Robert F Trocchi

Robert Frederick Trocchi of Hudson formerly of Sudbury, Nov. 10, 2014. Beloved husband of Virginia M. (Benson) Trocchi. Loving father of Lynne (Trocchi) Sullivan of Hudson, Robert Trocchi of Danvers, Nancy (Trocchi) Belanger of Ayer and William Trocchi of Atlanta. Brother of the late Doris (Trocchi) Marsh, the late Albert Trocchi, Josephine (Trocchi) Picone, and Alice (Trocchi) Wentworth. Also survived by 11 grandchildren. Funeral Mass at Our Lady of Fatima in Sudbury on Friday at 11 a.m. Relatives and friends respectfully invited to attend. Visitation at the Duckett Funeral Home, 656 Boston Post Road, Sudbury, on Thursday from 4-7 p.m. In lieu of flowers donations in Robert's memory may be made to the Mass General Cancer Center Development Office, 100 Cambridge Street, Suite 1310, Boston, MA 02114. Interment will be at Wadsworth Cemetary, Sudbury.

Bob was slightly younger than the members of Tom Brokaw's 'Greatest Generation', the Americans who grew up in the Great Depression and flourished during World War II and its aftermath. But his story mirrored what the American dream meant to many of his contemporaries. He came from little, worked hard for his education, built a successful career that carried him to five continents and was able to offer opportunities to his children that he never had.

Bob grew up the grandson of Italian immigrants in a humble home in Bridgewater, Mass. His father opened a gas station when Bob was two years old, and by age 10 Bob was spending many of his off-school hours pumping gas, checking oil, and changing tires. Friendly Service Station became a community landmark, and Bob learned how to grow a business from a man with a seventh-grade education. He saw how hard work and ethical decision-making could create a thriving business that started at a time when automobiles were fairly scarce.

At the insistence of his mother Rose, who reached the 10th grade, Bob put himself through UMass by working and earning some scholarship money. He graduated in 1955 with an Electrical Engineering degree, returning to Bridgewater most weekends during his four years in Amherst to work at the family gas station. After spending one year taking Masters classes and teaching at UMass, Bob entered the Northeastern Masters program that eventually led to his first job at Honeywell, a fledgling company in the emerging computer industry.

Bob stayed with Honeywell until 1972, when he was hired away by Digital to be a marketing manager in the Education sector. One of his major accomplishments during his 22 years at Digital was initiating Digital's entry into China, where an office was opened and scores of universities were exposed to Digital's products. He also initiated a grant program in the U.S. that implemented computer networking on 12 college campuses. His business travels took him to Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Iran, Brazil and several other countries.

In the final phase of his career, Bob was the Chief Operating Officer at Webmate, an internet startup company that focused on intranets and content management systems. It was an exciting, fast-paced and fascinating way to wrap up a career that started when a single computer filled an entire room and ended with people with no HTML knowledge updating websites.

In 1956, Bob met the woman he would be married to for 56 years. They were engaged on July 4, 1957 and married nine months later. The couple lived in Westwood, Mass., before moving to Philadelphia for two years starting in 1959. They returned to Norwood, Mass., for eight years before a three-year move to Edina, Minn. In 1972, they bought a house in Sudbury, Mass., where they stayed for 35 years before moving to Hudson in 2007.

Their devotion to each other knew no bounds. Through births, deaths, wedding, funerals, celebrations and disappointments, Bob and Ginny's bond was unbreakable. They shared a faith and belief in each other few couples do and one always had the other's best interests at the forefront of every decision.

Bob saw all four of his children graduate from Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School and go on to earn four-year college degrees before getting married and starting families of their own. He experienced the wonder of 11 grandchildren, born between 1992 and 2004. They have been a window to a new generation engrossed in hashtags, hand-held devices and social media, which are the futuristic results of his 40-year involvement with computers.

During his retirement, Bob was eager to give back in whatever ways he could. He was extremely involved with volunteer work centered around seniors and Our Lady of Fatima Catholic church. He drove seniors to doctor appointments, delivered communion as a Eucharistic minister to home-bound seniors as well as the Wingate nursing home and Orchard Hill assisted living facility in Sudbury. At various times during his membership at Our Lady of Fatima, he taught religious education, was a member of the church's music group and was a lector.

In his final year, his energy was focused on beating back cancer any way he could, displaying a determination that was not uncommon throughout his life. He outlived his initial prognosis by several months and amazed his doctors with a fighting spirit that was evident to the end.

His legacy is one of family, hard work, service, faith and dedication. Hundreds of people were positively influenced by a man who seized opportunities he created and experienced a life filled with untold and unforeseen rewards.

"I realize that if everyone in the world could read this, I believe I would be the envy of not tens of millions of people, but surely hundreds of millions of people," Bob wrote as he reflected on his life upon his 70th birthday in 2003. "I can only hope and pray that I have sufficient humility to appreciate it."