Robert Cameron HEROLD

Robert Cameron Herold passed away peacefully on November 12, 2022, in the care of Hospice House of Spokane. He was 84 years old. He is survived by his wife, Barre McNeil, five children, Teri Herold-Prayer, David Herold, Valeri Passey, Diana Beebe, Timothy Herold, fourteen grandchildren, a growing number of great-grandchildren, and his brothers, James Herold and John Herold.

Born at Massachusetts General Hospital into a Navy family, Robert grew up during World War II while his father served on a destroyer in the Pacific. While the family often moved, as a teen at Mare Island Navy Shipyard he took up the game of golf, which became one of his life's passions, to put it mildly. He later earned his bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University and went on to earn a master's degree and Ph.D. from The George Washington University.

His career path took him from a brief yet exhilarating stint as a copy boy at the Washington Post to the Navy Polaris program, then to Navy Special Projects (the main project of which was the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle), and later to the Department of Defense as a budget analyst, working at the Pentagon.

In 1969 he followed his dream of teaching, taking a position in the Department of Government at what was then Eastern Washington State College in Cheney, Washington. He taught State and Local Government, served as department chair, and later in the administration as Executive Vice Provost and director of summer session until his retirement in 2000.

Retirement quickly became a non-retirement, as he took a position in the Political Science Department at Gonzaga University, where he would teach for almost two more decades. He particularly loved taking students on a van tour of Spokane and giving them a deeper understanding of the city's history and urban growth patterns; former students would run into him years later and tell him how much they took from the experience.

His touchstone phrase was always: "How can I be of help?" And so he was. He served as Executive Director of the Spokane Ballet, wrote commentary for both Spokane Public Radio and the Pacific Northwest Inlander, served on the city Plan Commission, and worked with Friends of the Falls to help halt the construction of a Lincoln Street bridge over the Spokane Falls. He valued time spent serving as a Eucharistic Minister at St. Aloysius Church and parish Thanksgiving dinners.

He was a raconteur to the end. Ask him about his sled dog team, his time at the Pentagon, or the night he hit two birdies and an eagle in pitch darkness at Indian Canyon, and pull up a chair. Most especially, ask about Pebble Beach, G.U. women's basketball, or what his students told him about their politics and plans for the future. If you knew him, then you knew a true storyteller.

Bob Herold spent his life making other people bigger, whether he consciously knew it or not. Through his indelible interest in others, his hopes for a better future for his city and country, or simply his unwavering commitment to a positive ideal of the public good, he leaves this world a better place than it was when he entered it 84 years ago.

A funeral mass is planned for Friday, December 16 at 1:00 PM at St. Aloysius Church on the Gonzaga University campus. Father Craig Hightower, S.J. will preside. Plans are being set for a celebration of life early in the new year. Until then, please go to the Manito Tap House, Republic Pi, or Jack and Dan's, and raise a pint in his memory. He would like that very much.

Donations to Parkinson's disease research would also befit his memory; he bravely weathered the disease in his final years and would want its prevention and ultimate cure to be a part of his legacy to future generations. Anything to be of help.