Robert Sam "Bob" Holderbaum

Bob (Robert Sam) Holderbaum (March 12, 1946 to April 16, 2025)

Bob Holderbaum (79) passed away suddenly on April 16, 2025, surrounded by his family. Bob is survived by his wife Linda, sons Rob (Sarah) and Josh, and grandson Tyson Holderbaum.

Bob was born on March 12, 1946, adopted by parents Charles “Slim” Holderbaum and Gladys Hiawatha Follis. A graduate of Kalamazoo Central High School’s class of 1963, he served in the United States Air Force from 1963 to 1966.

Bob worked at Goodwill Industries in Kalamazoo and moved to Battle Creek to work for the Federal Home Life Insurance Company, using his writing skills to edit the employee newspaper, take photos and write promotional copy for publication. He was elected president of the employee association. Federal Home involvement also led him to volunteer for United Way fundraising campaigns and received United Way’s Leadership in Excellence Award.

In 1986 he was elected to the Battle Creek City Commission, where he also served as Vice-Mayor. He was a charter board member from 1987 to 1995 of the local TV station AccessVision and came up with the organization’s name. Other boards he served on include Battle Creek Unlimited, Civic Theatre, Urbandale-Level Park Area Business Association and the Neighborhood Planning Council.

In 1990 he started a weekly, one-hour, live call-in talk show on AccessVision called “Public Pulse.” Running for five years and dealing with a wide variety of topics called in by viewers, Bob always included one or more different ties in his program, earning him the name “The Tie Man.”

He served on the board for Goodwill Industries of Central Michigan’s Heartland in Battle Creek until he was offered the position of CEO in 1986, which he held for over 22 years. He was responsible for building the headquarters and plant in Fort Custer as well as the retail store on Beckley Road and as time went on he expanded Goodwill from three locations in one county to 18 locations in seven counties. He also served in various volunteer roles at the state and national level of Goodwill.

Bob always had a talent for music and performed folk music in high school as well as winning awards in numerous Air Force talent contests—both solo and group music efforts. He put on several solo concerts at Discovery Theatre in downtown Battle Creek where he performed his folk music with guitar and banjo. Music ranged from the songs of the Statler Brothers and Oakridge Boys to Roy Orbison and Frankie Valli, all with historical factoids included with each song. After retiring from Goodwill, Bob also did performances for area nursing homes. By 2018, he had completed 785 programs for seniors, entertaining 27,800 people.

Being a history and research buff, he did extensive research on the USS Reuben James (DD-245), a destroyer that was sunk by a German torpedo on October 1941, based on the lyric “what were their names” from Woody Guthrie’s “The Sinking of the Reuben James.”

His writing skills and interest in true crime led him to write Trestle of Death: Murder Unpunished in 2017 about the brother of his former wife who was murdered in Kalamazoo.

He was diagnosed with cancer twice, in 2009 and 2015 and worked hard to get into remission. One of his ways of dealing with his cancer was to continue his music. He published an album, What Were Their Names? in 2013 inspired by his Reuben James research.

After retirement Bob also began volunteering with the Innocence Project, a non-profit that works to exonerate the wrongly convicted in the prison system.

One of his more rewarding volunteer projects has been to take up the reins as “scribe” for his Kalamazoo Central 1963 graduating class by finding and contacting class mates, sending news updates, writing a class newsletter and helping plan class reunions and monthly lunch gatherings.

The American Red Cross says that each pint of blood donated saves three lives. One day before his death Bob had just received his 23 Gallon pin from the American Red Cross for his blood donations. Not even counting the donations from his military time, Bob’s donations of blood has saved 552 people.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be given to the Calhoun County Animal Shelter or we urge you to schedule a blood donation with the Red Cross in your community.

Friends will be received 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. Saturday, May 3, 2025, at Farley Estes Dowdle Funeral Cremation Preneed Care, where a service to celebrate Bob’s life will begin at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, May 3, 2025. Inurnment will be held later at Fort Custer National Cemetery.

Personal messages for the family may be placed at www.farleyestesdowdle.com.