In a world where “image is everything,” authenticity has become the rarest spectacle of them all. Bob ’68 and Marilyn (Chesick) Weiss have remained as authentically “Scranton” as they were back when he was a “farm boy” from Lake Ariel courting a “city girl” from South Side at a “U Dance” at the Gunster Memorial Student Center in 1966.
The irony: These two people who have dedicated a great deal of their professional and philanthropic lives to improving the vision of the citizens of the world haven’t resided in the Scranton area for more than half a century.
“We remember our roots, and we’re thankful to be able to give back to the community,” said Bob at the naming announcement of Robert S. and Marilyn A. Weiss Hall, the nearly 90,000 square-foot building currently under construction on Madison Avenue that will not only bear their names, but will also house the University’s Wellness Center, two academic departments, an innovation and makerspace, and the Small Business Development Center.
“This is our hometown, and we’ve never forgotten it,” echoed Marilyn at the event. “We couldn’t be happier.”
One need look no further than the walls of Bob’s office in the couple’s home in Pleasanton, California, to see how “authentically Scranton” they’ve remained since Bob studied accounting at Scranton through its ROTC program and Marilyn took University courses through a partnership with the then-Scranton State General Hospital School of Nursing.
Mementoes from their time at Scranton are placed prominently amidst some of the accolades Bob earned as president and CEO of The Cooper Companies Inc., a multinational manufacturer and marketer of contact lenses and specialty health-care products, and his military honors (he earned two Bronze Stars and the Army Commendation Medal serving as a captain in the Army Medical Service Corps in Vietnam). One can see his 1968 Scranton diploma, the Frank J. O’Hara Distinguished Alumni Award bestowed upon him in 2008, a framed “Weiss 68” Scranton jersey presented to him at the opening of Robert and Marilyn Weiss Field (a key component of the Quinn Athletics Campus made possible in part by a $1 million gift from Bob and Marilyn), and a simple purple and white University of Scranton pennant one might find today in the campus bookstore.
Although everything in the office speaks volumes about Bob’s achievements and his personal disposition (the San Francisco Business Times does not bestow the title of “Most Admired CEO 2012” by accident), it is perhaps that last item, that simple pennant, that holds the key to understanding the couple and their awe-inspiring support of the University and its students; to put it as simply as possible, Bob and Marilyn may have physically left Scranton a lifetime ago, but Scranton has spiritually never, ever left their hearts.
“I love what Scranton did for me,” Bob said. “I owe what I have to what I learned there, pure and simple.”
In The Beginning
Bob grew up in Lake Ariel and spent time in the Scranton area visiting his “50 or 60 first cousins” who lived throughout the Lackawanna valley. He loved math and initially wanted to pursue a career as a civil engineer, although he also thought he might like to attend a military academy. Ultimately, he decided Scranton’s ROTC program would be a good fit, and he became the first person in his family to attend college when he began commuting to the University in the fall of 1964.
At Scranton, Bob decided to change gears and study accounting, which he loved, especially the courses taught by legendary Scranton professor John P. McLean ’40. Somewhat surprisingly, though, he found he enjoyed his philosophy classes with the Rev. Edward Gannon, S.J. H ’83 even more, given their focus on morality and ethics.
“(If) I were to pick two or three people who changed my life the most, Father Gannon would be on that list,” he said of the late professor. “I kind of adopted who I am from what I learned in philosophy.
“How you do business, and how you conduct yourself, is all about — and we don’t use these terms enough these days — morality and ethics.”
In 1966, Bob met Marilyn, a student at Scranton Central High School, when she snuck into that “U Dance.” Shortly after, Marilyn began studying to be a nurse at the Scranton State General Hospital School of Nursing, which inspired Bob to choose to serve in the Army Medical Service Corps.
The Work/Life Tightrope
Bob graduated with a degree in accounting and began an internship at Peat Marwick (one of the firms that later merged into KPMG) in New York City. Soon afterward, he went to Vietnam, where he served with distinction. He married Marilyn in Hawaii in October of 1970, one month before he left active duty for a three-year stint in the Army Reserves. Marilyn then began working as a nurse (and later, head nurse) at the Edward S. Harkness Eye Institute at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, where she treated thousands of patients with impaired vision. Bob became a certified public accountant with a client base that included JC Penney, the Archdiocese of New York, and, in 1973, a company called Cooper Laboratories Inc. that would eventually become Bob’s professional home for the bulk of his career.
