The fabric of the close-knit antiques community of Phoebus is a little weaker, now that the one who knit them together, Robert Sauer, died Sunday.

Mr. Sauer died aboard a ship after leaving California for a cruise to Hawaii. He was 78.

He was the owner of Robert's Antiques and Collectibles.

The antique dealers whose shops are clustered on East Mellen Street will miss the self-proclaimed "Mayor of Phoebus."

"It would have been a different place without him," said Bill Welch of Phoebus Auction Gallery.

"He would get restless and go up and down the street to see if you needed change or lunch or needed to take a break," said Carla Mingee, owner of Return Engagement.

When he wasn't ducking into shops to assist and encourage the other dealers, Mr. Sauer could be seen making his way up and down the sidewalk, waving at folks, calling many by name. He was known to require a certain number of hugs each day from folks whom he knew.

"It was like the turn of the century," Mingee said. "Very comfortable."

He had coffee each morning and the lunch special most days next door in Booth 3 at Paul's Restaurant. Waitresses Nicole Reichenbach and Wanda Garner said that when he ordered breakfast it was "One, one, one": pancake, egg and sausage patty.

Last week, he gave each of the waitresses a bracelet for Valentine's Day. He remembered them every holiday with a gift, they said.

On Thursday, a cold rain pelted a wreath of white carnations attached to the door of Robert's Antiques and Collectibles. Beneath the wreath, well-wishers had stuck several plastic flowers behind the bars of the door.

The shop's windows were filled with the eclectic items that Mr. Sauer offered his customers. Prominently displayed in one window was a white accordion in a case. Taped to the inside of one window were two fliers -- one offering a 10-inch compound miter saw for $75 and the other a set of all hardwood bunk beds for $100.

"He collected oddities and unusual items," said Donna Hurley of Phoebus Auction Gallery.

He was well known for his collection of peach-pit carvings. He had 100 when the Daily Press interviewed him in 2001.

Hurley said Sauer had a strong interest in railroad, nautical and military items.

Those collections were a reflection of Mr. Sauer's past.

A childhood injury prevented him from being drafted into World War II, but he volunteered to serve in the Merchant Marine. In that role, he helped ferry troops back home from the war.

After the war, he started a railroad career, retiring from C&O Railroad in 1985.

Robert Meredith Sauer Sr. was preceded in death by his wife, Louise P. Sauer. He's survived by a daughter, Laura S. Sandford, and her husband, Jeff, of Hampton; two sons, Robert M Sauer Jr. of Charleston, S.C., and William J. Sauer and his wife, Betsy, of Newport News; two sisters, Doris Kamm and Margaret Rinaldi of Orlando, Fla.; two brothers, Carlton and Wayne Sauer of Newport News; five grandchildren, Casey Wignall, Courtney Orlando, Blake White, Grayson Sandford, and Kurt Sauer; and one great-grandson, Knowles Wignall.

A memorial service will be conducted at 2 p.m. Saturday at R. Hayden Smith Funeral Home by the Rev. M. Raymond Turner.

Immediately after, the family will receive friends at the funeral home until 4:30 p.m.

Interment will be later.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requests that memorial donations be made to Youth Challenge, 223 29th St., Newport News VA 23607.

"He is going to be missed," Hurley said.

"I expect him to walk in the door any minute."

Copyright Chicago Tribune Co. Feb 25, 2005