Robert Sherlock Shippen

Robert Sherlock Shippen passed away peacefully on Saturday, October 25, 2025, at home with family in attendance, after battling terminal brain cancer for 16 months.
Born on August 1, 1947, in Baltimore, MD, he was the son of the late William Brush Shippen and (Helen) Ruth Shippen, née Sherlock. His father was one of a small group of founders of Glenelg Country School in Ellicott City, MD, in 1954, grades 1 - 7 at that time. Bob, one of 35 original students, finished 7th grade there and went on to graduate from Sandy Spring Friends School in 1965. He grew up in a household filled with show dogs and surrounded by horses on his parents' farm. He and his parents rode as members of the then Brinklow Hunt Club in Montgomery County, MD.
He attended Monmouth College and Montgomery College. He transferred to and graduated from the University of MD, College Park (UMCP), with a BS degree in Biology, where he met his future wife, Christine. He also obtained a later BS degree in Education from UMCP.
After obtaining his first degree from UMCP, he attended Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI. Bob and Chris were married in 1972. Afterwards, they briefly lived in Norfolk, VA. Bob was deployed and served in the Navy on a supply ship during the Vietnam War as a commissioned officer, LTJG, while Chris returned to Baltimore for her last year of nursing school. One of his favorite memories in the Navy was being part of a charitable mission to deliver an air conditioning unit via helicopter to a monastery on top of Mt. Patmos, Greece.
After his deployment, Bob worked at a lab in Benedict, MD, for the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. Five years later, he joined the Biospherics Research Company toxicology lab in Rockville, MD, before transitioning to the Washington, DC government, working in the first water quality monitoring program on the Potomac. There, he spent many hours on a boat collecting water samples. In the 1980s, he began working at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Washington, DC, Office of Water Quality, and retired in 2014. He took pleasure in traveling to various regions of the US to present at conferences about the EPA's work.
Bob was happiest when he was sailing, first with his parents and brother; then, as an adult, he crewed on his father's sailboat during weekly races in Baltimore. Many enjoyable moments were spent as captain of our own family trimaran in Annapolis, exploring the Chesapeake Bay.
Bob was fond of photography and had his own darkroom. He began photographing local families and nature, later capturing his children's sporting events in the US and abroad. Music was always an interest, and for several years during college, he and Chris performed Gilbert and Sullivan Light Operettas with the Montgomery Light Opera Company. Bob held a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do karate, and in the 1970s was a founding member of the Studio of Korean Karate.
Bob spent his years of retirement outside on one of his tractors, mowing and performing property maintenance on the family farm of 46 years in Mt. Airy, MD. He was known for his eye-roll-inducing puns, aka "Dad jokes".
In addition to his wife, Christine, he is survived by his children, Michael Kirk Shippen (Cambra Shippen, née Growden), Anne Barnett, née Shippen (Derk Barnett); grandchildren Jackson William Shippen, and Finley Sherlock Barnett. Son Gabriel was lost during pregnancy. He is also survived by his brother, William B. Shippen, Jr. (Lottie Shippen, née Sears), their son, William B. Shippen III, stepchildren Joseph Temple and Shane Temple.
Bob was cremated, and a memorial service will be held later in the fall in Mt. Airy. Condolence wishes may be shared at www.LoudounFuneralChapel.com. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation: cbf.org. If you wish to donate a tree in memory of Bob, please see the Loudoun Funeral Chapel website. These trees are placed in areas where a natural disaster occurred in the US.