In 1975, the couple had their first child, Chris, and Marilyn decided to leave her job to focus on raising their family. Bob began working for Cooper full time in 1977 as an assistant corporate controller, and the couple soon welcomed two more children, Kim and Doug, to the world. Given Bob’s expertise in accounting and his experience as a medical supplies administrator, he rose quickly at Cooper, and the family moved to Pleasanton, California, in 1979 in advance of Cooper’s relocation to a new headquarters in Palo Alto. Over the years, Bob was promoted to corporate controller, treasurer, chief financial officer, chief operating officer, president of CooperVision, and, ultimately, president and CEO of The Cooper Companies. During Bob’s time at the company, Cooper had a number of industry-defining breakthroughs, including the development of intraocular lenses (i.e., lenses implanted directly into the eye), and Lasik surgery, two advancements that have helped millions see more clearly. As president and CEO, Bob championed a number of employee wellness programs, and he was recognized with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award for 2017-2018.
“My belief was that our employees … were our number one asset,” he said. “How you treat your employees and the wellness of those employees is what dictates how productive a company is, how productive our employees are.”
Since retiring in 2018, Bob has continued to serve Cooper as the chair of its board of directors. Once their children were older, Marilyn worked as a pediatric nurse for several years before she began volunteering with the Tri Valley Repertory Theatre in Pleasanton.
A Man And Woman For And With Others
All the while, Bob and Marilyn kept their eyes open for opportunities to help others whenever they could. As a result, Bob became a sponsor of the Pediatric Refractive Error Training Center, an eyecare clinic in Hanoi, Vietnam, that trains optometrists to fight the growing epidemic of myopia, also known as nearsightedness, that has accompanied the increase in screen-time the adoption of the smartphone accelerated.
In 2015, Bob and Marilyn found a way to combine their shared passion for helping others see more clearly with their love of the University and the greater Scranton area by making a $1.25 million gift to the University. The result: the creation of The Robert and Marilyn Weiss Pediatric Low Vision Research and Training Suite, a facility that provides free services to uninsured or underinsured residents of Lackawanna County. Bob joined the University’s Board of Trustees later that same year, and he quickly became informally known as “the pizza guru” by his fellow trustees due to his unabashed love of and enthusiasm for the pizza of Northeastern Pennsylvania. In 2018, the couple attended the official opening of Robert and Marilyn Weiss Field a few blocks away from the house where Marilyn grew up.
Setting The Bar Even Higher
Over the course of the public phase of “A Fire That Kindles Other Fires: The Campaign For Mission, Access, & Excellence,” the University’s in-progress, $135 million capital campaign, Rev. Joseph G. Marina, S.J., University president, often joked that “for a mere, meager, eight-figure gift, you can have your name emblazoned upon” the University’s new center for workforce development, applied research and outreach.
“That line has fallen flat every single time that I have given it,” Father Marina said at the Weiss Hall naming announcement. “But it went differently in San Francisco on March 6, when, after the alumni reception, at the end of it as he was leaving, Bob Weiss turned to me and said, ‘If you’re serious about the opportunity to name the building, I’d like to hear more.’”
And, just like that, the farm boy and the city girl found themselves making the largest donation in the history of the University, a lasting testament to their shared vision for a better tomorrow.
At the close of the naming announcement, Bob remarked upon the outsized impact he and his classmates, including the late University benefactor John E. “Jack” Brennan ’68, P’06 and Edward R. Leahy, Esq. ’68, H’01 (who, along with his wife, Patricia Leahy, held the previous record for the largest single-donation gift in University history with their monumental $10 million donation), have had upon Scranton in an effort to inspire current and future Royals to do even more for their beloved University.
“The Class of ’68 has really stepped up,” he said. “You only have to look here at Brennan Hall — John Brennan, Class of ’68. Look across the way at Leahy Hall — Ed Leahy, Class of ’68. And now, we’ll be able to look across the street at Weiss Hall, Class of ’68.
Bob Weiss ’68, first row, sixth from left, attends his 50-year class reunion at Reunion Weekend 2018.
“I’m sure future students who graduate, future alumni, are gonna set the bar even higher.”
Ever the optimist, Bob elaborated further on his love for Scranton during a follow-up Zoom call a few weeks after the announcement.
“Scranton has a tremendous amount to offer, let alone the best pizza in the world,” he said with a smile. As he and Marilyn returned to viewing a live webcam feed showcasing Weiss Hall’s construction, he added, Scrantastically, “The best pizza is Alfredo’s.”
