Robert Worley remembered for vision, impact on community

CEDAR RAPIDS -- In 1977, Robert Worley was out of a job, waiting for a warehouse to be constructed and trying to sell a service that didn't exist.

Today, Worley Companies provides warehousing and distribution, refrigerated storage, disaster recovery and business continuity planning, paper document and digital media storage, warehouse layout and built-to-suit service, and import and export management.

The company's clients include food and grocery, health and beauty, packaging and ingredients, paper and appliances, and pharmaceutical and biotech businesses.

Worley, 78, died Sunday in Fort Myers, Fla. He is survived by his wife, Charlotte, as well as his sons, Blaine and Brandt, who have continued to grow and diversify the business that their father created.

"In 1978, we began operating and it was really tough going," Robert Worley recalled in an August 1988 interview with The Gazette. "We had a 100,000-square-foot building, no commitments, and our first payment was $20,000 a month. There were quite a few sleepless nights."

Worley signed up Quaker Oats as the company's first major customer.

"I met Bob in the early 1970s when he didn't own his own business," said Dennis Severson, retired head of production planning and distribution for Quaker Oats. "By the late 1970s, Bob had taken a business risk, built a new warehouse and was looking for business.

"At about the same time, Quaker began to grow and ran out of internal warehouse space. The match was a natural.

"Bob was a hands-on guy who really delivered. He understood the importance of warehousing and distribution in customer service."

Severson said Worley was someone who could always be trusted to do the right thing.

"With Bob, two and two always added up to four," Severson said. "He was a great entrepreneur who took a heck of a risk to establish warehousing and distribution in Cedar Rapids."

In 2006, Worley Companies received the Howard Hall Excellence in Business award from the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce (now the Cedar Rapids Area Metro Economic Alliance). It had grown from five employees and the original 100,000 square feet of warehouse space to 400 employees and more that 3 million square feet of warehousing.

Worley on Monday was remembered as a pioneering entrepreneur who contributed to the economic well-being of the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City Corridor.

"Bob Worley had a vision for a business that was ahead of its time and turned it into an extremely successful venture," said Dee Baird, president and chief executive officer of the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance. "In the process of transforming the business into a success, he passed on his knowledge, values, and passion to his children who are now leaders in the community."

Worley was a past vice president of the Cedar Rapids Jaycees and Exalted Ruler of the Cedar Rapids Elks Club.  He was a past board member of Indian Creek Nature Center, a member of Downtown Rotary, the Cedar Rapids Country Club and St. Paul's Methodist Church.

Worley also was a former high school and small college football official.  His other interests included bird watching, golf, and following his grandsons' activities.

Worley is survived by his wife, Charlotte, and their two sons and spouses Brandt (Sandy), Blaine (Judy), and five grandsons, Brock, Chad, Dane, Robby and Matthew.  He also is survived by his sister-in-law, Kay Tollefson and husband Duane, and many nieces and nephews.

Worley was preceded in death by his parents, a brother Bernard Worley and a sister Shirley Hanna – and by his third son, Brian J. Worley, who died in 1988.