Robert (Bob) Unruh, 67, of Annapolis, MD, passed away surrounded by family on March 5th after a valiant battle with Lewy Body Dementia (LBD).

Bob was born on August 30th, 1958, to Marlys and Paul Unruh in Le Mars, Iowa. Bob grew up playing football and basketball. He went on to graduate from Southern Illinois University and begin his career in curtain wall engineering. Throughout his career, he worked on buildings such as the Petronas Towers, Getty Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, One Liberty Place, 15 and 55 Hudson Yards, and One World Trade Center, to name a few. He often told his children and grandchildren that he hoped one day they would love their careers the way he loved his.

While Bob left a mark on the world through the buildings he helped create, the thing he was proudest of was his family. Bob and Kristy Unruh met in Davenport, Iowa and connected over preparing to run a famous road race in the area, the Bix 7. They told their children they met at a meat market, (slang for a bar in the 80’s) which somehow through legend became a bakery. They had two children, Kloe and Austin, and spent their early years living in Minnesota.

Family time was always Bob’s priority. He worked late into the evenings so that he could volunteer to chaperone field trips at his children’s school, play hundreds of games of one on one basketball, and be the “cookie mom” for his daughter’s Girl Scout troop.

Some of his most favorite people arrived later in life: his granddaughters, Adeline and Kenna. He was a hands on grandfather and often joked that changing diapers was the best way to bond and was always up for whatever his granddaughter Adeline dreamed up. They enjoyed fishing (always hunting for bass), drawing, and fostering Adeline’s interest in engineering by building creations out of cardboard. Granddaughter Kenna was born only a few weeks before he passed, but he spent hours watching her on FaceTime and singing his favorite kids’ songs to her. There truly aren’t enough words to sum up what a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, and person he was.

We would be remiss if we did not mention Bob’s contributions to the communities he lived in. He taught English to Hmong students while living in Minnesota. While living in Philadelphia, he was an active participant in Neighborhood Watch. Over his time in Philadelphia and their next home in St Louis Bob’s eyes were opened to the inequities faced by many of the people who lived there. In St. Louis, Bob and Kristy became heavily involved in local politics and enjoyed canvassing, protesting, and doing anything they could to help make the city better for all of its residents.

While his life was not defined by the diseases he fought, it is worth mentioning the way he fought them. When diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in 2010, he was told he had a 10% chance of survival. He told the doctor, “You handle that 10%, I’ve got the other 90% handled.” His grace and perseverance in the face of adversity was unparalleled, and while he lost the ability to do many of the things he loved while battling LBD, he never once complained. He knew that the years beyond his cancer diagnosis were a gift to cherish. He fought this disease with an epic sense of humor and stayed entirely true to himself, which was a gift.

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