If you want to understand Bob Transom, you must start with guidance he has carried with him since childhood: “You have not lived until you have done something for someone who could never repay you.”
He first heard the aphorism while sitting in a coffee shop with his mother when he was young. She would bring a notepad with her, and at the bottom of each page, there would be a quote. That one has stuck with him, even decades later.
“If you think about it, if you really live by it,” Transom, 72, said, choking up, “it can bring tears to your eyes. That’s all I want to do.”
That simple sentence has shaped a lifetime of quiet service — one that has left an indelible mark on Oceanside, often without anyone knowing who is responsible for one good deed or another. For all he has done over the years, the Herald is proud to name Transom its 2025 Person of the Year.
He has spent most of his life doing exactly what those words call for: helping without keeping score, giving without recognition and working behind the scenes to make his town better. He and his wife, Betsy, have been married for nearly 40 years, and together they have built not only a family — sons Michael, Christopher and Craig — but also a legacy of service that touches nearly every corner of Oceanside.
Perhaps the most visible symbol of their work is Schoolhouse Green, a serene community space that exists today because the Transoms refused to let a forgotten piece of land remain forgotten.
The property was once home to School No. 1. When the building was torn down, its concrete foundation was left behind — an eyesore with no clear future. The Transoms took it upon themselves to change that.
“I had the idea, and he made it happen,” Betsy said.
In 1999, Bob and fellow designed and planned a public green, removing the concrete, installing sprinklers and laying sod. Schoolhouse Green now features a gazebo, a Sept. 11 memorial garden, a brick-paved “memory lane,” a flagpole and light and luxuriant grass and trees.
Transom maintains the green by himself, repairing the gazebo, tending the garden and keeping the space immaculate — funding its upkeep out of his own pocket.
“He does all of this, and you never even see him,” Tony Iovino, assistant director of the Oceanside Library and a fellow member of the Board of Education and the Kiwanis Club, said. “He is the most humble and generous person I think I’ve ever met. He does what needs to be done without, asking for any kind of fame.”
That quiet presence defines Transom’s approach to every aspect of his life. Raised in East Oceanside, he enlisted in the U.S. Army after high school and served from 1972 to 1978, first in the Army Security Agency and then in the reserves, before being honorably discharged. He earned a degree in sociology from Campbell College, now Campbell University, in North Carolina.
He often says he didn’t truly begin volunteering until he was working in real estate property management for RD Management Corp in Manhattan, where he met Betsy Tooker. One bitterly cold night, the couple encountered a man on the street who had wrapped himself in plastic and was wearing a hat made of newspapers. Bob went home and returned to give the man his brand-new work boots, along with a jacket, pants and socks.
That instinct — to act, to help — became second nature.
After they married in 1988, the Transoms moved to Oceanside, where Bob got involved in the school district. Drawing on his background in construction and property management, he devoted countless hours to inspecting school buildings, helping identify issues that might lead to major repairs and upgrades. He helped create a Buildings and Grounds Committee, and later ran for school board at the urging of a trustee.
He also got involved with the Oceanside Kiwanis Club, particularly Kamp Kiwanis, in the 1990s. For years Transom and fellow Kiwanians raised funds to outfit between eight and 15 Oceanside children — often from broken or dysfunctional homes — for a one-week summer camp experience upstate in Taberg, New York. Each year, Transom coordinated all the necessary paperwork for campers with school social workers, while also equipping them with clothes, sneakers and camping equipment.
Iovino recalled the time that a child missed the bus to Kamp Kiwanis, and Transom drove him up there, making the 12-hour round trip just so the child could join the other campers. During a severe heat wave that same summer, when the camp needed fans and air conditioners, Transom drove to a local Home Depot, loaded up with cooling equipment and drove it up to the camp.
“He never said a word, never asked for reimbursement,” Iovino said. “We found out through the camp people.”
At the heart of Transom’s work today is Oceanside Community Service, which now serves more than 5,000 families in each year with its food pantry and support programs, and which he oversees as president.
“I don’t want people to have to prove why they need food,” Transom said. “They come to my pantry, they say they’re hungry, they get fed.”
Additionally, he volunteers at Island Harvest, the Long Island-wide food bank, three days a week, loading vans bound for pantries. On Fridays he arrives at OCS before dawn to unload deliveries himself, including fresh produce picked up early in the morning.
“He doesn’t want to bother anyone,” said Laura Lisi, a fellow OCS and Board of Education member. “I’ve never met someone who gives back with as much heart, and no expectation of anything in return, the way Bob does.”
Tara Stromer, who has worked with OCS for three years, described Transom as a “quiet force.”
“He’s as selfless and giving as anyone I’ve ever met,” Stromer said. “He is a quiet leader and a quiet influencer, but an incredibly impactful presence.”
Those qualities ripple outward.
“There’s a kind of humanity that Bob orchestrates when he brings people together,” said Diane Provvido, former principal of School No. 5, who has taught Transom’s sons. “He very quietly finds a way to get people to work together for the betterment of our community.”
“He is embracing this community at every juncture that needs someone,” Stromer said. “He’s a role model for adults and for generations to come.”
Betsy noted that her husband somehow balances it all — service, family, community — even as a new grandfather. “He’ll be packing groceries for 60 families and then stop to spend time with our grandson,” she said. “Family is always his main priority, but Oceanside runs deep in his heart.”
For Bob, it all circles back to the lesson he learned from his mother. “I want to be behind the scenes and make it happen for people,” he said.
“He is our unsung hero,” said Sandie Schoell, another OCS volunteer and a fellow Kiwanis member, who has known Transom for more than 35 years. “He’s selfless, unassuming, empathetic. He avoids accolades and photo ops. He just loves this community.”
