Post by Viswanath V.

❤️ A tribute to Robert "Bob" Allen Fosse, 1947 – 2026 ❤️  July 11: Deeply honored to share my older oil painting of this musician, performing at Navy Pier in Chicago.  "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment," said Emerson There are people who quietly follow the script life hands them. And then there are people like Bob Fosse who preferred to write his own. Bob's story began on March 4, 1947, at Ravenswood Hospital in Chicago, where he was born to Donald Fosse and Loucille Witkiewicz. A proud graduate of Theodore Roosevelt High School, he possessed the rare gift of being unmistakably himself from an early age. Decades later, at his 50th class reunion, his classmates confirmed what everyone already knew by voting him "Most Individualistic."  Bob's working life reflected his adventurous spirit. As a young man he wore many hats—a signalman for the Chicago & North Western Railroad, a barista at NY City's iconic Le Figaro Café, and eventually a letter carrier for the USPS. For 26 years he faithfully delivered mail across Chicago and Woodstock, becoming a familiar face in neighborhoods that came to know him well. He was equally proud to serve as a shop steward for the National Association of Letter Carriers.  Retirement, however, was never meant to be a quiet affair. Bob worked at Blain's Farm & Fleet before finding another home at the Woodstock Opera House. On his 60th birthday, his friends gathered at the Stage Left Café inside the Opera House, where Bob celebrated the best way he knew how: making music. For him, birthdays weren't counted in candles; they were measured in songs. Music had entered Bob's life long before adulthood. At just eight years old, he taught himself to play his father's plectrum banjo. By seventeen he was performing folk music in Chicago bars and clubs.  Throughout his life, he remained a captivating performer, sometimes appearing under the delightfully eccentric stage name "The Mad Hatter." Whether playing banjo, accordion, guitar, harmonica, or mountain dulcimer, Bob never merely played music—he inhabited it.  Away from the spotlight, Bob was a lifelong student of history. If you couldn't find him with an instrument in his hands, you would probably find him immersed once again in Sun Tzu's The Art of War. He also loved the simple freedom of car camping. For Bob, the journey mattered every bit as much as the destination.  Bob also carried a quiet point of pride throughout his life: he shared his name with his admired uncle, the legendary choreographer Bob Fosse. Though they pursued different stages, each embraced originality in his own unmistakable way. A private ceremony will be held this fall in the Chicago area, where Bob's ashes will be scattered. Perhaps the best way to remember Bob is through another thought of Emerson: "Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." Bob Allen Fosse did exactly that.