Robert Ellis Denhardt

1937 - 2022

Denhardt

Robert Ellis Denhardt

Of Fairfax, VA, passed away peacefully at his home on September 26, 2022. Bob was born August 29, 1937, the eldest of three children – and the eldest of what would become 28 first cousins – in the rural farming town of Jefferson, IA. After graduating from high school in 1955, he found work with the Jefferson Telephone Company, a job that ignited his passion for telephony. Unable to leverage his enlistment in the National Guard toward telephony education, he enlisted in the U.S. Army's Signal Corps where he was assigned to duty in Tokyo for three years. Discharged as a Staff Sergeant, he began civilian life working for engineering firms in San Francisco, then Chicago, then D.C., then back to Chicago all while traveling the globe for work. His projects took him to Bolivia, Nigeria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. Work finally brought him to the DC area where he would meet his future wife, Irene, and where they would start their own telecom company, Diversified Products, Inc. in 1981. The pair worked together for 30 years. Bob loved his work. The thing that brought him the most pride and satisfaction was knowing that he directly impacted the lives of deployed soldiers at the front line.

When not pouring his heart and soul into his work, he was treasuring his time with his family. Bob had a wildly clever mind and 'it can be done' spirit. Not knowing how to coach baseball, he learned to umpire and was a bitterly fair arbiter, one time calling his own son out at home plate. He volunteered as the Cub Scout pack leader and invented the first laser-light finish line for the Pinewood Derby. He went to every play his daughter worked on from high school through graduate school. Bob loved to tell stories about the farm, about Iowa, growing up. He didn't mind telling the same stories over and over, even if you didn't ask him to.

Always a kid at heart, Bob did not know how not to be silly. His goofy dances in the kitchen or his amusing voicemails always brought a smile. When he became a grandfather that inner child had new friends to play with. He was the first to get down on the floor and play LEGOs or make stuffed animals come to life, all for the shrieking laughter of the little ones.

Bob is survived by his wife of 51 years, Irene; his two children, Sarah (Andy) Cissna, and Chris (Megan); his four grandchildren, Jake, Sydney, Ellie, and Stewart; and his sisters, Sharon Murr and Janice Stoerck.

Services private for family and friends.