Robert "Bob" Jeffrey Carr

On February 2, 2024, Robert “Bob” Jeffrey Carr – the longtime owner of Tops for Shoes who played a pivotal role in the revitalization of Downtown Asheville in North Carolina – passed away from Parkinson’s disease in Asheville. He was 78 and surrounded by his family.

Under Bob’s leadership, Tops for Shoes became a Downtown Asheville anchor institution that attracts customers from throughout the Southeastern United States and is known for its wide selection, full-service and exceptional staff with decades-long tenures.

As a past chair of the Asheville Downtown Commission, Asheville Merchants Association and Bele Chere festival, he helped to orchestrate the transformation of Downtown Asheville during the 1980s and ‘90s from a ghost town into a thriving business district and tourist destination.

Bob was born in Albany, New York on March 7, 1945, to the late Theodore and Eleanor Carr and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida. He was also preceded in death by his sister Joanne.

After serving in the U.S. Air Force for four years, he graduated with honors from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism. He then earned a Master of Science degree in Broadcast Journalism from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, which he attended on a full academic scholarship and graduated from first in his program.

Bob started his career as a television announcer for the CBS affiliate in Atlanta, Georgia where he met and married Ellen, whose parents – Louis and Sylvia Resnikoff – founded what became Tops for Shoes in 1953. When Louis’ health started to decline in the 1970s, he called on Bob and Ellen to move from Atlanta to help run the business.

Bob and Ellen expanded Tops for Shoes in the early 1980s from 3,000 to more than 30,000 square feet, at a time when other stores located downtown were either closing or flocking to the Asheville Mall. Tops for Shoes is now run by their son Alex.

Bob also served on the board of directors of Mission Hospital and the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, among others, as well as a president of Beth Israel Synagogue and member of the Rhododendron Royal Brigade of Guards.

He was deeply loved by and most proud of his family. He is survived by his wife Ellen of 50 years; children Teddy, Dana and her husband Jan, and Alex and his wife Lauren; grandchildren Zoe, Jack, and Allison; brother Lloyd and his wife Irene; and nephews Edward and Charles.

A funeral service will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, February 4, 2024, at Congregation Beth HaTephila (43 N. Liberty St., Asheville, NC 28801) with grave site burial to follow at Lou Pollock Memorial Park (N. Louisiana Ave., Asheville, NC 28806).

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his name to MANNA Food Bank in Asheville or the Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity.

Groce Funeral Home’s Lake Julian team is assisting the family.