Family Spotlight: Meet the Weiss Family
By: Josh Hudson
This month, Stroll Inside the Gates spotlights the Weiss family. Rob Weiss is originally from Chicago, Illinois, and Linda Weiss hails from Miami, Florida. Linda attended the University of Alabama for her undergraduate studies, and Rob played college tennis for Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, earning a degree in English. Rob went on to win the NCAA Singles Championships during his senior year.
After college, Rob continued to play tennis professionally on the ATP Tour. “I was ranked as high as #85 in the world in singles and wins over Boris Becker, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg, and Patrick Rafter, who were all former #1-ranked players,” recounts Rob. “I was fortunate enough to have played at Wimbledon, The US Open, The Australian Open, The French Open, and all the other big tournaments shown on TV throughout the year. After my playing days ended due to injuries, I was the Director of Tennis at two clubs in Atlanta and went on to be a college coach at Georgia Tech, Pepperdine, Cornell, Alabama, and Clemson.”
After she graduated from Alabama, Linda had a very fulfilling career with Monsanto, a major American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation. She also became the proud mother of two amazing girls, Jennifer and Hannah. Jennifer graduated from Georgia Southern University and now works at a boutique CPA firm, and Hannah graduated from Clemson University with a nursing degree and is currently an emergency ER nurse at a hospital near Clemson, South Carolina.
Rob’s love for tennis not only fueled an amazing career, but it was also the reason he met his future wife, Linda. While he was serving as the Director of Tennis at a club in Atlanta, Linda happened to be a member of that club. A mutual love of tennis gave way to an amazing marriage and a beautiful, blended family. Rob is extremely proud to be Jennifer and Hannah’s stepdad.
The Weiss family would not be complete without all their adorable pets. They have a Rottweiler named Greta, a Golden Retriever named Miller, and three cats - Marilyn, Butter, and Charlie. “Linda and I are huge animal lovers,” Rob adds. “We could not love our furry babies any more than we do!”
Rob and Linda are now happily retired, and this new chapter in their lives is the primary reason they chose to make a home here in Georgia’s Lake Country. “After I chose to retire in 2023, Linda and I wanted to find a nice, quiet, and safe community where we could enjoy walking our dogs and I could play golf every day. We also wanted to stay within 2.5 hours of Jennifer (who is in Atlanta) and Hannah (who is in Piedmont, South Carolina).” With all these things in mind, the family could not find a better fit than Reynolds Lake Oconee. Rob and Linda made the official move “inside the gates” from their previous home in Seneca, South Carolina in May of 2024.
Despite living here for less than two years, Rob and Linda have already fallen in love with their new home. “There are very few things we don’t like about living here at Reynolds,” states Linda. “The people we have met since moving to Reynolds have all been wonderful. Everyone is so friendly, warm, and inviting. Having 7 golf courses at your disposal is something one can only dream about. We both feel so blessed to be here and feel so lucky to have settled on Reynolds. It truly feels like a permanent home.”
In his free time, Rob loves golfing. “I play 7 days a week and spend a lot of time at the practice facilities working on my game.” When not on the golf course, he spends his time trading stocks and managing their accounts. Rob has been trading and investing for 25 years and finds it incredibly challenging and rewarding to try and beat the S&P 500 each year (which is no easy task). On the weekends, he loves watching sports, specifically the Chicago Bears, the Alabama Crimson Tide, or the PGA Tour.
Rob’s Fight with Cancer
The Weiss Family’s short time here in Georgia’s Lake Country has sadly also come with a great deal of tribulation, as Rob was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in April of 2025.
“I was not feeling particularly bad at the time, but I found a lump in my neck one evening and had a scan the next day, which revealed the mass had spread to my brain, spine, groin, abdomen, and adrenal gland,” recounts Rob. “This was devastating to hear, but I took the news in stride and started my fight a few days after my biopsy confirmed the diagnosis. During my chemotherapy treatments, my biopsy was sent to a lab to check if I had any rare gene mutations. It turned out I did have a rare gene mutation called ALK+, which is only found in non-smokers. Only 3% of all lung cancer patients have an ALK+ mutation. Although ALK+ lung cancer is not curable, it can be treated with a powerful oral chemotherapy medication, which I started immediately. Within 3 months of my diagnosis, all my tumors were gone, other than three tiny spots still on the brain, but I am stable and doing great! My current medication will hopefully keep me going strong for 4-6 years before the medication will eventually loses effectiveness. In the meantime, there are next-generation ALK+ medications in clinical trials, and we hope that one day they can find a cure for my rare form of lung cancer.”
Please visit the link below if you would like to donate to a fund created in Rob’s name, where every dollar goes directly to Dr. Shaw and her team at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who are working tirelessly to find a cure for ALK+ lung cancer. Every dollar funds further research and development of future ALK+ drug therapies, which will ultimately help save many future lives.
