Robert Rich ’53

Bob was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, and graduated from Fort Dodge High School. At Princeton he majored in economics, joined Elm Club, and played JV football before leaving at the end of his junior year.

Drafted into the Army, he spent two years at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., before completing his college career and graduating from Northwestern University with a degree in accounting.

Bob then went to work as an accountant, earned a CPA license, and joined the firm of Ernst & Ernst in Des Moines, Iowa.

He married Marcia Cramer and they moved to Centerville, Iowa, where Bob was chief financial officer and later executive vice president for Iowa Southern Utilities.

In 1978, Bob and Marcia moved to Fort Dodge, where Bob was a self-employed investment farm manager and financial consultant. Among the investment farms he managed were those of Princeton University.

Bob served as an elder of his church and was on the boards of St. Joseph’s Hospital, Iowa Trust and Savings Bank, Youth Shelter Care, Smithway Motor Express, and many others.

He died Aug. 4, 2017, of complications following surgery. Bob is survived by his wife, Marcia, their daughter, two sons, and 11 grandchildren.