Robert Hardin

Charles Robert Hardin

Author, Sailor, Pilot

October 5, 1934 – December 30, 2010

Robert Hardin was born in Arkansas where he and his sister were raised on a farm. His father was a traveling salesman and his mother loved murder mysteries. Robert earned his private pilot’s license when he was a teenager and he served as a U.S. Army paratrooper during the Korean conflict. He was educated at Columbia University and lived and worked in New York City for several years until moving to South Carolina, where he earned a law degree; later he resettled in the San Francisco Bay area where he established a practice as a tax attorney and enjoyed sailing on the bay. He sailed his 40’ racing boat in several races from Sausalito to Puerto Vallarta in the 80’s.

In 2002 Robert married Kathryn Axton; in January 2005 they moved to Yelapa, Mexico, a small fishing village 15 miles south of Puerto Vallarta that is accessible mainly by boat. Robert enjoyed village life and especially loved playing Santa Claus and handing out mandarin oranges and pencils to all the village children at Christmas. In the six years he lived in Yelapa Robert published 7 novels and an 8th was almost complete when he died quietly at home in Yelapa, of heart disease.