Bob was born in Watertown, New York, and attended Watertown High School 1942–1946. He served in the Navy from 1946 until 1948.

In 1948 he attended Clarkson College in Potsdam, New York on the GI Bill and got his engineering degree. He started with Boeing in the early 1950s and was one of the primary engineers to design the Boeing Hydrofoil. He met Peggy Fitzgerald at Boeing, married her in 1955 and thereafter adopted Peggy’s 8-year-old daughter, Karen. Bob and Peggy had three boys: David, Stephen and Jim and adopted an infant girl, Kathleen. Bob loved snow skiing and hiking. He converted an old school bus into an RV to take their kids on weekend ski trips. They also backpacked as a family. In 1972 Bob and Peggy took the four youngest kids on a three-month tour of Europe in a VW bus that they bought there. He started Hubbard Engineering in 1974. In 1978 Bob and Peggy moved to Lopez Island and purchased acreage on Hunter Bay. Bob, Peggy and Kathleen built a log home on the bluff overlooking Hunter Bay where he and Peggy lived until 2005. They purchased acreage on Fisherman Bay Road where they lived together until October 2017 before moving to assisted living in Renton, Washington. In 2001 at the age of 73, Bob sailed solo in his 42-foot sailboat from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to Lopez Island. He and Peggy were members of the Lopez Yacht Club. He is survived by his wife Peggy, their four children, 15 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. There will be a funeral mass at Center Church at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 12 followed by a 2:30 p.m. reception at their home at 6 Butler Way on Lopez Island.