Industry legend, Robert Diemer, passed away on April 9, 2009, of pneumonia, shocking the spa industry. Following are tributes and notes received by Skin Inc. magazine about the amazing man and incredible influence Diemer was. Send a tribute for Robert to SkinInc.com.
My Friend, Robert Diemer
How do I start to share my heartfelt feelings about a man who had such a huge impact on my career in skin, and remained my dedicated friend for more than 25 years? All things said, and to be said, about my friend Robert—also known as the Father of Esthetics—is I am numb and sad and still in shock that he is gone. I could share with you Robert’s incredible skin genius, how it was his passion for skin that ignited mine, his dedication to American esthetics, his gentle nature, his love for people, but anyone who knew Robert also knew his soul and this is not news.
Robert unselfishly gave and shared his talent, knowledge and love of the skin industry, and an entire generation of estheticians now and to come, will never know him. This makes me sad. But he left his huge imprint on American skin care, and if you examine who the industry leaders are today, Robert no doubt had a huge influence on all.
He did not have a selfish bone in his body and many times told me how proud he was of all of us. Not long ago, we laughed about all the good times we had in California when he owned Prescription Plus and the American Institute of Esthetics, our horses, times with Gigi, Sundance, trade shows and a whole life time of wonderful memories.
Robert, I am going to miss you so much! You are a spirit that will continue to influence me forever. I love you Robert.
Your friend,
Christine Heathman
President/founder
GlyMed Plus/Advanced Aesthetics Inc.
With Great Sadness
It is with sadness that I learned of Robert Diemer's passing. He was indeed a true professional. I invited him to Jamaica to our first salon and spa trade show in 1989. He was an excellent and inspirational speaker. He will be truly missed.
Satnarine Ricketts-Weller
Shocked and Saddened
What a shock to hear about Robert's passing. I had the pleasure of meeting Robert after I moved from France when the industry was in its infancy. We regularly lectured at trade shows, which gave us many opportunities to talk, laugh and sometimes console one another when times were challenging. Through the years, Robert and I brainstormed on how to help built a sustainable industry and enhance education. While we were competitors selling skin care products, Robert was foremost a great colleague; I enjoyed his enthusiasm and his focus on the bigger picture: Grow the industry and all will benefit—consumers, estheticians and vendors. Robert laid many bricks building the foundation of our industry and will not be forgotten.
Catherine Atzen, MBA, Cidesco, NCEA-certified
Business consultant and founder of ATZEN, owned by Universal Companies
A True Legend
The board of directors, members and executive staff of Cosmetologists Chicago mourn the loss of Robert Diemer. His many years of leading quality skin care educational classes at the Chicago Midwest Beauty Show, now America’s Beauty Show, provided the foundation from which many of our efforts for skin care professionals grew. His love of the profession, his dedication to skin professionals and his passion for skin care’s future in America will be greatly missed. He was a true legend.
Paul Dykstra
CEO
Cosmetologists Chicago, America’s Beauty Show, America’s Expo for Skin Care and Spa
So Many Firsts
Robert Diemer was known as the “Father of American Esthetics” by his peers. And he truly was. He was the first person to teach skin analysis in the professional skin care industry. His innovative Paramedical Derma-Analysis--a system he devised in the 1970s for understanding how the skin functions--was based on scientific assessment rather than guesswork.
Before Robert, we did beauty facials. With his system, we did results-oriented treatments.
Robert opened the first-ever advanced training center for estheticians in Huntington Beach, California, around 1978. He named it the American Institute of Esthetics because he firmly believed that Americans had the scientific knowledge to turn professional skin care into a results-oriented, serious field.
Robert Diemer was the first to teach estheticians how to custom-blend their treatments to get real results. He was famous for saying “The skin is a self-cleansing, self-healing and self-regenerating organ.” He would tell us again and again that no two skins were alike and that the Paramedical Derma-Analysis and the customizing of treatments were the only ways to guarantee results. He preached goals and results, and we listened.
He believed in highly active products, stimulating massage, heat and accurate derm analysis. When he did a treatment on a student, he would use his techniques and get unbelievable results. And all of us became believers. Robert achieved results with his hands and a few products that left us in awe.
He was the first esthetician to use a hot towel cabinet in the treatment room. Robert believed that hot towels were therapeutic on the skin, and he used them constantly. He found them in a restaurant supply and brought the concept into our industry. He was the first to use infrared lamps to provide heat while the towels were stimulating the blood flow of the skin. He used to say, “The fountain of youth is in the bloodstream.”
I could go on and on about all of the firsts from Robert Diemer, but the most memorable part of working with him so closely for the past 25 years was his optimism and his love of people. He was kind, loving, considerate and always upbeat. Even as his health began failing, he stayed positive. He saw only the good in people, loved his work, loved his friends and most of all, loved life. I will always miss him.
Barbara Salomone
Founder
Bioelements
A Dreamer
I first met Robert in the 1970s when he traveled for Mark Traynor representing the Traynor makeup line. Robert would come into to my mother's (Yvonne Berg) skin care studio to do a two-day in salon makeup promotion. I remember the hours of conversations he would have with my parents in the evening about his dream. The dream of creating a skin care line of products you could mix together for the individual needs of each client. That dream came true when Robert and his partner Jerry created Prescription Plus, the first fully customized skin care product line.
What can I say about Robert…. He was a dreamer, an artist and a visionary who has forever changed the face of skin care.
