Tyler, Robert L. Jr.

Robert L. Tyler
June 27, 1929-March 18, 1975


Niles Daily Star, Tuesday, March 18, 1975, page 1, col 2-4, microfilm Niles District Library

Business, civic leader Tyler is dead at 45

 

Niles--Robert L. Tyler, Jr., 45, community leader and president of the Tyler Refrigeration Division of Clark Equipment Co., died at 12:20 a.m. today at Pawating Hospital. He had been ill for the last seven months.

Mr. Tyler was named general manager and president of the Tyler Division on Feb. 1, 1969, succeeding his father, Robert Tyler Sr., in that position. In May, 1972, he was elected a corporate vice-president of Clark.

Mr. Tyler had been associated with Tyler Refrigeration for 28 years. He started as a field sales representative and was administrative vice president when Tyler became a division of Clark. He was assistant general manager of the division a year before he succeeded his father in the top post.

Mr. Tyler was president of the Pickwick Club and a director of the First National Bank of Southwestern Michigan and the Niles Holiday Inn. He had been president of the Commercial Refrigerator Manufacturer's Assn. since 1967 and was active in the National Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers.

He was a member of the State YMCA executive committee from 1965 to 1968. He was chairman of the Greater Niles United Fund in 1958 and president of it in 1959.  He was a 1951 graduate of Dartmouth College. He had been named "Man of the year" by the Greater Niles Jaycees.

Mr. Tyler was a member of the Niles Elks Lodge, the Masonic Lodge, the Rotary club, the Niles Shrine Club and the Chamber of Commerce.

He was born June 27, 1929, at Muskegon Heights and had lived in Niles since 1950, coming here from Glen Ellyn, Ill. On April 7, 1951, at Glen Ellyn, he married the former Jean M. Fork, who survives.

Also surviving are three sons, Todd, Michael and Timothy, all of Niles; a daughter, Tracey, at home; his father, Robert L. Tyler Sr. of South Bend, and two brothers, Thomas and Taylor "Tim" Tyler, both of Niles.

Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the First Presbyterian Church of which Mr. Tyler was a member. The Rev. John R. Wyngarden will officiate and burial will be in Silverbrook Cemetery. The Pifer Chapel of the Swem Smith Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.  There will be no visitation.

Memorials may be made to the Berrien County Cancer Service, the American Cancer Society, the Pawating Hospital building fund or to a charity of the donor's choice.