Born in Hungary in the 1920’s, Joe attended Elementary School in Budapest and graduated from High School in 1943. He attended the Agricultural University of Budapest and graduated in 1948 with a Bachelor of Agricultural Sciences degree. He left Hungary during the uprising of 1948 and came to Canada where he attended the School of Business Administration at the University of Toronto and then graduated as a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario in 1956.
During these latter years, he worked as an Articled Clerk at McDonald Currie and Company where he attained the position of Senior Auditor.
In 1957, he joined Philips Electronics Industries Limited where in short order, he progressed from Chief Internal Auditor to Inventory Controller to Assistant to the Treasurer. In 1959, he made his first contact with the bowling industry when he was appointed Treasurer of the Double Diamond Bowling Supply Limited, a Philip’s subsidiary. In 1962, he became President of Double Diamond and from this position, he made his major contribution to the bowling industry.
As a result of overbuilding, many bowling centres were in financial trouble and Joe Robert’s farsighted programmes and policies kept many of them in business. He also gave his support, both, in manpower and cash, to the well being of the Bowling Proprietors’ Association, the Youth Bowling Council and the Ontario Bowling Congress. He supervised the first 5 pin instruction booklet, “Let’s Go Bowling”. His time and advice were generously given to the proprietors and to the bowlers.
In 1968, he left the bowling industry to go to Seaway Multi-Corp Limited where he now holds the position of Vice-President of Finance and Administration. Married to a Canadian girl, Joe and his wife, Helen have a son Matthew, 16 years old and a daughter Lois (14) as well as their ward Joseph Goldsmith.