PULLMAN, Wash. – Robert N. Grunewald, 95, an employee of Washington State University from Aug. 1965 to May 1993, died Sept. 4, 2017, in Pullman, Wash.
Born June 14, 1922, in Monmouth, Ill., he grew up on his parents’ dairy farms in Joliet, Ill., and Plainfield, Ill. He graduated from the University of Chicago.
After military service, he spent time at a work camp in Germany to help those affected by the war, evidence of his lifelong commitment to peace, international and cross-cultural understanding and public service.
He married Marjorie Ethel Bullock on Sept. 19, 1949. They remained happily married and devoted to each other for 68 years until his passing. Together they raised three sons.
Robert spent his working years dedicated to teaching. He taught high school in Long Beach, Calif., for 17 years. In 1965, he completed a Ph.D. in philosophy of education at Claremont College in California. That same year, he took the position of professor of education at WSU, where he taught for 27 years until his retirement in 1993.
Over the years, he and his wife sponsored many WSU foreign students. They valued those connections, and they traveled widely.
Bob and Marj also were very active in the Community Congregational United Church of Christ. They continued to sing in the choir into their 90s, and volunteered many times at the church camp on Lake Coeur d’Alene.
He was loving father, who shared his love of nature, the outdoors and the planet with his family on many camping and canoe trips. He was an avid gardener, showering others with gifts of roses from his garden.
Robert Grunewald is survived by his wife, Marjorie; his three sons, Thomas H., Richard L., and James A. Grunewald; his grandchildren, Stephen Grunewald and Emily Grunewald; and his daughters-in-law, Catherine Zimmerman and Nancy Grunewald.