Academy Award-winning sound mixer Robert Alan (Bob) Minkler died of respiratory failure at home in Oregon with his wife, Patty, at his side on October 11. He was 78.

Minkler won his Oscar in 1978 for best sound on the first film in the “Star Wars” franchise.

In a Hollywood career that spanned two decades, he worked on such films as “Easy Rider,” “The Black Stallion,” “Bull Durham,” “Mask,” “Urban Cowboy,” “Rocky II,” “Hair” and “Tron,” for which he was Oscar-nominated along with his brother Lee Minkler and his nephew, three-time Oscar winner Michael Minkler.

Born in 1937 in Glendale, Calif., to audio pioneer Lee Darrell Minkler and Lorraine Jones Minkler, Bob spent many years as a musician and vocalist, touring with Nat King Cole for a time. He found his way back to the film business and began his career working alongside his brothers Donald Minkler and Lee Minkler.

He moved to Hawaii to raise his three sons Marcus, Daniel and Christian. Additional survivors are his grandchildren Michael, Mia, Jacob, Matthew, Kyle and Brooke. Private services will be held in Hawaii.