The campus community mourns the passing of Robert Zimmerman, who died on Thursday, June 28. Robert worked in the Chemistry department for 15 years before retiring in 1993.
Included below is the complete text of the obituary, as provided by the family.
You are encouraged to visit our In Memoriam Site at bucknell.edu/InMemoriam and share personal notes of sympathy and remembrance with others.
On behalf of our entire University community, I extend our deepest sympathies to Robert’s family, as well as to all who knew him at Bucknell.
John C. Bravman
President
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Robert Thomas “Bob” Zimmermann, 90, formerly of 121 Linden Road, Lewisburg, passed away on June 28, 2018, at 10:30 a.m., in his residence of 188 Old House Road, Ridge land, S.C.
He was born in Corona, Queens, N.Y, to the late Gustav J. W. and Anna M. (Cass) Zimmermann.
Bob grew up in Baldwin, Long Island, N.Y. and later graduated from Hackensack High School, N.J. The family later relocated to Mifflinburg, finally settling in Lewisburg.
He was a World War II veteran, enlisting into the Marine Corps in 1946. Following his honorable discharge as a Gunnery Sergeant in 1949, he majored in mechanical engineering at his alma mater, the University of Miami.
Robert was employed by Clifford-Cooper Engineering Company, Hialeah, Fla., then Milton Steel and Supply Company as a draftsman. In 1955, he became a correctional officer for the Federal Penitentiary in Lewisburg. In 1957, through mutual friends. Bill and Ginny Mutschler, of Lewisburg, he was introduced to his beloved wife, Ruth Anna Billmeyer Zimmermann. They were married June 2, 1957, and enjoyed a marital union lasting 61 years. Robert retired in 1978, and was hired by Bucknell University, in the chemistry department, as technical operator of the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance system, cutting-edge technology which preceded the MRI. He continued with Bucknell for 15 years, formally retiring in 1993.
Bob and his wife were members of the Winfield Baptist Church for more than 47 years. He was also a member of the Buffalo Valley Sportsmen’s Association, the National Rifle Association, the Ramblers Club, and the Union County Herb Guild.
Robert was very devoted to his family, church and friends.
He was recently preceded in death by his wife, Ruth Anna, whom he dearly loved.
Bob is survived by his son, Glenn W. Zimmermann of Harrisburg; his daughter and son-in-law, Ann L. and Rev. Nathaniel Fishburne Sr., of Ridgeland, S.C.; grandson, Gunnar H. Gray; granddaughter, Laura B. Gray; sisters, Margaret Spielman of Bloomsburg, and Dorothea Hazelton, of Lauderhill, Fla.; a dear sister-in-law, Mary Ellen Morrison of Montandon; and many extended family members.
Friends will be received from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, July 13, at the Shaw Funeral Home, Market and Eighth streets, Lewisburg. A funeral service will be conducted at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 14, in the Lewisburg Cemetery chapel, with the Rev. John H. Shaw III officiating.
Robert’s family thanks everyone for their kind condolences.
Your watch has ended, rest in peace Marine. Semper Fidelis.