Bob van den Broek

van den BROEK, Bob– It is with great sadness that the family of Bob van den Broek said goodbye to their “big strong Dutchman” on Saturday, June 7, 2025, at the age of 86.

He is lovingly remembered and very much missed by his wife of 58 years, Bonney (de Willigen); children Astrid (Doug Cudmore) and Heather (Michael Diehl); grandchildren Annika, Desmond, and Wilhelm; brother Jan (Mareen) and numerous friends and family in Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, and the United Kingdom. 

Bob was predeceased by his parents Jan van den Broek (1979) and Jacoba Dekkers (1971) and his stepmother Bernadina Rijsemus (2001) in The Netherlands and son-in-law Michael Zimmer (2023) in Toronto. 

Bob was born May 12, 1939, in Raha Muna, Indonesia to Jan and Jacoba. He spent his childhood growing up in a few regions–Kampili and Soerabaja, Indonesia. Then, at age 10, he moved to Apeldoorn, The Netherlands.

He stayed there for 12 years and, in 1961, moved to Wageningen in the interior of Surinam, a place he settled in for eight years. It was there he worked for the Foundation for the Development of Agricultural Mechanization in Surinam and ultimately collected great stories to tell his kids and grandkids–from the time he sped his jeep over a python stretched across the road (he thought it was a stick) to the time he swam in a body of water filled with piranhas.

On September 28, 1967, he married his wife Bonney and, two years later, the two would immigrate to Canada. It was the start of their life in Guelph, Ontario, where Bob attended the University of Guelph for his Master of Science in Land Resource Science. After graduating in 1975, he donned the aggie uniform of short-sleeved dress shirts to work for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food. It was in this office where his wife and two girls would sometimes pick him up after work and he would convincingly tell his daughters he was sure he had seen two pink elephants dancing in the parking lot. (“You just missed them!”) 

Bob retired in 1996 and while much of his life was spent in Guelph, he and Bonney–and sometimes their kids and grandkids–returned often to the Netherlands for trips that were filled with family visits over coffee and koekjes, really good nasi goreng and drives around the country he grew up in. 

Back in Guelph, he ultimately continued to spend his time in agriculture. In 2012, he began cultivating a garden at the First Christian Reformed Church, where food grown was donated to those in need. He also puttered regularly in his own lush home garden and there, the fruits of his labor, such as many tiny yellow grape tomatoes, were carried into the kitchen to feed his other hobby–home cooking.

The church also continued to be part of his life, and he took on the role of deacon at the then-called First Christian Reformed Church as well as participating in Classis Huron. Bob was also fascinated with genealogy, so it was no surprise when he volunteered to help produce a historical account of the church for its 50th anniversary. Given that he also liked to be outdoors, it was also no surprise when he took over the Hanlon Road clean-up crew, an initiative he continued with for 10 years. 

Friends and family are invited to a Memorial Service, to celebrate Bob’s life, at the Water Street Church, 287 Water St, Guelph, Ontario on Saturday, June 21, 2025 at 11 am.  Arrangements entrusted to the WALL-CUSTANCE FUNERAL HOME & CHAPEL 519-822-0051 / www.wallcustance.com.

Memorial donations can be made to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank  (https://foodgrainsbank.ca/) 

 A tree will be planted in memory of Bob van den Broek in the Wall-Custance