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Fri, 03/08/2013 - 11:45pm

SPOTLIGHT: The Dobski home and Bloomington-Normal

SPOTLIGHT: The Dobski home and Bloomington-Normal Associated Press Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Published 12:05 am, Saturday, March 9, 2013 (AP) — Julie and Bob Dobski open up their home as if it's a public arena, a welcome center or a community fellowship hall. There is the annual Boy Scout Lawn Social and any number of Central Catholic High School "Saints Alive" events and other fundraising events. Two years ago, when the Red Hot Society, a group of women who gather several times a year to learn more about Illinois State University, readied for another event at their home, the Dobskis planned to bring in a large tent for the yard. "There's something at that house all the time!" says Leanna Bordner, associate athletics director at ISU. Today, the Dobskis' McDonald's restaurants employ 650 people in the Bloomington-Normal area; another 80 work for Little Jewels. Dobski's father ran Edmund's Foods, a meat shop and grocery, where the three Dobski boys — Tony, Tom and Bob — all toiled while watching the chains and big-box stories slowly inherit the Earth. Julie took seats on boards at Holy Trinity Catholic Church and CCHS, and Bob became a member of the ISU board of trustees. In 1997, they built their 10,622-square-foot, 13-room home — valued today in McLean County assessment records at $1.26 million — that has become their veritable civic center. Says Karen DeAngelis, who along with her husband, Tony, owns the Holiday Inn Express in Normal, and are longtime Dobski friends: The work ethic of both Bob and Julie's parents gave them their foundation for their success. Sweethearts since meeting at the Dobski grocery ("those hot pants and that outfit she was wearing," smirks Bob) and married in 1974, the Dobskis are quick to point out that while their success may look glamorous, life at the top includes time in the valley.

 

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