Bob Casier was a great man. He had an incandescent personality and brilliant mind, which — together with his high standards and moral nature — made him an outstanding and memorable teacher. A friend of his recently commented that he was the last of the “founding generation” at Santa Barbara City College. The central professional goal he had throughout his career was for SBCC to be a distinguished educational institution. He and others have succeeded admirably in this challenge. Santa Barbara City College is among the finest community colleges in the nation.
A native Santa Barbaran, Bob was Associated Student Body president of Santa Barbara High School in his senior year, 1943-1944. He was a great athlete as well as scholar. He said many times that as a young man, his dream was to be the basketball coach at Santa Barbara High. He later had this opportunity, but it conflicted in 1955 with the even better chance to teach at what was then Santa Barbara Junior College, and he chose to make college instruction his career.
He remembered teaching at the junior college when it was still “on the hill” at the Riviera Theatre complex on Alameda Padre Serra, the former site of Santa Barbara State College. In 1959, the college moved to its current and spectacular location overlooking the Santa Barbara Harbor. In 1946, Santa Barbara Junior College was reestablished by the Santa Barbara secondary school district for tax reasons, and it changed its name to Santa Barbara City College in 1959.
