Deceased January 28, 2018
View alumni profile (log in required)
In Memory
The death of Bob Stackpole is an irreplaceable loss to the class of 1952, his family and his legion of friends, personal and professional. We are deeply saddened for his wife, Cookie; his four daughters; and his grandchildren. Two of his daughters are Amherst graduates—Sarah ’84 and Betsy ’86.
I met Bob in first grade, and we were close friends and neighbors through elementary school, junior high, high school and Amherst. Until we arrived at the Fairest College, we walked to school and back together almost every day for 11 years. Bob was always the smartest kid in the class, and I struggled mightily to catch up (unsuccessfully) with his very large intellectual classroom footprints.
As a student at Cornell Medical School, Bob met his wife-to-be, Cookie. They courted, married and lived as medical students in an apartment near the school. My wife, Bix, and I met them there frequently. Bob and Cookie became distinguished physicians, with their home base in Elizabeth, N.J. Bob’s specialty was gastroenterology, and he was successful in practice and as a leader of the regional medical profession and his specialty.
All of us in the class of ’52 have been most fortunate that Bob was president of the class for many years. He was masterly in promoting harmony and joie de vivre amongst his classmates as the College confronted a series of potentially divisive issues. His classmates are grateful for his unflappable patience, good humor and virtually unflappable judgment. Bob Stackpole will be greatly missed by all of us.
Bill Smethurst ’52