Robert Segal

Mr. Robert Sidney Segal, 61, of High Point, died Friday, February 19, 2016, at home as the result of recently diagnosed cancer. Born March 23, 1954, in Portsmouth, Ohio, he was a son of Michael B and Helane Kuhn Segal, and had been married for 24 years to the former Alethea Sparks, the mother of their three children. Mr. Segal was a 1976 graduate of Kent State University, graduating cum laude with a bachelor of business administration with dual majors in accounting and management science.

He began his accounting career conventionally as a certified public accountant at Arthur Young, a national CPA firm in Cleveland OH. Two years later, having grown weary of Cleveland’s snowy winters, he moved to North Carolina to work for High Point-based Dixon Odom where he stayed for 5 years doing “the audit thing” and later consulting with NC savings and loans struggling with financial problems. In 1995 he moved to Wrightsville Beach with the goal of starting a bank. He co-founded First Hanover Bank in Wilmington and served as executive vice president for four years until he gave that up and started his own consulting business. He moved back to High Point in the early 90s and since then formed Segal Revenue & Expense Specialists into a highly regarded and successful company serving North and South Carolina. He was a fiscal detective, constantly searching for cost-saving clues and ideas that would help his clients. Despite the fact that his work required frequent out of town travel, he was home in time for supper most nights and typically showed up with some sort of road trip gift for Alethea.

He was actively involved in the community, serving as a trustee of New Hanover Regional Hospital in Wilmington, on the Board of Directors of the Piedmont Land Conservancy, and Rails to Trails North Carolina.

He was physically active, enjoying running, swimming, and long-distance cycling while living at Wrightsville Beach. He met Alethea on June 4, 1988, when he showed up at her door, sight unseen, to drive her to Spartanburg, SC, where they both participated in the 13th Annual Assault on Mt. Mitchell bicycle ride. That was the beginning of their courtship and thereafter they spent countless hours and hundreds of miles together biking the streets and roads of Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach, and Wilmington, training for various foot races, marathons, and bike rides. They returned to their beloved Wrightsville Beach every summer for family vacations. He loved spending time at the family farm in Davie County where he enjoyed chain sawing, weeding, deadheading flowers, grilling, and his all-time favorite - pulling vines out of trees! He was an excellent businessman. He was a hugely supportive husband. He was an exceptional father. He was an amazing cook, preparing the world’s best ham and turkey every Thanksgiving. He was a generous giver. He was a good man. He was preceded in death by his mother, Helane Kuhn Segal. Surviving are his wife, Alethea Sparks Segal, and children, Annie Catherine Segal of High Point, Richard Sparks Segal of Charlotte, and Caroline Sydney Segal of Raleigh. Also surviving are his father, Michael B Segal; step mother, Suzanne Segal; two siblings, David Segal and Barbara Goldenberg, all of Columbus, OH, many nieces and nephews, and extended family members.

A service of remembrance will be held at 2:00 p.m., Sunday, February 21, 2016, in the chapel of Sechrest Funeral Service, High Point with the family receiving friends immediately following the service.

The family requests that memorials be considered for Calvary Moravian Church, 600 Holly Avenue NW, Winston Salem, NC 27101.

On line condolences may be made to the family at www.sechrestfunerals.com.

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” – Numbers 6:24-26