Meet a Community Elder: Bob Long

With a passion for engineering, consulting and local politics, this 83-year-old stays active in his personal and professional life.

September 7, 2024 | Gail Grant | Over the Next Hill

Bob Long’s wife, Angela, was the centre of his universe for their 50 years together. Bob lost Angela tragically nine years ago, and still thinks about her each day. “She was the wind beneath my wings,” he says.

Bob began his career first as a surveyor for a Brampton development company and then as a technician for an engineering firm in Orangeville, but felt he had more to offer. He suggested to Angela that perhaps he should pursue his engineering degree. “Yes, let’s do that,” he remembers her saying.

So he studied at the University of Guelph while Angela tended to the needs of their growing family – Michael, Deborah and Tobi. Specializing in water resource management, he graduated as an environmental engineer in 1971, and opened his own firm, Long Environmental Consultants, in 1980. By the mid ’90s, he had also become a registered professional planner.

bob long orangeville — Former Orangeville deputy reeve Bob Long has operated his environmental consulting firm for 44 years. Photography by Pete Paterson.

Through the years, Bob has nurtured a number of longstanding personal relationships with young people following similar career paths.

After a road trip west with the family in 1979, he heeded an inner voice and jumped into the local race for Orangeville council. As a lifelong Conservative, Bob’s connections and political savvy gave him a solid victory. He served one year as a town councillor and three as deputy reeve and a Dufferin County councillor.

Much of his consulting work has been for the aggregate industry – which can be a touchy topic in Headwaters, but he says, “Aggregate extraction is a necessity in our world. In Ontario, 160 million tons of aggregate per year are needed to create the infrastructure, roads and buildings we need to live our lives as we know them.”

Bob was instrumental in implementing water protection systems for neighbourhoods affected by quarry developments, and in 2007 he championed a property value protection plan.

And his commitment to his community goes beyond his professional work. Bob served 11 years as chair of the Dufferin County Housing Authority and is currently chair of Orangeville Hydro. Now 83, he has been an active member of the Shelburne Golf Club for the past 20-plus years, and remains a keen supporter of the Friendship Gardens at Headwaters Health Care Centre.