Robert Raymond Apgar Jr.

1920 - 2017

Robert Raymond Apgar, Jr. August 22, 1920 - January 11, 2017 San Diego Resident of San Diego since 1961, Robert R Apgar Jr. passed away peacefully on January 11th, 2017 at the age of 96. He was the son of the late Robert R. Apgar, Sr. and Helen (Winfree) Apgar and the brother of the late Dorothy Dungan. His beloved wife of 72 years, Helen (Schonwald) Apgar passed several weeks following his own passing. He is survived by his children, Peggy Sagnella, Frank Apgar and Robert B. Apgar, and by five grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.He was born in Staunton, Va., August 22, 1920 and raised in Charleston, W.V. After several years of engineering school at the University of Cincinnati, he married his wife Helen in 1944 just before being deployed oversees during WWII. He served in the Army Signal Corp as an intelligence NCO from 1943 through 1946 in New Guinea, the Philippines, and as part of the occupying forces in Japan at the end of the war.Bob completed college in 1947 at The Ohio State University receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. He spent the next 37 years working in the aerospace/defense industry developing guidance systems for the Nike ABM Missile, Trident Missile, Voyager Spacecraft, Mars Lander, the Lunar Module for the Apollo space program as well as several other radar systems with military applications. He and his wife enjoyed touring Europe following retirement, visiting Great Britain and the Interlaken area of Switzerland several times. He later loved taking his children and grandchildren on cruises on the Mississippi and Columbia rivers and to Alaska, the northeastern US, and Canada. He was very active at the Kensington Community Church while serving as the Treasure, where he converted the manual ledger record keeping into a computerized accounting system. In addition, he ensured the church audio system was modernized to meet the needs of the church, He continued to attend services where he enjoyed singing his favorite hymns until his health began to fade in the last few years of his life. Friends are encourage to visit Robert's guest book at http://www.dignitymemorial.com/miramar-memorial-services. Friends are also invited to attend memorial services at the Kensington Community Church, 4773 Marlborough Dr., San Diego, on Saturday February 25th at 11 AM. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations to the Kensington Community Church would be appreciated.