Judi and I learned this evening that Bob Renner, GCB0B, passed away yesterday after a yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer.

Bob was a true pioneer of Arizona caching. At the Deer Valley Ten Year Event Cache last May, when they did the countdown of who had been caching the longest, Bob (who can be seen in the group photo on that cache page, front row center in the white hat) was the "last man standing". Bob placed Arizona'ssecond geocache in October, 2000. It's still active and I can speak from experience that it is a worthy and worthwhile challenge.

Bob made many other contributions to Arizona caching. He created Arizona's first event cache in March 2001. He created what is certainly one of the firstmulti-caches in the state, and it is still active today. He placed a still-active cache at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. And his still-active "Box O Books" cache (GCB0B) is probably the only cache anywhere that not only has a GC ID that is an acronym of the cache title, but also a GC ID that is identical to the hider's name!

Bob was a giver. He taught "Introduction to Geocaching" classes at REI, and at the Desert Outdoor Center at Lake Pleasant. He introduced geocaching to numerous scouts in Boy Scout Troop 824. In 2002-2003, Bob served as a liaison between the geocaching community and the Arizona State Historical Preservation Office and other land management agencies, at a time when those agencies perceived geocaching as a threat to sites with archaeological or environmental sensitivity. Were it not for Bob's efforts, we might have far fewer acres in the state on which to play our little game. And he did all this with calm in the face of stress, humor in the face of threats, and thoughtfulness in the face of emotion. Geocaching in Arizona would not be the special experience it so often is had we not had the good fortune of Bob Renner's participation.

Bob is survived by his wife, Marion, and two sons. As I write this, funeral and memorial plans have not been announced. I will pass along any information that I receive.

Steve

Team Tierra Buena