Robert Riley

Robert Eugene Riley, age 82, passed away on January 23rd, 2020 at his home in Cross Plains, WI.  Known as “Bob” to his friends and family, he was born on February 3, 1937 in Madison, WI. the son of Edward and Laura (Johnson) Riley.  He was the second of two children and was proceeded in death by his older brother.  He married Vera (Wierenga) Riley on October 23, 1965 in Madison, to whom he remained faithfully married for nearly 54 years until her recent passing in October 2019.

Bob was driven at an early age to take on everything life had to offer.  He grew up in the Crestwood neighborhood, his entrepreneurial pursuits began as a young man delivering newspapers on his Cushman motor scooter throughout many neighborhoods.  Upon graduation from West High School in 1955, he and his good friend took off on an adventure and rode their Indian motorcycles across the country to the West coast and returned back home.  Bob had many diverse interests that included riding motorcycles, restoring classic cars, skiing, and becoming a pilot and flying his airplane. He was also raced competitively in dirt track scrambles during the mid 1960’s.  Bob’s interest in construction, engineering, real estate, and business started with his building a house and then selling it. Having success, he then built another one, and more.  Thus, was planted the seed and began his interest in his lifelong business.  As his construction and engineering interests grew, he took a job with Mead & Hunt Engineering firm as a surveyor.  He caught on quickly and progressed out of the field and into an office position. After working 10 years under his mentor, he studied and took the required engineering exams to become a registered civil engineer, all this without a specialized and formal education, an achievement that is rarely seen.  Bob’s entrepreneurial mindset and passion to build and have his own business led him to seek out and meet Ken Sullivan; a small local Madison contractor that was looking to retire and sell his company.  Bob and a couple of partners bought into the Sullivan Construction business in 1968. In the early 1970’s, he partnered with his “ski-buddy” architect, and they pioneered a new business model in the Madison area called ‘Design-Build’. Together they designed and built 100’s of buildings in Wisconsin and neighboring states over his 40+ year career as President at the Kenneth F. Sullivan Co (Sullivan designBUILD).  Bob was a creative problem solver and invented a building insulation system that he patented and sold globally. In 2007, Bob received the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the University of Wisconsin for his contributions and achievements in the construction business in the greater Madison area. He will be forever known by his friends, family, and community as a forthright, honest, hard-working, and innovative businessman. He was, rightfully, very proud of his success at the Sullivan company and enjoyed being active and involved well into his retirement years. Together, Bob and Vera enjoyed comradery with their many friends in the Southern Wisconsin Classic Thunderbird Club, summers outside bicycling; and they worked as a team meticulously maintaining their Cross Plains property. Bob and his son, John, spent much of their free time together tinkering with all sorts of wheeled vehicles and particularly learned the art of automotive restoration in his hobby shop.  You could always find a Corvette, Thunderbird, Jeep or Cushman motor scooter completely taken apart and under restoration.  Being a Madison Native, Bob had many lifelong friends from his childhood shenanigans’ that spanned from the early days of sneaking into drive-in movies to, more recently, the many Saturday afternoon billiard games in his “man cave” in his hobby shop.  He was loved and admired by his entire family and we feel blessed to have known and shared in his long, rewarding, and fulfilling life!

Robert is survived by his four children, son Robert Nathan Riley of Madison, WI, daughter Bonnie (Rick) Fairchild of Madison, WI, daughter Jill (Gil) Valentine of Chicago, IL, son John (Jill) Riley of Cross Plains, WI and seven cherished grandchildren.

Funeral Services will be held on Thursday, January 30 at Cress Funeral home, 6021 University Ave., Madison, WI. Visitation is at 10:00 a.m. with a 11:30 a.m. service and luncheon to follow.

Thank you to Agrace Hospice for their amazing support and care through this process.

In lieu of flowers, a donation to Agrace Hospice https://www.agrace.org/donate would be appreciated.

Please share your memories at www.cressfuneralservice.com

Cress Center

6021 University Ave. Madison

(608)238-8406