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Robert Rood Obituary
Professor Rood died Friday, September 16, 2011. Born in Southampton, NY, he is the son of Helen Koski Rood and the late Charles Magruder Rood. He earned his bachelor's degree from St. Lawrence University, where he graduated cum laude and played lacrosse; his master's degree in political science from Rutgers University; and his PhD in political science from Syracuse University. He moved to Columbia in 1971 to begin teaching at the University of South Carolina. He retired from U.S.C. as Professor Emeritus of Political Science having served for a time as vice chairman of the department. He was an avid Gamecock fan.
Professor Rood was active in dog obedience training and was a judge for dog obedience trials. He at times served as president and on the board of the Sandlapper Golden Retriever Club and the Greater Columbia Obedience Club. He was an avid genealogist, tracing family history to early European roots.
Surviving are his wife of 46 years, Karen Lane Rood; son, Jonathan Magruder Rood (Jamison Cathcart Rood) of Johns Island, SC; grandsons, Nelson Magruder Rood and Benjamin Armstrong Rood; his mother, Helen, of Southampton, NY; sisters, Linda Randolph Rood (Roger Turner) of Dummerston, VT, Sarah Jordan Rood of Southampton, and Beverly Rood (David Huysman) of Remsenburg, NY; and five nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Midlands Golden Retriever Rescue at midlandsgoldenrescue.org, Foothills Golden Retriever Rescue at www.fhgrr.com or Golden Retriever Foundation at www.goldenretrieverfoundation.org.
Please sign the online guestbook at www.dunbarfunerals.com.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memories and Condolences
for Robert Rood
4 Entries
Larry Hamilton
September 20, 2011
TO: Mac's Family
My condolences. Mac for me will always be the teacher who had the gift and the determination and patience to help me learn about Math survival. It was his first semester at USC and my 2nd after having spent 5 years in the Army - a consequence of my repeated failures at Math in my first effort to get a B.A. He, unlike every math teacher I had previously encountered truly understood that there are some people who just don't "get math". I was relieved to find there were others just like me and he helped us all. As I eventually finished a doctorate at USC, along the way as a T.A., I had the opportunity to help other students who I quickly recognized had my math disease. I tried my best to do for them what Mac had done for me. Always positive and upbeat and willing to go another step or two, he represented for me a worthy role model as a teacher, aside from setting me on a path that helped me eventually to become the first grad student to use Math and Quantitative Methods as a substitute for the traditional third language requirement for doctoral students. I told you thanks several times long ago, but thanks again. We will miss your presence but are not likely to forget your positive impact on our lives.
Larry Hamilton
tom Durkin
September 18, 2011
To Macs family: Mac was a great colleague and source of information about USC institutional history. He was generous with his time, and we shared a number of discussions of how wonderful Golden Retrievers are as companions.
Tom & MJ
Becky Jenks
September 17, 2011
To the Rood family,
A nicer man I've never met. He encourage me as a beginner to continue to try to train and compete in obedience and he was always so kind and so professional. I was so saddened to hear of his death. He was much too young to leave us and he will be terribly missed.
Becky Jenks
Hendersonville NC and Elmore AL
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