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Bob was raised in San Francisco. He graduated from Lowell High ('46) and the University of California, Berkeley ('50), where he was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity. Received MA from San Francisco State University in Biological Science.
In the summer of 1952 Bob was the Director of the Student Section at the California Academy of Science. His first teaching job was in 1952 at Analy Union High School in Sebastopol, where he taught Physics and General Science and coached tennis. From 1953 to 1956 he taught at James Denman Junior High School in San Francisco.
In 1956 Bob moved to Moraga to teach at Miramonte High School in Orinda, where he was the first Biology and Chemistry teacher and the Science Department Chair. Subsequent roles over the next twenty-six years included counselor, assistant principal, Leadership (Student Government) teacher, and tennis, swimming, and cross-country coach. Bob raised his family in Moraga, and his children all attended Miramonte. In 1982 he transferred to Las Lomas High School in Walnut Creek where he taught Biology, Chemistry, and Leadership for nine more years.
Bob's professional accomplishments include his role as one of nine high school chemistry teachers in the United States chosen to contribute to CHEM STUDY, a new approach to teaching high school chemistry that revolutionized traditional pedagogy. In 1980 he received the California Coaches Association High School Girls' Cross-Country Coach of the Year award. The American Chemical Society named Bob the Outstanding East Bay High School Chemistry Teacher in 1991, the same year he retired from teaching. Los Lomas dedicated their 1991 Yearbook to Bob.
In addition to his passion for teaching and coaching, Bob loved Natural History. In the summer of 1954 he was a State Park Ranger Naturalist at Big Basin State Park and in 1961 a Planetarium Lecturer at Diablo Valley College. In the summer of 1967 he led a field trip "Natural History of the Sierra Nevada" for St. Mary's College Extension. During school breaks Bob led backpack trips for teenagers in the Sierra Nevada, Grand Canyon, and Death Valley. He had a deep and abiding love for John Muir, and his fondest memories included introducing groups of up to twenty teenagers to "inner resources they never realized they had" on the John Muir Trail. He made this 216-mile trip from Yosemite to Mr. Whitney twelve times.
A devoted runner, Bob co-founded the Orinda Road Runners Club. His marathons included the 1974 Boston Marathon, which he ran in 3:15. He was a longtime member of Forma Gym (the former Walnut Creek Sports and Fitness Club).
Bob was a strong supporter of the charitable organization FACE (Family Aid to Catholic Education) and dedicated to St. Monica's Muffin Man Program, delivering food to Oakland dispensaries.
A funeral mass will be held at St. Monica's Catholic Church, 1001 Camino Pablo in Moraga on Friday, February 10, at 10:30 am. A reception will immediately follow in the Peace Room at St. Monica's. Interment will be at 2:30 pm at Queen of Heaven Cemetery, 1965 Reliez Valley Rd, Lafayette. In place of flowers the family ask that donations be made to FACE online at http://www.oakdiocese.org/giving.
Reach the reporter at:
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA