On June 13, Robert Winner passed away at the age of 69.
Robert A. Winner passed on June 13 at the age of 69, doing what he loved — flying and helping others.
Bob worked hard and played hard. After 54 years on the farm, he enjoyed retirement doing the things he loved most — skiing in Vermont, fishing in Costa Rica, traveling to Broadway, enjoying the beach in Long Beach Island, traveling to new places with Sue and working on home fix-it projects with Amy and Jeff. He had a tight knit circle of friends at the South Jersey Regional Airport — self-named “The Trunk Monkeys,” and they’d fly together most weeks to a landing strip somewhere close for a burger and “trip around the block.” He lived every day truly to the fullest with zest and love.
He loved to help others — whether it was picking someone up in the middle of the night from the airport, re-drywalling a basement, flying a friend to visit a loved one or installing sliding trash cans in the kitchen. At the end of every perfectly executed project, he’d exclaim “that’s the berries!”
The life of a dairy farmer is intense. He spent the majority of his life running a business that constantly threw curve balls. Bob rarely got more than a few hours of sleep at a time, between midnight barn checks, 4 a.m. milkings and surprise calf deliveries. But he somehow made it in for dinner with the family almost every night, and even when pipes had frozen or critical machinery was broken, he was there with his family for Christmas morning and birthday dinners.
Even with a full plate on the farm, he also was in a leadership role in the local, then national cooperative that kept so many of the country’s dairy farms in business. In the early seventies, he was part of the Atlantic Dairy Council’s Young Cooperative Program from the day he graduated from college and took a place alongside his father, Maurice “Speedy” Winner running Pleasant Acres Dairy Farm. He was the president of the Dairy Council, starting in 1988, and later served on the Board of Directors for Land O Lakes cooperative and later their foundation from 1997 to 2004. Bob retired from farming in 2002 and sold the farm to Burlington County under farmland preservation. It now is the Burlington County Agricultural Center.
Anyone who knew Bob can attest to his integrity, honesty, compassion, kindness and grit. Please help keep his memory alive by following his example and lending a helping hand when you can.
Bob is survived by his wife of 47 years, Susan (nee Zeihler); daughter Amy Winner; son Jeffrey Winner and his wife Maureen; brother Wayne Winner and sister Nancy Brooks. He was the beloved grandfather to Desmond, Owen and Jack Winner.
The memorial service was 11 a.m. on Monday June 18th 2018 at the First Presbyterian Church in Moorestown. Interment was private.
Please no flowers. If you’d like to make a donation, please consider: Angel Flight East (http://www.angelflightne.org/), 492 Sutton Street, North Andover, MA 01845 or GiGi’s Playhouse Westchester Downs Syndrome Achievement Center, (https://gigisplayhouse.org/westchester/) 720 Saw Mill River Rd, Ardsley, NY 10502
Please help us remember Bob by gathering stories about him at: www.lewisfuneralhomemoorestown.com
