Robert William "Bob" Lambert

1944 - 2024

Retired Lt. Col. Robert William Lambert "Bob", age 80, of Dover, DE passed away, Saturday, August 24, 2024, at Kent General Hospital.
Born (March 24, 1944) and raised in Union, New Jersey.
Graduated from Newark College of Engineering (currently New Jersey Institute of Technology) in 1967 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.
One week after graduation he married his high school sweetheart Nancy E. Schmitz and four months later, he entered the Air Force in Selma, Alabama as a student pilot.
After pilot training, he flew worldwide missions in a variety of Air Force aircraft to include the C-141 (cargo and passengers), the EC-47 (Electronic Warfare), the RB/WB-57F (high altitude reconnaissance), the T-29 (to maintain currency), and the C-5 (cargo and passengers).
He spent one year in Vietnam in 1971 flying the EC-47 but his most memorable assignment was flying high altitude in the RB/WB57F in Japan from 1972 until 1974.
Other non-flying assignments included two years at Ellington AFB, Texas as a civil engineering office, and one year at Maxwell AFB, Alabama attending the Air Command and Staff College, and four years at McGuire AFB, New Jersey as a mission planner, air refueling coordinator and command post duty officer.
His final assignment was commander of the Security Police Squadron at McChord AFB, Washington.
After twenty years of service, he retired from the Air Force in October 1987 and spent 25 years working for Flight Safety Services Corporation and Delaware Resource Group at Dover AFB, Delaware as a C-5 simulator instructor pilot. During an eight-year break in service at Dover AFB he worked for Burris Foods as a Transportation Manager in Harrington, Delaware from 1990 until 1998.
From 1991 until 2000 he served on the Dover City Council in Dover Delaware and was chairman of the Utility and Communications Committees.
Bob fully retired in August 2020 after the Covid outbreak. His hobbies include fishing, boating, golf, bowling and reading (non-fiction).
Bob was preceded in death by his father George W. Lambert, his mother Henrietta I. Lambert, his sister Carol M. Hagopian, his brother-in-law Roger Ruben and his sons Craig L. Lambert and Kenneth S. Lambert.
He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Nancy Lambert of Dover; daughter-in-law, Shelly Lambert and grandsons, Cade and Cale Lambert; sister, Ruth Ruben of NJ; brother-in-law, Andy Hagopian.
Funeral services will be held at 2pm on Tuesday, September 3, 2024, at Torbert Funeral Chapel South, 1145 E Lebanon Rd (Rt. 10), Dover. The visitation will begin at 1pm. The burial will take place at Graceland Memorial Park at 1900 Galloping Hill Rd, Kenilworth, NJ 07033, at 1PM, Wednesday, September 4, 2024.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to be made to the Wounded Warrior Project.
Letters of condolence may be sent and guestbook signed at www.torbertfuneral.com