Bob passed away at the emergency trauma center at the University of Wisconsin in Madison on September 7, 2017.  As a consequence of liver failure caused by alcoholism.

Bob was dealt a bad hand.  His personality, although soft hearted and good natured, had problems with people picking on him.  An accident at his high school added to his mental stress.  He did well in welding class, until one day he was assigned an extra credit job removing the tops of 55 gallon drums.  Somehow one of the drums had not been cleaned out.  It exploded when Bob started cutting out the top with a torch. The trajectory of the drum struck him in the forehead, and exposed skin on face and arms were burned.  He spent a week in the hospital dealing with pain from burn blister on both arms and part of his face.

After the pain medication ran out, he used alcohol to comfort continued residual pain.  The blow to his forehead fractured some skull bone which never healed and destroyed some brain tissue. Reviled years later with MRI.

He suffered from attention deficit disorder, and mysophobia. The fear of germs leads to other mental health issues such as depression, and anxiety. Complete avoidance of germs contributed to the development of health problems. Overuse of antibacterial and disinfectant products has been implicated in the spread of new, resistant infections.  He used hand sanitizers constantly.  If he touched the lid of the trash can, for example, he had to apply a hand sanitizer.

He had many hospital stays during his last few years.  Besides dealing with liver issues, he would have bacteria issues.  On multiple occasions the hospital would quarantine him because of bacterial infection that he had.  Another idea regarding the excessive sanitizer usage (75% alcohol) is possible explanation why he tested for binge alcohol usage when he claimed he had stopped drinking. The results from a test sent to Rochester caused denial of a liver transplant.