He founded South America’s first fast food and ice cream stores in 1952 in the Copacabana neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, calling them Bob’s. His mini-chain consisted of a dozen outlets when the Falkenburgs, who returned to Southern California in 1970, sold Bob’s to Nestlé’s Libby in 1974. Bob’s has had several owners since then and has gone expanded to over 1,000 points of sale in Brazil and beyond South America as well.
Robert Falkenburg was born January 29, 1926 in Manhattan and raised in Los Angeles. His father, Eugene, an engineer, and his mother, Marguerite (Crooks) Falkenburg, played in amateur tennis tournaments, and Bob began wielding a racket in private clubs at the age of 10.
He won a junior tennis tournament at Bel-Air Country Club in 1937 and, while at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, won the US Interscholastic singles title in 1942; he also teamed up with his brother to win the doubles title that year. He later became an excellent amateur golfer and won the Brazilian Amateur Championship three times.
After serving in the Air Force in World War II, Falkenburg won the 1946 Singles and Doubles Interuniversity Championships at the University of Southern California.
In addition to his wife and daughter, he is survived by his son, Robert, four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, according to The AP Both Tex and Jinx (his birth name was Eugenia; his mother him gave his nickname) who died in 2003.
Describing Falkenburg’s superb comeback in the last set at Wimbledon in 1948, The New York Times reported that “fans of the Wimbledon championship saw much better tennis than today’s game, but they rarely saw it. one more exciting.
As for Falkenburg’s serve that ended the game, 7-5, the Times described how “there was a clear, loud pop”.
“Bromwich stood as the service ace whistled beside him,” The Times wrote. “When a few minutes later the Duchess of Kent in the Royal Box presented the coveted trophy to Falkenburg, he seemed as surprised as he was delighted.”