Robert Edward Manhart

Robert (Bob) Manhart passed away at his home in Columbia, Missouri, March 19, 2023.
He was the son of Dr. and Mrs. (Madeleine) Robert C. Manhart, a longtime professor in the B&PA Department at MU. He grew up in various towns in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York, his favorite being summers at the farm of Aunt Minnie and Uncle Russel near Upper Sandusky, Ohio. He attended Hickman High School, being an honor student and outstanding sprinter, setting a long-standing record of 10.1 for the 100-yard dash. The same year (1953) as graduating from MU with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, he married Jo Ann (Stone) Manhart. On West Parkway, the other kids thought he was a recluse; he was always upstairs studying. "Jo" considered that a challenge, made a halter-top dress the same color as her cocker spaniel, Sparkie, and with Sparkie on a leash, paraded up and down the sidewalk in front of his house until he finally came out... to pet Sparkie.
Bob served his 2-year commitment to ROTC near Stuttgart, Germany, and Jo was able to go along. 1956 was the beginning of a procession of daughters, (Patricia, Norma, Carolyn and Suzanne) much to Bob's surprise, since he thought he might have had at least one son. During this time of child production, Bob's career in aerospace took the family to San Diego where he worked first on the "Atlas ICBM", and then on what was called "the moon rocket", now the workhorse of space exploration, named the Saturn. His specialty was getting the fuels into and out of the "second stage" of the rocket, which was developed in the hills of Simi Valley. Residents got accustomed to the window-shattering sound of the thing being fired up at the test site, while tons of water poured onto the ground under the exhaust. While in Simi, Bob learned to fly; on a dirt runway with a mountain at the end, and bought a share of a Piper Cherokee. He loved to take his daughters up as "baggage" while he practiced his stalls, much to Jo's chagrin.
His daughters will all attest that their dad much preferred the company of animals to that of people; his love of animals was vast. We all knew when we brought home a stray dog or cat – a regular occurrence, Dad would order us to find it another home, but we knew it was only a matter of hours before it would end up in his lap and become a permanent member of the family and we could start naming them.
When the bottom of the Aerospace industry fell through, he was one of the thousands of engineers without a job, and returned to Columbia in 1973 with the family, two dogs and three cats, to work at MU's Campus Facility, from which he retired.
Bob was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2017, but held his own for time to travel with his daughters to Machu Picchu (where the above photograph was taken while drinking "high altitude-adjusting tea") and to Egypt – his engineering career made him want to see how those things were built. However, it seems no one over the centuries has quite figured it out. At least one daughter assured that family genes reach into the future by providing three grandchildren and five great grandkids, all living in Texas.
His final journey was assisted by the most caring Hospice nurses on the planet. We want to express our sincere admiration and appreciation to Amanda, Trish, and Lavonna of Compassus for enabling Bob to remain home with his family. Special thanks to Bev, a retired RN, MS, and family friend, who guided Jo early and long on procedure and expectations.
There will be no visitation nor funeral, both Bob and Jo donated their bodies to the MU Department of Anatomy. As Jo said "I want to be useful when I die".