Robert John Hearity
Robert John Hearity
Cedar Rapids
Robert John Hearity entered the next stage of his journey through eternity on December 23, 2023. He was 71 years old. His death was caused by complications of multiple sclerosis, a disease with which he had contended for more than 40 years. Bob earned his BA and JD degrees from the University of Iowa. He conducted an active civil and criminal trial practice in central Iowa for several decades despite his MS. He was adept at all aspects of courtroom proceedings, and often took cases on an unpaid basis when he believed that was necessary to advance the cause of justice for his clients. Beyond the practice of law, he enjoyed biking, boxing, travelling, playing his guitar and crafting the occasional short story. He also contributed energetically to the organization and operations of the Democratic Party in central Iowa. For those efforts, he received the personal recognition of President Clinton during both of his terms in office. On the international front, Bob played a major role in the development of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan as an independent democracy upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union. At the time of Kyrgyzstan’s inclusion in the USSR, it was a historically nomadic society with no rules or customs for the ownership or transfer of land or any form of real estate. The Soviet Union made no changes to that state of affairs, and thus Kyrgyzstan entered independence with no means of titling or exchanging real property. At the new government’s request, based on Bob’s experience with Iowa farmland transactions, he took up residence in Kyrgyzstan for several months. During that time, he authored the provisions of the Kyrgyz national constitution which govern land ownership. Those provisions remain in effect today, and thus part of Bob’s professional legacy is a fair and orderly process for the disposition of landholdings in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan.
Bob was born in Mason City, Iowa on March 2, 1952 and was preceded in death by his mother and father, Margaret V. Hearity and Joseph P. Hearity. He is survived by his brother, Tom, of Yorktown Heights, New York; his cousin and lifelong friend, Karen S. Olson, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and a glorious assortment of nieces and nephews, both regular and grand, and cousins of all sorts, concentrated in Iowa but also spread throughout the U.S. and England.
During his last years, Bob resided in the Anamosa Care Center. There he received, as he fully appreciated, loving and highly-professional care from all of its staff. His survivors also want to express their gratitude and deep thanks to all those wonderful folks who helped to make Bob’s time in the Care Center a joyful and meaningful chapter of his life. In addition, we want to say a heartfelt thank-you to the kind, caring and skilled people at the ICU and Hospice of St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids, who helped Bob through his last several weeks. He could not have been in gentler or more capable hands. We cannot overstate how important that was to us.
We would suggest that any donations or memorials in Bob’s name be made to the Anamosa Care Center or to St. Luke’s Hospital.