Robert Fusillo

FUSILLO, Robert

Robert James Fusillo died in the early hours of January 3, 2026, at age 98. He was born on November 21, 1927, in Brooklyn, NY, to Nicholas Fusillo and Helen Evelyn de Prie Fusillo. During high school, he performed American folk songs on network TV. The family did not have a TV at that time, so Bob's father built one so they could watch his performance.

Bob was drafted into the Army Air Corps immediately after high school, and spent his military service as an entertainment specialist stationed in Texas. When he left the army he went to Fort Hays State University, Kansas, for both Undergraduate and Master's degrees. His first teaching job was teaching six grades in a one-room schoolhouse. He always considered one of his proudest accomplishments to have been teaching 6-year-old Mary Alice Pickner to read. He would go on to teach hundreds of students to appreciate both written and spoken word.

During college, Bob acted in and directed multiple plays and musical productions. His interest in drama would lead him to both study and participate in many theatrical events throughout his teaching career. Bob was one of the few non-British students accepted to The Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon (University of Birmingham). There, he received his Ph.D in Elizabethan theatre. While in England, he worked for the Bristol Old Vic theatre and sang American folk music on his own weekly segment of Pebble Mill, the BBC's version of The Tonight Show.

When he returned to the United States, he taught at the Frank Lloyd Wright campus of Florida Southern University; Tampa University; Stephen F. Austin University; and Oglethorpe University in Atlanta. At Oglethorpe, he started the Oglethorpe Art Gallery and directed the Oglethorpe University Players. In 1968 he organized the southeast's first underground film festival.

After he retired from teaching, Bob took up competitive Olympic-style weightlifting as a hobby. In his 80s, he was inducted into the Weightlifting Hall of Fame, having won ten national gold medals in the master's division. Bob had a passion for contemporary art, which he began collecting while a student in England. He helped organize the Contemporary Art Society of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and he enthusiastically supported the fledgling art world of Atlanta during the 1960s and 70s.

Bob is survived by his wife of 58 years, Edith Keen Fusillo, and sons Dylan (Janis Shen) and Neil (Sarah Montgomery) Fusillo, as well as three daughters by a previous marriage, Sontha Reine, Siobhan Bremer, and Shari Fusillo.

A memorial service will be held on February 21, 2026, 2 PM at Fischer Funeral Care, 3742 Chamblee-Dunwoody Rd., Chamblee, GA. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to your favorite charity.

Good night, Sweet Prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.