Dr. Robert Ernst Seyfarth, 80 of Chambersburg, died on Saturday, November 9, 2019 in the Chambersburg Hospital. Born on July 25, 1939 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he was a son of the late Ernst Oscar Seyfarth and Gertrude Freeman Seyfarth.
A 1957 of West Newton High School in West Newton, MA, Bob then attended the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1961. He then served in the U.S. Navy from 1961 until he retired in 1981. During his Navy career he studied Meteorology at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California in 1965, earned his Master's Degree in Business Administration at Golden Gate College in California in 1973, and earned his Doctorate in Education at the University of Reno (UNR) Nevada in 1980, while stationed at Fallon Naval Air Station, Nevada until retiring as a Lt. Commander. His career missions included active involvement in the Cuban Missile Crisis while aboard the USS John R. Pierce DD753 and the recovery of Scott Carpenter's NASA Space Capsule. Bob retired again in 2004 from Lock Haven University where he was a professor of Business Management.
Throughout his career, he and his wife, Barb, experienced the pleasures of living in Norfolk,VA; Pacific Grove, CA; Monterey, CA; Lakewood, CA; Oakland, CA; Machinato, Naha, Okinawa and Atsugi, Japan; Fallon, NV; Lock Haven and Chambersburg, PA.
He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Barbara Smalley Seyfarth, whom he married on June 17, 1961; two daughters, Karin Marie (Adam) Kremers of Reno, NV, and Suzanne (Jay) Leshinskie of Centreville, MD; two grandchildren, Preston James Leshinskie and Claudia Grace Leshinskie. He is also survived by a sister, Ann Seyfarth (Don) Trimble of Longview, WA. Private graveside services will be conducted Fort Indiantown Gap National Cemetery in Annville, PA. Memorial contributions may be made to the Menno Haven Benevolent Care Fund, 2011 Scotland Avenue Chambersburg, PA 17201. Arrangements are entrusted to the care of Thomas L. Geisel Funeral Home, Chambersburg.