A beloved winery owner who helped make Tri-Cities a hotspot for wine dies after a fall
Longtime Tri-Cities winemaker Robert “Bob” Gamache has died.
Gamache, 72, suffered a fall on the evening of May 21 and passed away at Kadlec Regional Medical Center about 1 a.m. the next morning, said Franklin County coroner officials. Investigators said he fell from either a ladder or the attic.
Gamache was well known for the winery he started with his brother Roger, and their father, in 1982.
Bob Gamache retired in 2015, just before the sale of their 180-acre Basin City vineyard. Sagemoor Vineyards bought the property and continues to operate it.
The Gamache family kept their Prosser tasting room open until the pandemic forced them to close the doors last summer, just shy of their 40th anniversary. Wit Cellars bought the tasting room.
Gamache grew up in the Yakima Valley and graduated from Marquette High School in 1968, according to his obituary. He was an Army veteran and married to his wife Cris since 1979.
.JPG "SHi_j0180(16).JPG")
His family wrote that “Bob is remembered by those who knew him as a kind, happy, sweet soul who always had a smile for those around him. We will all miss that smile he had for everyone, whether he had known you for 5 minutes, 5 years or 50 years.”
Services are planned at Christ the King Catholic Church on Friday, May 27, at 2 p.m. at 1111 Stevens Dr. in Richland.
The family wrote that Gamache cared deeply about the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which works to house veterans, and encouraged donations to the nonprofit in lieu of sending flowers.
This story was originally published May 26, 2022 at 5:53 PM.
