Robert L. “Bob” Eberhard, the public face of Eberhard’s Dairy Products, died Tuesday at home in Redmond. He was 82.

Eberhard worked until last week, although he’d been fighting cancer for a number of years, according to a statement from the dairy. Eberhard in the mid-1960s joined the family business and with his brothers Jack and Richard, their father, John Eberhard, and others, expanded the operation. The company today employs more than 50 people and distributes its products throughout the state.

In addition to a being a proud Oregon State University alumnus, Eberhard was a go-to community advocate and source of wisdom, said Eric Sande, executive director of the Redmond Chamber of Commerce.

“He was somebody, if we were having a community issue, I could call him for an opinion, a straight answer,” Sande said Tuesday. “From a business standpoint, from a citizen standpoint, he always had a straight answer. When Bob spoke, people listened.”

Sande described Eberhard as an avid OSU supporter and an “all-around good human being” with a great sense of humor. “How could you not be when you’re around ice cream all day?” he asked.

Eberhard’s became a familiar face by way of television commercials in which he encouraged local consumers to tell grocery store managers, “I want my Eberhard’s!”

In 2007, Eberhard and his nephew, Mark Eberhard, with whom he ran the dairy, described their approach to making premium ice cream, one of the many products the dairy produced, for an article in The Bulletin. Vanilla beans from Madagascar and Forbes Chocolate from Cleveland went into the ice cream, for example, and the two men taste-tested the product four or five times weekly for taste, consistency, marbling and melting point.

Eberhard’s ice cream was a regular treat at public events in Redmond, especially those sponsored by the chamber of commerce, Sande said. The dairy also sometimes supplied ice cream and chocolate milk at events at the High Desert Museum, where Eberhard was a trustee from 2002 to 2006, said Dana Whitelaw, museum executive director.

At the museum, Eberhard’s Dairy sponsored a traveling exhibition of watercolors by Sisters artist Kathy Deggendorfer titled “Painting Oregon’s Harvest.”

The works depicted Oregon family farms, fisheries and ranches, Whitelaw said, fitting subjects for a dairy sponsor.

“The Eberhard family led by Bob has been a strong supporter of the museum since it began, from a personal and a business standpoint,” she said. “They set an example for the entire community.”

Bob Eberhard was born May 6, 1935, in Prineville, to John and Nelda Eberhard. He graduated from Redmond Union High School in 1953 and attended Central Oregon Community College before transferring to OSU. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business and a technical minor in dairy products.

He is preceded in death by his wife, Kaye, whom he met at OSU. They were married 57 years until her death on March 25, 2016. Their adopted son, Theodore Lee Eberhard, died in April 2011 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s disease. They are survived by an adopted daughter, Holly Lynn Eberhard-Maloney.

Sande said the 2017 Leadership Redmond class raised $18,000 to fund a bronze statue of a child reading that was erected in July near Redmond City Hall as a memorial to Kaye Eberhard, who had been an elementary school teacher in Redmond for 26 years and an advocate for literacy.

After graduating from OSU, Bob Eberhard went to work for Del Monte Foods Inc., first in San Francisco and then in Seattle. In 1962, he went to work at Dictaphone Corp. in Seattle. Two years later, the Eberhards — Bob, Kaye and Theodore — returned to Redmond, according to the dairy.

In addition to serving as a board member and president of the Redmond Chamber of Commerce and board member of the High Desert Museum, Eberhard also served on the boards and as board chairman at St. Charles Health System and Central Oregon Community College, as board member and president of the Redmond Development Commission and Redmond Executives Association, OSU Alumni Association and Beaver Club. He also served on the Oregon Dairy Products Commission and as board member and chairman of Quality Chekd Dairies Inc.

In addition to his daughter, Eberhard is survived by his brother, Richard Eberhard, sister, Mary Louise Barnes, and other family members. Redmond Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

— Reporter: 541-617-7815, 
jditzler@bendbulletin.com