Robert L. Melick ’53

In 1975, Bob, a Detroit baseball enthusiast, went with his son, Jordan, to see the Tigers play. He was surprised to find that he would make headlines as the one-billionth fan to attend a major-league baseball game. On Oct. 18, 2012, Detroit won the American League pennant, and Oct. 22, 2012, Bob died of natural causes. It is hoped he was aware of Detroit’s victory.

Coming from Culver Military Academy, Bob had an advantage over neophytes taking military science at Princeton. He was more knowledgeable than some instructors and willingly taught us bunglers the manual of arms and how to march. He majored in economics, ate at Campus Club, and roomed with John Brumback and Jim Fulks.

After earning an MBA at Harvard, he was employed by Price Waterhouse in Detroit. He and his wife, Katherine, were parents of Jordan, a Michigan graduate and like his dad, an MBA recipient (but from Notre Dame), and daughter Ariste Egan, a Michigan graduate and mother of two sons. Bob’s last job was as director of finance at Detroit Medical Center.

Jordan remembers his father as extremely smart, studious, and hardworking. Bob was a cordial classmate, always ready to help his friends, especially we who stumbled over each other drilling in the Armory.