Robert (Rob) Henry Mathers Jr.

Published 2:00 pm Tuesday, May 6, 2025

June 20, 1950 – April 28, 2025 – Robert (Rob) Henry Mathers Jr., 74, passed away at his home in St. Helens, Oregon, surrounded by family and loved ones. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Robert Harry Mathers, a decorated Navy officer, and Madeleine Mathers (nee Kelley). He was a middle child, keeping the peace between his older brother, Richard Mathers, and his younger sister, Barbara Mathers. As student council president of Union Catholic High School, Rob famously secured The Who and Cream to perform in the high school’s gymnasium. He graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in journalism and concurrently began his lifelong career working in energy. He was active in the Big Brother program – an early sign of the father role he would play for exchange students as well as his children’s friends over the course of his life.

After a short, long-distance courtship, he married Ann Dickerson in Houston, Texas, in 1980. They had two children, Kayt Mathers and Luke Mathers. Ambitious in his work and interested in the world, Rob moved his family from Chicago to Europe at a pivotal time following the fall of the Berlin Wall. The family relocated to Portland in 1995. As Director of Business Development at Kinder Morgan, he was a committee member of the Working Waterfront Coalition and was later elected to a board seat on the Columbia County People’s Utility District.

Rob is remembered for his sparkle, his open-mindedness, and his avid curiosity about people. He was generous and supportive, always. He put those around him above all else, and he made an impression on everyone he met. A student of history, he was deeply troubled about the rise of fascism and unchecked power – worries he shared in open discourse with friends, colleagues, and acquaintances. Despite the cancer and constant pain he was in, he laughed a lot, often at himself. He was a longtime donor to the Nature Conservancy, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Portland’s KBOO Community Radio. He was a remarkable man and is missed by so many.

In lieu of flowers, his family encourages donations to the aforementioned organizations in his memory. He requested a green burial and will be interred in a field of wildflowers in the Columbia Gorge. A larger celebration of life will take place at his home in early June.