\t\t\tRobert Edmund Cairncross \t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\tOBITUARY\t\t<\/p>\n
Robert Edmund Cairncross, also known as Air-Bob, passed away peacefully Sunday evening, August 30, 2026, with family members by his side. He was 92 and for almost a century Air-Bob lived fully, happily and treasured his family and friends.<\/p>\n
Bob was born in Watford, England on April 12, 1934, to Agness Haining Cairncross and Dr. Joseph Cairncross, who was practicing at Seventh Day Religious Hospital. As World War II heated up, Joseph and Agness had 24 hours to round-up their belongings, along with Bob and his younger brother, Larry, and board a ship to the U.S.<\/p>\n
They settled in the Mission Hills area of San Diego where Dr. Cairncross practiced at Smith Hanna Clinic in North Park and Mercy Hospital. Eventually, they moved to Mission Valley just across from Allen Diary.<\/p>\n
Bob attended Point Loma High School. At fourteen, Bob took up flying and spent almost more time in the air than on the ground. For the next 40 years, Air-Bob flew thousands of hours and owned five planes. When not in school or flying, Bob rode horses throughout Mission Valley, now and then riding all the way to the ocean.<\/p>\n
Around 1946, a PGA golf pro named Fred Sherman was developing what is now River-walk Golf Course. One day, while surveying the fairways, he spotted some guy on ahorse on one of his greens. It was Bob, and Fred had a few choice words. Being the easy-going guy Bob was, he thanked Fred and trotted off. He had no idea this would not be the last time he bumped into Fred Sherman.<\/p>\n
Bob was accepted to San Diego State University where he became a member of Kappa Sigma. After sophomore year he transferred to USC, where his life would change forever. As a junior in 1956, he met Sharilynne Sherman on a blind date and fell madly in love. At the time, Shari was cruising around in her white 1956 Ford Thunderbird and she always had fleeting thoughts that Bob may have married her for that car.<\/p>\n
His courtship was interrupted by two years spent in the army at Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, serving as an army medic. Upon his honorable discharge he immediately married Shari in 1959. Coincidently, the PGA pro Fred Sherman happened to be Shari\u2019s father. While asking Fred for Shari\u2019s hand in marriage, Bob chose not to remind Fred about his earlier horse-riding days.<\/p>\n
Once married, Bob and Shari purchased their first home in South Mission Beach but then moved to a home in Point Loma where Jeffrey, Elizabeth and Steven were born. Thirteen years later everyone wanted to live by the beach, so Bob, Shari and family moved back to South Mission.<\/p>\n
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Bob became a well-known and respected real estate broker in San Diego. Together Shari and Bob started and grew a successful real estate business, Cairncross & Associates. For a little more than 60 years Bob was a proud member of San Diego Rotary Club #33, which historically supported medical missions in Mexico, particularly the Mercy Outreach Surgical Team (MOST). As often as possible, he volunteered to fly surgical teams, equipment and supplies wherever needed in Mexico.<\/p>\n
Bob loved water skiing on Sail Bay, boating on Mission Bay with his Skipjack, and he even took a few golf lessons from the PGA pro who suggested that Bob get his horse off his greens. He was a regular at Stardust Country Club- now Riverwalk Golf Club-and Mission Bay Golf Course. A proud member of Quiet Birdman, an invitation only aviator club, he always enjoyed its weekly dinners, usually at Montgomery airfield. <\/p>\n
Air-Bob will be remembered for his easy-going style, a bear of a handshake, grilling hamburgers and talking with friends on his bayfront deck, and just sharing as much time as he could with his always growing family. Flying did remain his passion, but Shari was forever the love of his life. <\/p>\n
Air-Bob was pre-deceased by brother Larry in 2024 and is survived by his wife of 67 years, Shari, their three children, Jeffrey, Elizabeth Copley and Steven and his wife Lori, eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren\u2013with two more on the way.<\/p>\n
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A funeral Mass will be held 11am, Thursday, September 17, 2026, at St. Brigid Catholic Church, 4735 Cass Street, San Diego, CA. All are welcome! In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Mercy Outreach Surgical Team (MOST): https:\/\/give.scripps.org\/campaign\/633489\/donate.<\/a> Or, you may mail a donation to Scripps Health Foundation, PO Box 2669, La Jolla, CA 92038, Attn: MOST. If making a donation by credit card you may call: 844-442-GIVE (4483). Thank you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Robert Edmund Cairncross OBITUARY Robert Edmund Cairncross, also known as Air-Bob, passed away peacefully Sunday evening, August 30,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75],"class_list":["post-462461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}