Posted on 05/28/2019
Robert "Bo" Newell passed away peacefully in his Crozet home on Saturday, May 11, 2019, surrounded by beloved family and friends. Bo was born and raised in the tree-lined village of Bexley, Ohio, where he played football and ran track for the Bexley High School Lions before graduating in 1959. Bo was a 1963 graduate of The United States Naval Academy. After graduation, he served on a destroyer escort during the Vietnam War. During his six years of service in Southeast Asia, Bo was assigned the duty of serving in Japan as a production consultant and body double for Steve McQueen on the 1966 movie "The Sand Pebbles." McQueen received his only Academy Award nomination for the role, and according to Bo, would have won the Oscar had Bo been included in more scenes. Bo was an uproarious raconteur and the life of many a party. He often floored an unsuspecting audience with fabulously inappropriate punchlines. His successful business career took him from Virginia to North Carolina and back again. He was involved in the early development of Wintergreen Resort, left to become the Director of Marketing and Sales for Pinehurst, N.C. from 1975 to 1982 before returning to finish his career in the Central Virginia real-estate market. In 1996, Bo established Mountain Area Realty specializing in resort properties and Nelson County real estate. He worked in the business until his retirement in 2015. Bo's first loves were animals and the outdoors. He was the first Chairman of the Board for The Virginia Wildlife Center and served for many years as the auctioneer for their annual fundraising event. Along with his wife, Nancy, Bo was instrumental in building the Almost Home Pet Adoption Center in Lovingston, Va. Bo and Nancy have personally rescued and adopted more than 27 animals. An avid horseman, he was a founding member of Glenmore Hunt and trained and raised hunters and jumpers for many years Bo was an ardent catch-and-release fly fisherman, spending countless hours in rivers and streams from the Virginia mountains to his second home in McLeod, Mont. He was a prolific painter, tennis player and an enthusiastic golfer. To the very end, Bo loved to play contract bridge every week with his many friends at the Jefferson Bridge Association in Charlottesville. Bo is survived by the love of his life, wife, Nancy; son, Michael (Janice) of Midlothian Va.; stepsons, Benjamin Hernandez of Charlottesville, Va., and Andy (Sarah) Hernandez of Sacramento, Calif.; and sister, Cheryl and husband, Rich Willis. Bo also leaves behind five loving grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations to be made to the Almost Home Pet Adoption Center in Lovingston, Va.
The Daily Progress
May 18, 2019