Yeah, Bob always seemed like a decent guy. Not the best parent, but lord almighty, when you put him next to Barb, he seemed downright saintly by comparison. His two biggest mistakes in raising Chris Chan were not sending Chris to a special ed school, which I fully believe was a decision he THOUGHT was in Chris's best interest, and is a case of him being an old fuck who's a bit out of touch with how the world works compared to when he was a kid, and the fact he took a more hands-off approach when it came to letting Barb coddle Chris. If I had to pick a 3rd, he was too willing to take Chris at his word when Chris said the world was out to get him and persecuting him.
While Bob never really understood Chris or his passions, he never let that stop him from trying to bond with him, even if that often took the form of just sharing things he was into. I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out he had a very mild form of autism. One thing that bugged me for quite a few years was the fact that Cole was treated as a reliable source of information, and not a dumbass borderline cow in his own right. 90% of hostility towards Bob always seemed to either come from dumbasses who took his word as gospel and especially in the troon years, white knight orbiters who blamed Bob for any un-pc thing Chris has ever said.
All in all, a very flawed man who made a lot of mistakes over his life, but also a seemingly earnest one who didn't deserve THIS.