WILMINGTON — Robert John Scacheri passed away peacefully in Wilmington, NC on May 5, 2025.
Bob was born at Gotham Hospital in Manhattan on June 4, 1940 to Quinto and Elvira Scacheri, a waiter and homemaker, respectively. He attended Xavier High School in Manhattan and often told stories of the awkward glory of riding the subway to school from Queens dressed in the required dress military uniform with a sword dangling at his side. He graduated from St. John’s University in 1962 and Seton Hall College of Medicine and Dentistry in 1966.
While in college he met the love of his life, Frances Guzzo, on a blind date, and they were married in 1965. They moved to Greenwich Village in Manhattan after medical school as Bob did his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at St. Vincent’s Hospital. Next, he spent two years in the U.S. Army during which he served as a major at Fort Belvoir in Virginia.
In 1973 Bob joined Ob-Gyn Associates of Dover in central Delaware, and he worked there until his retirement in 2008. He was a beloved physician for three generations of Delaware women while delivering thousands of babies. Bob served as both the president of his practice and the president of the medical staff at Kent General Hospital and was instrumental in the creation of the neonatology intensive care unit there. He was a respected leader in the Dover community who was always generous with his time and brought a distinctive warmth to all his endeavors.
Bob was a lover of all things musical from classical to opera to rock to country and western. In high school and college, he played trumpet in a New York dance band. Later he learned to play piano. From early in his life, he was a gifted dancer who loved nothing more than twirling Fran in the center of the party to an old tune. Other passions included boating, fishing, and automobiles. Throughout his life he was an ardent dog lover, and his three sons inherited a similar devotion to dogs.
Most of all, though, Bob was a family man. Whether it was attending church as a family, going out on the boat as a family, or sharing crabs at the beach as a family everything always revolved around the family. Despite the demanding schedule of an obstetrician-gynecologist, he made it home for dinner with his family every night. The son of a waiter who worked at the finest restaurants of Manhattan and the husband of a gifted Italian cook, Bob was happiest sitting at the head of a table filled with Fran’s specialties enjoying a meal with his family.
Bob will always be remembered as a ceaselessly upbeat husband, father, friend, and doctor who had an infectious zest for life and always put others, be they his family, his patients, or his friends, before himself.
He is survived by his wife of nearly sixty years, Frances; his three sons, Robert, John, and Peter; his daughters-in-law, Jennifer, Brooke, and Cheryl; his brother, Richard; his grandchildren, Quinto (Jenilee), John Lucas, Rachel, Cameron, and Chloe; and his great-granddaughter, Celeste.
In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to Wounded Warriors or Habitat for Humanity.
