Robert Bruce Broadhurst, Jr., 88, a Sandy Springs businessman and community volunteer, died on June 11, 2016 at his home after struggling with pancreatic cancer. He is survived by his wife, two sons, three daughters, two step-children, thirteen grandchildren, sister and brother. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Joan Broadhurst, a Sandy Springs piano teacher to whom he was married for thirty-nine years. He married again in 1994 to an Atlanta piano teacher. He was a tireless volunteer for Aberdeen Forest, his Sandy Springs neighborhood, holding various positions including president of the neighborhood association. He also represented the community in zoning and development issues. A mechanical engineer by training, he sold commercial air conditioning units for sixty-four years, retiring in early 2016. His career began in New Jersey before moving to Atlanta in 1957. He pioneered the use of rooftop air conditioning units in the Southeast, introducing the concept for Melchior, Armstrong, Dessau in 1957. He headed up a 9-state regional marketing operation for the company and trained manufacturers' representatives on the new concept. He also worked in sales and marketing positions for Singer Climate Control (now McQuay), American Standard, Typhoon, and Temperature Control before starting Broadhurst-Overstreet, a manufacturers' rep company, in 1974. Over his career, he convinced retailers such as Big Star, Kroger, Food Giant, Revco and Woolworth's to standardize on roof-top air conditioning units. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1946 to 1948, working as an electronics instructor and playing the trombone in a dance band. A graduate of Clarkson College of Technology in Potsdam, New York, he was the son of Helen and Robert Bruce Broadhurst, Sr. in 1928. Funeral: 11:00 a.m. June 15, 2016 at H.M. Patterson & Son-Arlington Chapel, Sandy Springs, Georgia.

Full obituary published in The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, March 12, 2002, page B-6