A Storied Career

Bob Cairns was, at his heart, a storyteller. He plied that trade for more than three decades at NC State, working in communications and marketing, and in print publications like The News & Observer and Sports Illustrated. 

And it seemed like there wasn’t a second that went by in a conversation when he wasn’t spinning some yarn to make someone smile. It was such a staple of his personality that if you were on the phone and your partner saw you not talking, “they knew you were talking to Bob Cairns,” Liz Imperiale, Cairns’ daughter, says with a laugh.

Cairns died Oct. 6, 2025. He was 82 years old.

A Maryland native (and longtime Baltimore Orioles fan), Cairns arrived at NC State in the late 1970s after graduating from North Carolina Wesleyan University. He was hired by the news bureau to write annual reports but soon found a voice in exploring his imaginative approach. He worked at the university until the 2010s, leading campaigns, composing speeches for the chancellor and penning profiles of Wolfpack alumni for the university magazine, now NC State magazine. “At that time, in his different departments and roles, they let his creativity come through,” says Imperiale. “He was allowed to use his creativity in different ways to promote the university.”

Any Cairns-authored story had two distinct traits — humor and humanity. In his profiles, published books and the blog posts of his later years, he captured the heart of who people were through funny anecdotes and an empathy that seemed to connect — and often surprised — his audience. “His writing had those threads of finding what you didn’t know about someone,” says Imperiale. “I think he was interested in digging that out. He did a good amount of research.”

“He was so immersed in the university. It was part of everything he did. I think it was the people.”  

But there was no story more meaningful for Cairns to tell than a Wolfpack one. “He was so immersed in the university. It was part of everything he did,” says Imperiale. “I think it was the people. He always had those NC State relationships.”

And a phone at the ready to call you with a story.

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