Robert Gillis grew up in Dorchester, Massachusetts and is a graduate of Boston College High School and U/Mass Boston. He and his wife Susan (Foxboro’s 1998 Citizen of the Year) live in Foxboro, home of the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.
Although he’s been a professional senior software engineer for various fortune 500 companies for over 30 years, his first love has always been writing, and he has written a regular opinion piece for the Foxboro Reporter from 1996 to 2019. From 2006 to 2019 he also wrote op/eds for the Boston City Paper. (His plate is a bit full these days but he still submits an op/ed now and then). Much of his published writing (and other fun / inspiring things) can be found on at robertxgillis.com.
He’s lived in Foxboro over thirty years and has a passionate love for his home town. He is very active in the Foxboro community; in addition to being on the board of directors of the Foxboro Jaycees from 2000-2008, and again in 2013-2020, he has participated in and chaired many Jaycee community development projects since 1993, and he has served as that organization’s web master since 1998, a task he loves.
Foxboro Jaycees annual awards received:
Project of the year: Jaycee Website (2002-2003); Membership project of the year: Jaycee Website (1998-1999), (2000-2001), (2001-2002), (2003-2004), (2004-2005), (2005-2006), (2006-2007), (2007-2008),(2010-2011), and (2012-2013) and (2015-2016). Director of the year: (2001-2002) and (2002-2003). New project of the year: September 11 Memorial (2002-2003). New project of the year: September 11 Five Year Memorial (2006-2007). Community Development project of the year: September 11 Five Year Memorial (2006-2007).
In 2013, he was named Foxboro Jaycees Key Man. It’s the highest award that can be bestowed upon a any Jaycee, and he is still stunned, and profoundly grateful from his heart to the Jaycees for the honor. In 2017, he was named a Foxboro Jaycees life member; less than 15 of these awards have been given since the chapter’s founding and he is still stunned and humbled to be chosen for this award and promises to to continue to try to worthy of it.
He created, and from 2004-2011 maintained, the web site for the Foxboro Doolittle Home, a life care retirement center where senior citizens live their lives in dignity and quality of life.
He and his wife have also run food drives for the Foxboro Food Pantry and fundraisers for the Foxboro Senior Center. They have a great love of La Salette Shrine in Attleboro and have volunteered and assisted in various capacities over the years.
In 2009, he was asked to redesign the website for Foxboro Founders Day and administered and created that web site until 2017.
He does occasional camera and volunteer work for Foxboro Cable Access, where he “gets to play with the tech toys.”
Since 2005, he has taken his love of photography in a new direction and is selling his photographs at his website, GillisPhotos.com. Check it out for over 3500 images of New England.
“Nana” is his first published book, a labor of love, written in memory of his beloved grandmother. He hopes that anyone who has loved a senior will read this book.
You can contact Robert at robertxgillis777@gmail.com.