ROCKVILLE — Robert Roy Hogan, 56, died Dec. 4, 2009, in Naples, Fla., after a long illness. He was a former resident of Elyria, Ohio, who lived in Rockville, for 13 years. He was vice president and co-owner of Tri Aerospace, a manufacturer of parts for the aerospace industry, in Terre Haute. He had retired two years ago and moved with his wife to Naples. He had worked in Elyria as a mechanic on race cars and helped build a winning sprint car for the USAC Championship in 1975. Robert established an excavating business with his friend Tim Anderson in Grafton, Ohio.

His earlier success as an auto mechanic resulted in an offer to come to Michigan to be chief mechanic for Jet Engineering’s CART racing team. A few years later when he left racing he worked in the factory of the car’s owner. He became operations manager at the plant. From there he went on to form Tri Aerospace in Indiana with Bob Brown and Mary Beth Prickel in Brazil. After a fire destroyed the factory they rebuilt their business in Terre Haute in 2001.

Robert was a 1972 graduate of Midview High School. He was an avid outdoorsman, enjoying hunting, boating and fishing. He also was an officer of the Bass Striper Association. While living in Rockville, Robert was a Parke County reserve deputy sheriff.

He is survived by his wife of 28 years, JoVonna, nee Capp; sons, Robert Jeremiah of Ashville, N.C., Jared of Terre Haute, and a daughter, Jessica Grimes, also of Terre Haute; a grandson, Benjamin of Terre Haute; his mother, Gloria Hogan of Elyria; sisters, Kathryn Karpovich of Elyria, and Marguerite Hogan of Chelsea, Mich.; brothers, Patrick of San Marcos, Calif., James of Kent, Ohio, Roy of Wadsworth, Ohio, and Michael of Strongsville, Ohio.

Services will be 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009, at Rockville Christian Church in Rockville. Laubenthal-Bauer Funeral Home will be officiating the burial at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Elyria Ohio, at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 14, 2009, with a celebration of life gathering from 5 to 7 p.m. later that day at the Elks Club in Elyria.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made to the Robert R. Hogan Memorial Scholarship Fund at Parke County Community Foundation, P.O.Box 276, Rockville, IN, 47872.