Robert L. Bates Jr.

Robert L. Bates Jr., 81 of Bedford, New Hampshire, and formerly of Merrimack, died Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022, at the Elliot Hospital in Manchester, New Hampshire, after a brief illness.

He was born in Boston on Aug. 25, 1941, a son of the late Robert Bates Sr. and Rose (Ferry) Bates.

He worked for a number of companies, including Hudson Limo Service and Narragansett Brewing before being employed at Anheuser-Busch in Merrimack in 1979. He retired in 2003. After retirement, he worked for a number of companies as a courier, including H&R Block in the Manchester and the northern Massachusetts area.

He was married in 1963 to Patricia McCabe, and together they had four children. Pat succumbed to brain cancer in 1980. In 1984, he married Diane R. West, of Nashua.

Members of his family include his wife, Diane of Bedford; three sons, Robert Bates III and his wife Yu Jin of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Tim Bates and his wife Jen of Merrimack, and Brian Bates of Manchester; one daughter, Rosemary Farrell and her significant other Lowell Smith of Dover; three grandchildren, Christopher and Jessica Bates, and Gina Bates and her fiancée Steven Decker. He also had two brothers-in-law, Steven West and wife Colleen of Hull, Massachusetts, and David West of Nashua; and a sister-in-law, Meredith West and husband Drew King of Bloomington, Indiana. He also will be sorely missed by his loving cat, Lucy.

There are no calling hours. A private memorial service for family and close friends will be in the Rivet Funeral Home in Merrimack at 1 p.m. on the Oct. 2, 2022. A celebration of life will be at the Biergarten, located at the Anheuser-Busch Brewery in Merrimack on Oct. 2, 2022, from 2-5 p.m. All who knew him are welcome.

Memorial contributions in Robert’s honor may be made to Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire, 545 State Route 101, Bedford, NH 03110 or at rescueleague.org.