Community and business leader Robert Shircliff, for whom a street is named that captures his motto, died Jan. 2 at the age of 91.
A vigil is scheduled the evening of Jan. 12 and services are planned Jan.13.
Known for his support of Jacksonville causes, Shircliff was a donor and fundraiser as well as a successful businessman.
“When you can change lives with a little bit of time and a little bit of money, that makes a happy day,” he said in a 2013 interview.
Business partner Richard Sisisky worked with Shircliff for 32 years.
“He lived a righteous and a just life,” said Sisisky, president of The Shircliff & Sisisky Co., a consultant to Pepsi bottlers and beer wholesalers.
Shircliff was known for his catchphrase: “There’s no right way to do the wrong thing,” which is reflected in the street address for Ascension St. Vincent’s Riverside: 1 Shircliff Way.
Shircliff supported causes that included Ascension St. Vincent’s, the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, the Jacksonville Symphony, Jacksonville University, United Way of Northeast Florida, the Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine, The Guardian Catholic Schools, and others.
Shircliff was a donor and considered a master fundraiser because he made people comfortable about giving, Sisisky said.
“You never minded talking to Bob Shircliff. You always felt good about it,” he said.
Shircliff also had a gift of personal communication. “He made you feel like you were the only person in the room,” Sisisky said.
“Nobody wouldn’t take Bob’s calls.”
The vigil and memorial Mass are scheduled at St. Matthew Catholic Church at 1773 Blanding Blvd.
The vigil is 6:45-8:30 p.m. Jan. 12 and Mass is 11 a.m.-noon Jan. 13.
The committal service preceding Mass is 9:30-10 a.m. Jan. 13 at Evergreen Cemetery at 4535 N. Main St.
Shircliff is survived by his wife of 66 years, Carol; a daughter, Laura; three granddaughters and a grandson; and seven great-grandchildren.
His daughter, Elizabeth, died Oct. 29 due to complications from muscular sclerosis, according to her obituary
In a 2013 interview, Shircliff said he began his career in 1950 and worked his way up in his father's business from a bottler to the president of Pepsi-Cola Allied Bottlers.
He moved to Jacksonville in 1967 and later sold his bottling companies to General Cinema Corp. He created Robert T. Shircliff and Associates, which became The Shircliff Group and The Shircliff & Sisisky Co.
Sisisky's family was a Pepsi bottler and consulted with Shircliff. “He sold our business and I was 31 years old so when he invited me to Jacksonville, I moved here.”
The company provides strategic planning to Pepsi bottlers and beer wholesalers, which Sisisky says is a narrow niche. Shircliff's reputation was strong.
“Locally, he was viewed as a wise and sage entrepreneur,” Sisisky said., “You always felt like you learned something when you went to Bob.”
Sisisky, 26 years younger than Shircliff, outlined what he learned. “You learned how to listen. You learned how to respond, you learned how to muster your thoughts, you learned how to treat people with respect, you learned how to incorporate integrity and ethics into everything you do.”
He intends to maintain the company name. “Linking my name with Bob Shircliff,” Sisisky said, “what a treat.”
Shircliff grew up in Vincennes, Indiana, and in 1950 graduated from Indiana University, where he met his wife, Carol.
His father, a veteran of World War I, expanded a basket-weaving business into one of the country’s largest floral display manufacturing until the Great Depression.
On a summer family vacation to Michigan, his father saw a Pepsi-Cola in the cooler at a service station.
“I came out with this Pepsi and I told him this great big bottle only cost a nickel. He couldn't get over it and lo and behold we were driving down the street, he saw a Pepsi-Cola bottling plant,” Shircliff recalled in 2013.
In 1936, his father entered the Pepsi-Cola business in Southern Indiana, “selling Pepsi's great big bottles for a nickel and all the retailers were paying cash and the families lived happily ever after.”
Eight-year-old Bob Shircliff worked in the business and by the age of 14 was paid a quarter an hour. He put in hours at his father’s Bloomington plant during college.
“Soft drinks are a moment of refreshment for people. You're selling a little bit of happiness in a busy world. You don't drink it when you're mad. You drink it when you feel like you want a moment free and you want to do something interesting or fun, and so you have a soft drink,” Shircliff said in the interview.
He and his father bought bottling plants, including those in Jacksonville. Gainesville and Savannah, which brought him, Carol and their family here in 1967.
“A couple of years later we sold them all to General Cinema, but we stayed in Jacksonville and didn't want to move to Boston,” Shircliff said.
He decided to start the consulting business.
“Since I had been president of the national Pepsi-Cola Bottlers Association a few years prior to that, I knew everybody in the country, fortunately for me. That was another blessing,” he said.
It did well. “It was a fun business, a hard business, hard work,” he said, but it was fun. “I wouldn't do something that wasn't fun.”
Shircliff said his community involvement also was inspired by his father.
“My wife and I have never lived extravagantly. We have always had time and a little money, and we have found the joy of giving. That really has been a big part of our lives. Do you know anyone that doesn't enjoy giving a gift?” Shircliff said.
