Bob was born on June 4, 1944 in Rahway, NJ to the late Vincent and Elizabeth Noonan. He attended Holy Trinity High School in Westfield, NJ where to this day he holds the record in cross country. He graduated from Providence College in 1966 with an AB degree in Mathematics and then earned an MS (1968) and PhD (1971) in Computer Science from Purdue University (the 22nd PhD in CS from Purdue). He joined the faculty of the University of Maryland where he met his lovely and talented wife, Debbie Smith. They were married in July 1973.
Bob and Debbie moved to Williamsburg in August 1976 when Bob joined the Mathematics Department of the College of William and Mary. Soon Bob persuaded the Mathematics Dept. to change one of its degrees to a BA/BS in Computer Science and the department name by adding Computer Science. In August 1983, Bob was one of three computer scientists who persuaded the Mathematics Dept. and the College administration to split the department into its two constituent parts effective July 1984. Bob was instrumental in converting the MS degree in Applied Science to an MS degree in Computer Science at the same time the department was born. Two years later the department started a PhD degree in Computer Science, only the third such degree program at the college at the time.
Bob served as Acting Chair of the CS department twice. In 1988, he was the only professor of a 3-person team which put William and Mary on the Internet. In the early 1990s, as the Chair of the Information Technology Advisory Committee, he convinced the administration to wire the campus for Internet access and served as Acting Associate Provost for Information Technology from July 1995 to August 1997, to accomplish that task.
Bob joined the Liberal Arts Computer Science (LACS) Consortium in July 1986 representing William and Mary. Other schools represented included Dartmouth, Oberlin, Williams, etc. The group was dedicated to improving the teaching of undergraduate computer science and was quite successful in improving the national curriculum. He was a dedicated and long-standing member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Special Interest Group for Computer Science Education (SIGCSE).
Bob also became active with the Williamsburg Players when Debbie came home one day in October 1988 and informed him that she had volunteered his help on building a set. This was somewhat humorous because he was so mechanically inept that about half the time he would unscrew a light bulb the wrong way, breaking the glass from the bulb. However, by the early 1990s, Bob served as Technical Director for many productions. His other positions included: light and sound operator, stage hand, producer, and light designer. He also held staff positions as mailing list manager, web master and box office volunteer. He served on the Board of Directors from 2005/06 until 2011/12 with a leave of absence from June to December 2010 while he was undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma.
Bob loved boating in the summer. Deb and Bob bought a 19-foot ski boat in the early 1980s. They then taught themselves how to ski, how to ski on one ski and finally how to get up on one ski. Bob and Laurie King started doing tricks such as Laurie sitting on Bob's shoulders while skiing. Many of Bob's students were taught to ski behind Bob and Debbie's boat.
Bob is survived by Debbie, his wife of 45 years and his son, Paul (Erinn Loren). He is also survived by his three brothers, Jerry Noonan (Pat), John Noonan, and William Noonan (Candy), nephews Matthew Noonan (Carol), Michael Noonan, Kristofer Noonan (Sara), Greg Noonan and Alex Noonan, and niece Keriann Noonan Roman (Raphael), as well as his in-laws Sharon Smith Potter (Elmer), Bruce Smith (Gini), and Scott Smith (Sandi Godbey). He is also survived by nephews Tim Potter (Mari) and Doug Potter (Traci), and nieces Amber Smith Dedus (Alen) and Laura Smith Wimer (Jeremy). He is also survived by numerous grand-nieces and nephews and a few great-grand nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be at Nelsen Funeral Home, 3785 Strawberry Plains Rd. from 6:00 to 8:00 PM on Wednesday, November 7th. A celebration of life will be held at Wellspring United Methodist Church, 4871 Longhill Rd, Williamsburg, VA on Thursday, November 8th at 2:00 PM. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Williamsburg Players, PO Box 91, Williamsburg, VA 23187 (WilliamsburgPlayers.org) or the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, Grand Central Station, PO Box 4777, NY, NY 10163-4777 ([email protected]).
