Robert Joseph Ortiz

Robert Joseph Ortiz, caring husband, nurturing father, prodigious thinker, and all-around family man, passed away Sunday, August 13, 2017. He was 67. Rob died at the hospital in Wheat Ridge, CO surrounded by family after suffering complications from a nine-month bout with brain cancer. Rob was born on December 2, 1949 in Newark, NJ, son of Nestor Ortiz and Josephine Scott. He grew up in Nutley, NJ with his parents and three siblings. He attended Syracuse University as an undergraduate student and Fairleigh Dickinson University as a graduate student. An electrical engineer by training, he loved to tinker with things and took pleasure in teaching others about his trade. Rob honed his engineering craft early on while working for General Electric. For the majority of his career, he worked primarily as a financial analyst in the communications industry at Nortel Networks holding several posts throughout the Americas including the U.S., Mexico, and Brazil. Later, he transitioned into the mortgage and property management businesses before finally retiring in 2010. Rob also committed himself to community service. He volunteered for Habitat for Humanity. He served on the board of the homeowners association in his neighborhood of Island Lakes in Boca Raton, FL. Most of all, he offered his personal services and advice on retainer to friends, family, and neighbors without expecting anything in return. He enjoyed the great outdoors, jazz music, spy novels, and cheesy jokes. His propensity for groaners, double entendres, one-liners, and Dad jokes was unparalleled among family and close friends, so much so that such jokes earned their own classification and immediate recognition as “Robbies.” Rob is remembered as a detail-oriented, selfless man who trusted in his faith and eschewed luxurious things for himself in favor of helping others. He is survived by his wife Nora, sons Nicholas and Jonathan, sisters Vicki and Mary, brother Ralph, and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by parents Nestor and Josephine. The funeral service is scheduled for Tuesday, August 22 at 12:00 PM with a reception to follow immediately thereafter. A viewing is also scheduled for Sunday, August 20 from 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM. All functions will occur at the Horan & McConaty Funeral Home, 3101 S Wadsworth Blvd, Lakewood, CO 80227. Friends and family are welcome to attend either the viewing or funeral service, or both. Please share memories of Rob during the service or in the guestbook available at the viewing, service, and reception. In lieu of flowers, the Ortiz family requests that donations be made to support research into glioblastoma multiforme, one of the most aggressive and least treatable forms of cancer to: The National Brain Tumor Society/Defeat GBM 55 Chapel Street, Suite 200, Newton, MA 02458 American Brain Tumor Association 8550 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Ste 550, Chicago, IL 60631