Robert Allen (Bob) Pate

Robert Allen (Bob) Pate

Robert Allen (Bob) Pate, was born on June 27, 1931, in Louisville, Kentucky, to Edward Henry and Alice Catlett Pate. He went to be with them and his brothers, Ed and Jim, on July 20, 2021 in Anchorage, Alaska, the result of complications after a stroke.

Bob grew up in Louisville, KY, and graduated from Male High School in 1949. He served from 1952-1954 in the U.S. Army, then attended and Graduated from Marshall College in Huntington, West Virginia in 1956.

In 1959 Bob traveled to Alaska on a vacation, filed on a homestead on Horseshoe Lake, returned to the south 48 where he worked hard and saved enough money to return to Alaska permanently in 1960.

Bob was a talented pianist and his first job in Alaska was playing at the Williwaw Lodge on Wasilla Lake, where he also bused tables.

A new radio station, KHAR needed salesmen. Bob applied and over the next several years became sales manager, special events reporter, and one of the air traffic reporters. During those years he met….and interviewed… many wonderful people.

When the Alaska Children’s Zoo was established in 1968, Bob was one of the earliest board members, president, secretary and the long time ‘official photographer.’ He was instrumental in establishing an archive of the Alaska Zoo’s development and history so that future generations might know how the remarkable organization began, how it has grown over the years and how it has saved many injured and orphaned animals. The final arrangements of these archives were detailed to him in the hospital as he recovered from his stroke.

Bob recorded the 1964 Alaska Earthquake with a battery-operated tape recorder. It is the only known recording of the entire earthquake and it has been used in establishing the length and intensity of the quake.

Mr. Pate is survived by his sister-in-law, Wanda Pate; five nephews, Mike, Mark, Matt, Randy and Rob Pate; and 19 great and great-great nieces and nephews all from the lower 48 states.

Bob Pate loved Alaska, you didn’t have to be around him long to realize he was the self-appointed Ambassador of Alaska! Camai!

A celebration of life memorial service is planned for Bob at the Alaska Zoo’s Gateway Hall on Friday, September 3, 2021 from 4:00 to 7:30pm.

In lieu of flowers Bob has requested that donations be made to the Alaska Zoo.