Rob died June 20, 2022, at the age of 68, while jogging on Vashon Island, Wash.

He was born Sept. 1, 1953, in Chatham, N.J. After graduating from Williams, Rob earned an MPA from the Woodrow Wilson School. He also attained a master of arts degree in national-security policy and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College.

Rob had a 32-year career as a senior foreign service officer in the State Department. An expert on China and Japan, he spent more than 20 years as an economic and political/military specialist in those countries. He was the consul general at the U.S. Consulate in Naha, Okinawa and served as the Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy Beijing and the Minister Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. He held assignments with economic and energy agencies in Bonn and Paris.

Rob was a superb linguist, fluent in Chinese, Japanese, French, and German. He will be remembered as one of the first Westerners to lead a rock band in Taiwan and introduced that music to Taiwanese youth in the early 1980s.

Rob is survived by his wife, Ayumi; son Timothy; siblings Richard Luke and Anne Jarvis; and his niece, Sören.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.