A native of Lake Forest, Robert attended Lake Forest Country Day School and the Hotchkiss School. At Princeton he majored in architecture and urban planning, beginning a lifelong fascination with architecture and design. He also lettered in hockey and was active in the Aquinas Institute.

He earned an MBA from the University of Chicago in 1978 while working for Urban Investments, a Chicago shopping-center developer. This tenure launched his visionary real-estate development career, where he restored and revitalized classic, architecturally significant buildings in Chicago and surrounding suburbs. His renovation of Chicago’s 1891 Monadnock Building through his firm, Broadacre Management Co., brought highest recognition from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. 

Robert was a lifetime trustee of the Chicago History Museum and former president of the Princeton Club of Chicago. 

He was predeceased by his brother Albert Meers ’70. He is survived by former spouses Anne Searle and Lisa M. Gregory ’85; children Ethan Meers ’03 and spouse Coleene ’04, Robert Walker Meers, Holly Meers, and Marion Rice; six grandchildren; and brother Henry. Contributions may be made to Lake Forest Country Day School. The class sends condolences to his family.