A Niles business owner and community leader who fell from the roof of his Dairy Queen on Dec. 2 has died.

51-year-old Bob Cowan of Niles was fixing filters on the ventilator system on the store’s roof on Dec. 2 when he fell face first to the ground, DQ employees said. The freak accident left him in a pool of his own blood.

"His wife found him, and she honestly thought he'd died right in her arms, for a minute there, because it was so bad,” said Glen Hare, the store manager.

Cowan was put into a medically-induced coma because of the severe injuries; and just over a week later, he died.

"The brain was not functioning, and there was no life there," said Steven Mischke, pastor at Peace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Granger, where Cowan served in leadership positions.

"The life that we saw, was just carried out by machines, and so we knew that the Lord had taken his soul to heaven," said Mischke.

The loss is being felt throughout the community, where Cowan served on the chamber of commerce and donated his time and talents. At the state line Dairy Queen, where Cowan and his wife recently celebrated 25 years of ownership, employees remember not just a boss – but a mentor and father figure.

"Unreplaceable, you know, just he cared, I've never seen somebody care as much as that man does, I never have," said Hare.

"He would help you get through the hardest situations, because he had so much faith, you know?" Hare added.

That faith was an essential part of who Cowan was, employees and churchgoers say. Cowan and his wife started a program years ago at the church to teach children the true meaning of Christmas. At church, Cowan served as an elder; at other times he also led Bible Study, taught Sunday school and oversaw the church’s school.

On Sunday night, Pastor Mischke worked on a draft of Cowan’s eulogy. Memories of a true friend, he said, inspire his words.

"We're not worried about Bob, we know that he's safe home with the Lord,” said Mischke, his eyes rimmed with tears.

Back at Dairy Queen, they are open for business.

But business as usual -- it is not.

"We're all coming in, we're saying, where do we go from here,” said Hare.

“It just seems like there's a huge void in our lives."

Visitation for Bob Cowan is Monday evening at Brown Funeral Home in Niles from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

The funeral will be Tuesday at 11 a.m. at Peace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Granger.