The Victorian spent the best part of 40 years working in the dairy sector in his home state, South Australia and Queensland.

The son of a dairyfarmer, he believes his background helped form his career path.

"My parents had a dairyfarm so I had a bit of empathy with the industry," he said.

"I was 19 and working at a bank in Strathmerton, Victoria, and my best friend at the time was making more money than me working at Kraft.

"I understood there was an opportunity in the industry to qualify as a cheese or butter maker with promotional opportunities, so I took those opportunities and qualified in those roles."

To further his knowledge, Bob studied at the Werribee School of Dairy Technology for two years doing a course in dairy product manufacturing, which was his path to management in factories.

He continued with various roles at Strathmerton – including supervising the manufacturing of Philadelphia cream cheese for nine years; before a company decision sent him west over the border.

"In the mid-1970s, Kraft decided it had all its eggs in one basket with the factory at Strathmerton, so it started a factory at Suttontown in Mount Gambier to capitalise on SA's seasonal milk production," Bob said.

"I became responsible for that and responsible for production at the Mil Lel factory, which continued until I became regional manager in 1983."

But Bob's service to the industry extends beyond just factory and regional management.

He first became exposed to the Australian Society of Dairy Technology while studying at Werribee, where they were taken to a factory manager's conference in Melbourne.

"At the time, there might have been about 600 milk factories in Victoria," he said.

"I was a bit awe-struck to see people who were extremely well thought of in the dairy industry.

"As a consequence, I joined the society and the Australian Dairy Institute, which merged together in 1986 to become the Dairy Industry Association of Australia."

Bob's connection with the DIAA included four terms as its SA president and, as a direct result, a lot of travel.

"Over my 18 or 20 years with the DIAA, I made about 150 trips to Adelaide for meetings," he said.

"I still drive from Mount Gambier to Adelaide regularly to catch up with other retired people from the dairy industry."

When Bob's tenure at Kraft ended in 1994 after a company restructure, he moved back to the Goulburn Valley in Victoria and worked for Tatura Milk Industries.

Following that, he also worked as a consultant for Dairy Farmers Milk Cooperative in Queensland and at Jervois before drifting into retirement.