ROBERT S. “Bob” BURNET ’62

ROBERT S. “Bob” BURNETT, one of the original folk-singing group The Highwaymen, and an attorney and banker, died Dec. 7, 2011, at age 71. A member of EQV, he received his degree with honors. At Wesleyan, he and three of his fraternity brothers formed The Highwaymen and recorded the song “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore,” which was a gold-record phenomenon in 1961. After graduation he joined the U.S. Army. Upon his discharge from the Army he lived and sang with the Highwaymen in Greenwich Village at the height of the folk-singing era. He then attended Harvard Law School, receiving his degree in 1967, and joined the firm of Edwards & Angell. He later worked as a senior vice president in the trust departments of the Hospital Trust National Bank, Fleet, Bank Boston, and, more recently, Bank of America. He was an active member of both the Probate & Trust Committee of the Rhode Island Bar and the Estate Planning Council of Rhode Island. An active community volunteer, he served as the chairman of the board of Moses Brown School, was on the board of the Rhode Island chapter of the American Cancer Society, and sat on and advised numerous non-profit boards. He was also an avid sailor and athlete, in addition to continuing to sing. In 1990 the original Highwaymen began to perform together again, reviving the sounds of the 1960s, and did so for 20 years. Among those who survive are his wife, Kathleen Cullis Burnett, three children, nine grandchildren, two brothers, and a large extended family.