Judy Garcia
Owner
Yvonne Elizabeth Cosmetics
A Pioneering Legend
I am very saddened to hear about Robert’s passing. Robert was certainly a pioneering legend in the esthetic industry. Many well-known contemporary icons in our industry trained with Robert. He believed deeply in education.
I had the pleasure of working with Robert on numerous committees and boards, including EstheticsAmerica, of which he was the founding chairperson, and EMDA. Robert was always kind and supportive to everyone he met, and was always excited to see others succeed, even if they were his competitors.
I know I speak for many in our industry when I say he will be greatly missed, both personally and professionally.
Mark Lees, PhD
CIDESCO Diplomate
President, Mark Lees Skin Care, Inc.
Farewell to a Friend
It was not a fancy affair, just me holding Robert's hand and stroking his perfect skin. He took his last breath about 12:28 pm, April 9, 2009, just 20 days before his 66th birthday. He was surrounded by his sister, Pat, a fairly new friend named Julie, and me. I knew it was his last breath; I was watching and counting the seconds between the last 10 or 20. They were getting very, very far apart and very shallow. I had been by his side for the 40 hours prior to this moment and was not shocked that the time had come. We had cried and laughed, and I had read to him out of his favorite book of late, the Bible.
We had talked about the beginning and the end and all that comes in-between. It was the in-between that always impressed me so much about the Robert M. Diemer that I knew and loved. He cared so much about so many people, and an industry that truly loved him back. He was a part of so many people’s dreams, and even more importantly, he helped so many succeed. He was truly a one-of-a-kind individual, a mentor and a friend. Many of you were there before 1983, when I came on the scene, and your stories should be shared with as many people as you can get to listen. I will do my best to keep his memory alive, also.
I believe the roast we gave Robert during one of the International Esthetics, Cosmetics and Spa Conferences not too many years ago will be revisited in our memories as we read these final words about a man that words could not explain, money could not buy, and by whom education could not be better provided. This is the time to sit and listen as your mind and heart remind you of your own fond memories and life-changing stories of a man who loved harder than most. A man who had very few enemies and a whole bunch of people he called family. A family of people who cared about other people; a group of people we call in America “estheticians”. As we say goodbye to the Father of the American Esthetician, we say goodbye to a man who will not be easily forgotten nor easily replaced. We will be saying goodbye to a man many of us can call a dear friend. I feel very fortunate to have known Robert and I will always be in his debt for the time and energy he spent on me, teaching me about an industry I can call my own; an industry he taught me to love and people he taught me to care deeply about. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’ll see you again someday, my dear friend, I am sure.
Magda Fischer
We Were His Children
Robert Diemer, it has been said by many in our industry, is the Father of Esthetics in this country. But what does that mean? It means that, like any doting father, he lovingly and with devoted care taught us, his children, the esthetics and business practices as best as he could in order to make us successful. It means he fought for our place in the world, pushing forward for esthetic licensing throughout the country, getting us into trade shows once dedicated only to hairstylists, bringing the best educators the world had to offer to our classrooms and joining fragmented esthetic associations into one large, powerful group under what is now the EstheticsAmerica committee of the National Cosmetology Association (NCA).
Robert opened doors for us and we followed, not always knowing who opened the door or how hard it was to pry it open, or what expense he paid to let us move forward. Robert never complained. He only saw opportunity for us, his kids. He always referred to us as his kids; his own, his pride and his joy. When one of us suffered, he suffered with us. When one of us became successful, he never mentioned the part he played, only his praise that we were so good at what we were doing and his pride in knowing us. When he got older, he told me it was time for the kids to take over and he stepped back, like any father who knows he’s done the best job he could for his progeny. And we are his progeny. Like all progeny, we have gone forward and multiplied. We are on our fourth generation of estheticians since Robert began the path to make esthetics a profession in this country. There are now tens of thousands of us. We help people every day. For Robert, that is his most important legacy.
So, be proud to be one of ‘Robert’s kids,’ for whether or not you knew him, you will always be one of his own. Thank you, Robert, for caring so much, for seeing what we could not and for giving up what you did to make us what we are today. I will always love you.”
Rebecca James Gadberry
Chairman/CEO, YG Labōratories
Instructor, cosmetic sciences, UCLA Extension
My Friend Bob
Robert was always Bob to me. We met in 1973 when he was working for my mother, Beverly Kass, at Lo-Be'Cosmetique later to become Bioganic Facial Clinic. When I was in cosmetology school, I would finish my day learning alongside Bob. To me he was like a scientist always trying to figure out the perfect formula for each client. With the enthusiasm and passion that he and my mother had for skin care they made Lo-Be'Cosmetique/Bioganic Facial Clinic one of Tampa's top skin care business for many many years. When Bob left Boganic Facial Clinic, we lost not only a dear friend to share our days with, but a tremendous contributor to the business. However, his big dreams led him to bigger achievements that resulted in Bob being a contibutor to not only a handful of us, but also to an entire industry.
Looking back I am so grateful for my visit with Bob in January of this year. With his typical enthusiasm and determination, Bob requested and set up a Lo-BE'reunion at his house. The day was filled with laughs, smiles and a ton of memories from the old days. And like the Bob everyone knew, he was more concerned with everyone enjoying themselves rather than his own obvious tiring. I spoke to him several times after that to check on him. He was always so filled with optimism and looking forward to his last treament. I wish I would have known that was going to be our last talk.
Bob, you gave so much and inspired so many people. What a wonderful gift. You will be greatly missed.
Love, Vickie Kass
Tampa, FL
