Santa Barbara’s Dr. Bob
Humility of self and effusive praise for others was how Bob Gayou conducted himself in the world. Bob could find something good in everyone around him. He valued friendships and taught by example all who knew and loved him the meaning of being a real friend; we all listen better and are hopefully better friends because of Bob.
Robert Gayou (Bob) was born in Minnesota but moved as a child with his family to Canada where his father worked in the paper mills. He attended Trinity College in Dublin Ireland where he studied biological science and where notably he led his basketball team in smoking the most cigarettes during the timeouts. Bob graduated from the University of British Columbia Medical School and in the Spring of 1976 was on his way to a medical residency in New Zealand when he happened upon Santa Barbara and fell in love with the town and its people. He cancelled his plans for New Zealand and spent a year prior to starting his medical residency at Cottage Hospital working at McGann Medical investigating aspects of tissue interactions with silicone medical devices.
Bob served as the Medical Director of both the Santa Barbara and Goleta Cottage Hospital Emergency Departments. Bob’s soothing voice and gentle confidence put his emergency room patients immediately at ease. He was the only physician to be awarded Physician of the Year at Cottage Hospital twice.
Bob believed in giving back as a necessary obligation for the opportunities he felt fortunate to have received in his life in the USA and served as a founder and Director of Aeromedicos, a Santa Barbara-based volunteer group that builds and staffs clinics in Mexico with volunteer physicians and dentists. In Santa Barbara County Bob was instrumental in the installation of automated external defibrillators in public spaces and schools and was active in educating the public on their use.
Bob was focused on efficiency and quality in emergency care and was an early proponent and adopter of evidence-based-medicine. He was part of a team of physicians who revolutionized emergency medical care with the invention of the medical scribe program. Bob subsequently founded a successful national staffing company which deployed thousands of medical scribes from California to New York.
Bob found something interesting and good about everything and everyone he encountered and had a gift for finding a win-win solution to situations where others would have given up. He was a believer in open frank discussion and in open debate of ideas. A history buff he joined friends to study and discuss the Civil War and social movements following it. He organized a bi-monthly social event downtown at Joe’s Café referred to as the Pack-of-Dudes where his eclectic mixture of friends spanning the political spectrum from communist to radical right would come together to discuss the political topics of the day – with few facts, but plenty of passionate feelings and stiff drinks. It was a common admiration and love of Bob that brought the group together for nearly thirty years.
While on a trip to Thailand Bob rode up to the Burmese border on a rented scooter, crashed (with only an ego injury) and returned determined to master motorcycling. He did and toured Europe and parts of the US with his cycling friends. He had a love of golf which most of us believed was far more for the social aspects than the sport.
Probably the happiest day of Bob’s life was when his daughter Audrey was born. He was able to experience the joy of raising her with his wife Luisa into an extraordinary college bound young woman.
He died peacefully in his sleep with Luisa and Audrey by his side on August 15, 2024. Bob’s warmth, charm, and humor will be hugely missed by all of us who are fortunate enough to have known him.