Robert Joseph Cunningham

Robert J. Cunningham (Bob) died Tuesday morning, March 28, 2006, in Denver, CO. at age 87. Bob was born at home in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he grew up and attended Boston College High School and Harvard College and Graduate School. His father Thomas Cunningham MD ran his private practice in a home-office and Robert and his older brother Thomas and their mother spent summers on the coast of Maine. After receiving his BA from Harvard in the summer of 1939 he was rewarded with a bicycle tour of Europe. While the group was in Rumania, World War II broke out. Their hasty exit back across the continent to reach Paris and return to the US was a thrilling memory that Bob loved to share. He received an MA in Romance languages in 1941 and enlisted in the Army Counter Intelligence Corps in 1942. After a year of training he embarked on the Liberty Ship in September 1943 to French Morocco and then on to Naples, Italy in 1943 where he was deployed as a special intelligence agent due to his fluency in Italian. Bob was awarded the Bronze Star during his military service and in 1945 he received an officer commission as 2nd lieutenant. After the war, Bob played a key role in the occupation of Austria until 1947 when he was reassigned to Washington DC. In June 1949, he married Mary Rose Whitaker, whom he had met in Vienna when they both worked for the CIA. Their first son, Robert John was born in Washington DC in June 1950. From 1950 to 1954 Bob was assigned as the Vice Consul in the American Consulate in Zurich, Switzerland and during this time he and Mary enjoyed many opportunities to travel and established lifelong friendships. Their daughter Anne was born in Zurich in August 1952. In 1955 Robert resigned from government service and began a rewarding career as an editor and publisher. His opportunities in the publishing field included working for Maryknoll Publications in Ossening, New York, Follett Publishing Company, in Chicago, Hawthorn Books in NY and eventually, Scott Forsman and Company in Glenview, Illinois where he worked as the Managing Editor of the College Textbook Division from 1966 until 1977. For the next 20 years Bob and his wife Mary operated a home editorial and translation service in Lake Forest, Illinois and made several trips abroad and cross country. They were often seen together bicycling or working in their beautiful yard. Their second son, Thomas who was born in Mt Kisco, NY in October 1957 died tragically in March 1984 in Lake Forest. In 1997 after 31 years in their home in Lake Forest, Bob and Mary relocated to Denver to be close to their children and grandchildren who all lived in Colorado at the time. They joined the Good Shepherd parish and Bob enjoyed volunteer work with the St. Vincent DePaul Society and numerous excursions with the 'Keenagers' group. He also volunteered many hours of service with a Denver soup kitchen and homeless shelter. Bob took excellent care of Mary during her illness and she preceded him in death on September 13th, 2005. His son, Bob, of Castle Rock, CO, and his daughter, Anne, of Pine Grove, CA as well as five grandchildren, Catherine, Grace, and Hugh Cunningham and Eric and Allison Platt survive him. This remarkable man enriched the lives of all who knew him!