Gainesville residents whose daily commute takes them past National Vacuum on Northwest Sixth Street are accustomed to seeing the funny, quirky and sometimes political messages that have graced the business’s marquee for decades.
Those who have driven by this week have observed a somber but fitting tribute to the man behind those messages.
“Rest in Peace Bob deRochemont / The Man Behind the Sign,” reads the sign flanked by National Vacuum’s two signature 1959 Cadillacs.
Robert deRochemont died Monday morning, his son, Robert deRochemont Jr., confirmed on Tuesday in a text message to The Sun.
DeRochemont had a variety of health problems over the years, according to this son, and had a goal of living to age 95, “but liver cancer he could not overcome.”
“But you would never know that he was battling all these things,” deRochemont Jr. said. “He just carried on with a smile and wouldn’t trouble people with his difficulties.”
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DeRochemont Jr. said his father “left a trail of friends wherever he went,” and that he loved to dance and play the piano, although he couldn’t read music.
“Always the best dressed guy,” deRochemont Jr. said about his father. “A classy gentleman”
According to a previously published story by The Sun, deRochemont served in the U.S. Navy in the 1950s. He then began selling vacuums door to door before opening up his own repair shop — All-type Vacuum Center — in Gainesville in 1977.
About two years later on Christmas Eve, deRochemont used a sign he bought to display a message in response to the Iran hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
“I thought, something’s got to be done about this,” deRochemont told The Sun in 2021.
He directed the message at then-Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
“Merry Xmas Khomeini / May you get a missile on your toe!” the sign read.
The attention created by the sign was a boon for business, and deRochemont moved his shop across the street to where National Vacuum now stands at 2225 NW Sixth St. He also bought a new, elevated sign to make it easier for people driving by to see.
Messages over the years have poked fun a at variety of topics, including local and national politics. deRochemont previously told The Sun that the main reason behind his messages was to make people laugh or smile.
“Why enough asphalt for speedbumps but not potholes?” one message read.
DeRochemont Jr. said the messages on the sign were a true reflection of who his father was.
“The sign represents the core man. Being positive and making others feel better. And a good laugh is certainly good medicine for us all,” deRochemont Jr. said.
DeRochemont also used the sign to acknowledge more serious topics, including the killing of 9-11 mastermind and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in 2011, and to remember the 11 people killed in a string of crashes on Interstate 75 in Alachua County in January 2012.
DeRochemont’s signs, however, were not without a little controversy. He told The Sun in 2021 that a woman once complained that a message reading “A box of candy will make her fat / A Valentine vac is where it’s at,” was unfairly only geared toward women.
“I thought, well, she’s got a point,” deRochemont said in 2021.
After that, deRochemont started including the original message on one side of the sign and “A box of candy will make him fat / A Valentine vac is where it’s at” on the other side.
DeRochemont was preceded in death by his wife, Rena, whom he met at National Vacuum in 1987.
DeRochemont Jr. said Rena was not his mother but referred to her as the love of his father’s life
She died on April 2, 2012, after a long battle with melanoma.
DeRochemont Jr. said the nurses who were taking care of his father were surprised at how long he continued to survive despite the “dire signs” they were seeing.
He and others believe his father was trying to make it to April 2 “to be with his dear sweet wife again in heaven.”
“The love he had for Rena was the stuff that movies are made of,” deRochemont Jr. said.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: National Vacuum owner and ‘man behind the sign’ Bob deRochemont dies at 86
Reporting by Alan Festo, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
