Naifeh enjoys the outdoors and can't talk about a summer job he held while a college student without smiling. He was a Yosemite National Park ranger, "and it was the most delightful job I ever had." It was such an enjoyable place he took his bride there on their honeymoon, and they spent three months living in a tent. His ranger hat hangs in his den today.

He left the life of a park ranger behind when he finished law school. He practiced general law in Norman for a few years before joining forces with Charles Nesbitt in an Oklahoma City office. Together they built a practice in oil and gas law. Their reputation as authorities on the law was so well-known that Mobile, Phillips and Chevron oil companies asked them to represent them in securing a portion of the proceeds in the Prudhoe Bay oil pool.

Prudhoe Bay records were kept in Seattle, so he and Nesbitt and their wives lived in Seattle for three years (1983-85) as the litigation proceeded. "We would come home regularly during that time," he said. The oil companies only wanted two percent of the Prudhoe Bay find, but that amounted to $5 billion. "We came home with our share of it," he said.

His career also included appearing before the Court of Claims -- "that's when people sue the government, and you find out who has all the money." He also was an arbiter for the New York Stock Exchange, and served for two years as state assistant attorney general, working under his friend, Charles Nesbitt.

"For the last 25 years I have had an office with Bill Woodson," he said.

He has enjoyed excellent health until the last few months, a situation that has kept him out of the office. He still gets calls from attorneys from across the country who tap his knowledge of oil and gas law. "My profession has treated me well."

Naifeh has been active in the Norman community all of his life, even having served on the City Council in the early 1950s. He recalls it as "a turbulent time" in city politics, and he was going against the stream. "It was a tough go," and he doesn't want to resurrect those memories.

He has been a member of First Presbyterian Church for more than 50 years, and a "rank and file" member of the Norman Kiwanis Club. He is a Shriner, an OU Associate, a life member of the OU Alumni Association and has held OU football tickets for more than 50 years.

His illness has kept him from one of his pleasures in life, coffee each morning with friends in a downtown coffee shop on the site of what once was the Murray Department Store at the corner of Main and Crawford. One of those coffee drinkers is his lifelong friend, Dee Powell. "We bought our first car together." It was a '34 Model A Ford that barely ran, he recalls.

His wife, Lil, passed away in 2004. They were partners in raising three children. Their son, Robert Naifeh Jr., followed him into the practice of law, and the girls, LeeAnn Kuhlman and Karen Sue Meyerson, are teachers. All are Edmond residents. They are OU graduates, as are three of the Naifeh grandchildren. Another one is a freshman at OU now. They frequently drop in to check up on Bob and he was host for the Christmas dinner this year.

He is regaining his strength from a major illness, and recovering from a corneal transplant. Looking to the future, he said "I am learning to use the computer. I have a new vision machine, and a talking watch."