Deceased August 31, 2013
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25th Reunion Book Entry
In Memory
Bob passed away on Aug. 31, 2013, surrounded by his family at home in North Carolina. Growing up in Cazenovia, N.Y., Bob graduated from Phillips Andover and became a member of our class. I recall him as a member with me on the track team, where he earned a letter in the pole vault, and as a good friend and fellow Psi U pledge. We were all sorry when he decided at the end of sophomore year to leave Amherst and pursue a B.S. in chemical engineering at Columbia. Bob nonetheless remained loyal to Amherst, serving at one time as president of the Amherst Alumni Association of Central New York, and returning to the college in 2004 for our 50th reunion. One son also became a graduate of the college in 1983.
After graduating from Columbia, Bob served as a sergeant in the infantry medical corps and was stationed in Alaska during the Korean War. In 1959 he earned an LL.B. from Syracuse University and began work as a patent attorney in his father’s law firm in Cazenovia. In 1957, Bob married Tanya Wood, whom he had first met while still at Andover at a Junior League dance, in Syracuse, beginning a long and loving life together. She survives Bob, as do their three children and six grandchildren.
In 1964 Bob was hired as staff attorney at Bristol-Meyers, becoming in 1967 vice president and counsel. His career in the pharmaceutical industry culminated in 1975 with his appointment as secretary and general counsel at Sterling Drug in New York City.
In Cazenovia; Westport, Conn.; and, after retirement in 1990, in Savannah, Ga., and then North Carolina, Bob devoted time and talent to a wide range of community, educational and charitable organizations, often in leadership positions. He avidly followed his children’s and grandchildren’s sports teams and was himself an avid skier, golfer and tennis player.
> Tom Blackburn ’54
