ROBERT GARDNER ’51

ROBERT GARDNER, an honored science teacher and administrator, who wrote numerous science books for children, died Apr. 3, 2017. He was 88. A member of Sigma Chi, he received his degree with honors and was elected to Sigma Xi. He also received a master’s degree from Trinity College and a Certificate of Advanced Study from Wesleyan in 1963. From 1957 to 1979 he was granted National Science Foundation and Department of Energy stipends for summer study at Wesleyan University, Bowdoin College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Providence College. While on sabbatical in 1983-1984, he was a Klingenstein Fellow at Teachers College, Columbia University. He taught science and coached football and baseball at the Salisbury School from 1952 to 1989, and chaired the school’s science department from 1959 to 1989. He also served as the Salisbury Summer School’s Director of Admissions from 1976 to 1987. The physics lab at the school bears his name, as does an annually awarded athletic medal. While on leave from the school, he worked as a staff developer at the Education Development Center’s Elementary Science Study (ESS) and the Physical Science Group (PSG), where he was involved in the development and writing of ESS science units and the development, writing, and pilot teaching of Introduction to Physical Science and Physical Science II. After retiring from teaching in 1989, he moved to Cape Cod where he pursued a second career as an author of science books for children of all ages. During his lifetime, he wrote or co-authored over 200 books. In 2010 he received a lifetime achievement award for hands-on science writing. Bob was an inveterate cyclist who spent many hours exploring Cape Cod’s bike trails, and walking them in cold weather. He was well known for the many ways he volunteered: driving the Eastham Council on Aging’s shopping van weekly; taking people to medical appointments for FISH and Roads to Recovery; serving on and presiding over various boards at the Eastham COA, Eastham Library, the Eastham Water Advisory Board and the Eastham Forum, where he served as their newsletter editor for a number of years. In 2001 he was named Senior Citizen of the Year by Elder Services of Cape Cod and the Islands. Predeceased by his wife, Natalie Sanford Gardner, in 2000, he is survived by his wife, Patsy; a son, John T. Gardner ’74; a daughter; four grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; two sisters; and several nephews and nieces.