It all begins with an idea.
Robert Facciola
Chairman- Board of Trustees & Founder
Bob Facciola is a Co-founder and Trustee of the Pacific Animal Shelter and Hospital (Fiji). Born in San Francisco, California, he built a successful business in the Silicon Valley area, which he owned and ran before selling it in 2007. He is passionate about animals and has shared his homes with dogs for many years. He has also owned and shown, with great success, many of his American Saddlebred and Standardbred horses. As a current resident of Fiji, Bob has become well aware of the issues facing the animals here in the Islands. It is through Bob’s generosity that PASH has become a reality.
Bob brings a lifetime of business experience to PASH and his “common sense” and fairness approach in dealing with issues places him at the head of the table as our first Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
Marie is a Co-founder and Trustee of the Pacific Animal Shelter and Hospital (Fiji). Born in New Jersey, she grew up in North Carolina and moved to California in the mid-1980s. This was home for the next 28 years and it was there she met Bob Facciola.
Marie worked for several years as a para-legal after business college, but the passion she had for horses from an early age took over and she began her career as a professional horse trainer, based on the West Coast of the United States. She had the opportunity to train several World Champions and truly lived the life she had dreamed of as a child.
Marie has had many cats over the years, but there has never been a day in her life that she did not have a dog (or dogs) by her side.
Bob and Marie visited many islands together, but it was Fiji that always called them back. They loved the beautiful Islands and found the people to be friendly and welcoming. In 2013, having decided it was time for retirement, they left their beloved State of California and moved to Fiji. Their time spent here, as visitors, and now as residents, has given them insight into the enormity of the animal situation in the Islands of Fiji.
Both Bob and Marie are dedicated to improving the quality of life and care for the animals of Fiji.