified with the Irish struggle for independence. The Scully family emigrated to the United States in 1847 to escape the Potato Famine.
After joining the Marines at nineteen, Bob was trained as an avionics specialist and deployed to Vietnam in 1967. It opened his eyes to the horror of war and profoundly changed how he viewed the world. When Bob returned home to LA, he became an active member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW). Under the GI Bill, Bob graduated from UCLA with a BA in Sociology. He worked at the VA for six years and served the Veteran community. Bob remained politically active throughout his life, writing letters to the editor and protesting wars.
When The Who’s rock opera, Tommy, premiered in LA in 1972, the producers hosted a pinball competition. Bob won the competition, earning him the title of the “First Official American Pinball Wizard”. It’s no surprise he won because Bob was a skillful competitor. He played many sports and baseball was his favorite. He also loved playing golf and bowling with his friends. He encouraged all his children to play sports and never missed any of their games. Bob loved his Philadelphia Phillies, Bruins and Tarheels.
Like many hippies in the ‘70s Bob was on a spiritual path. He became a devoted student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist teacher. In the early ‘80s, he followed Trungpa Rinpoche to Colorado and he later became the Co-director of Karma Dzong in Boulder. There, he met his devoted wife Aviva, whom he cherished for 36 years. Together, Bob and Aviva have one daughter, Siobhan, and Bob raised Aviva’s two children from a previous marriage, Rachel and Jonathan, as his own.
In 1990, Bob and Aviva moved to Chapel Hill from Boulder with their three children. Bob had been working selling coffee, and in 1993 he and Aviva opened one of the first coffee shops in Chapel Hill located in the medical school at the UNC. In 1996, they opened their second coffee shop, Bob & Aviva’s Java Cafe. Through working in his coffee shops for almost two decades, Bob cultivated lifelong relationships with both his employees and customers.
Bob spent his latter years writing his unpublished memoir Confessions of a Fallen Altar Boy. Bob was a tender-hearted and loving husband, father and friend and a staunch guardian and protector of his family. He was truly one-of-kind with a great sense of humor, sharp intellect, and quick wit.
Bob was preceded in death by his brother Ronald Scully, his parents Helen (Sabotta) and Edward Scully, his brother Edward Scully (Patricia), his sister Lois Mulroney (Paul) and many aunts and uncles, including his favorite aunt Blanche Cumpston(Charles). He leaves behind his wife Aviva Scully, his children Siobhan Scully (Lauren), Rachel Fischoff, and Jonathan Fischoff (Nadine), his grandchildren Zachary, Sophie, Isaac and Akira, his brother Thomas Scully (Phyllis), his brother-in-law Hillel Dolgenas, his sister-in-law Deborah Drossman( Douglas) and many beloved nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.
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