MAXIMILIAN KNICKERBOCKER

KNICKERBOCKER JR. Maximilian Robert (Bob) Knickerbocker, Jr., Professor Emeritus of English and longtime Chair of the English Department at Rockhurst University, died July 13, 2012. Visitation will be at Muehlebach Funeral Home, 6800 Troost Avenue, from 6 to 8 p.m. and the Rosary will be prayed at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, July 20, 2012. The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, 5200 Troost Avenue on Saturday, July 21 at 10 a.m. Inurnrnent following at Calvary Cemetery. The family requests no flowers and suggests contributions to the Rigby- Knickerbocker Faculty Development Fund at Rockhurst University. Professor Knickerbocker was born on Jan. 13, 1922 in Providence, RI, to Maximilian Reinhold Knickerbocker and Anna Elizabeth (Buckley) Knickerbocker. Following service with the U.S. Army Air Force in World War II, he completed his BA in English from Providence College in 1948 and an MA in English from Brown University in 1950. He was appointed to the faculty of Rockhurst in 1950 where he served for fifty years until he retired for good in 2000. For his service to the University, in May 2000, Professor Knickerbocker received the Thomas More Chancellors Medal, the University's highest award. In retirement he continued to serve the University, teaching an occasional course and counseling students in the University's Gervais Learning Center. In 1945 he married Sherley Jane Thomas, who died in 1979. Together they had five children, four of whom survive. Their daughter Elizabeth Frances died in 1987. In 1981 Professor Knickerbocker married Dr. Marilyn Rigby, Professor Emerita of Psychology at Rockhurst. She died in 1990. His four surviving children are Kenneth R. Knickerbocker (Teri), Lake Mary, FL, William T. Knickerbocker (Carolyn), Lee's Summit MO, Alexandra L. Buchholz (Steve), Spring Hill, KS, and Marjorie J. Mendoza (Steve), Shawnee, KS. Also surviving are fourteen grandchildren and fifteen great grandchildren. One sister Constance C. Noblet, Narragansett, RI also survives. (Online condolences may be offered at www.muehlebachchapel.com) Muehlebach Funeral Home, 6800 Troost, Kansas City, MO 64131, (816)444-2060