CDR Robert Treat Shultz, US Navy, Ret.

CDR Robert Treat Shultz, US Navy, Ret., age 96, beloved husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, brother, and friend passed away surrounded by his family in his home in Arlington, Virginia on February 14, 2024.

He was born in Frederiksted, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands on Feb. 10, 1928 – the son of the late Rear Admiral John Henry Shultz USN (retired) and Martha Merwin Shultz. At the time of his birth, his mother was staying with her parents, who were longtime residents of St. Croix while his father, a naval officer, was assigned to the destroyer REUBEN JAMES on patrol off the coast of Nicaragua during an insurrection there.

He attended schools in Annapolis, MD; West Roxbury, MA; San Diego, CA; Coronado, CA; West Roxbury, MA (again); Washington, DC (Alice Deal JHS); Coronado, CA (again); Baltimore, MD (St Paul’s Episcopal School) and then graduated from Coronado High School in 1945.

He enlisted in the U. S. Naval Reserve in July 1945 and was undergoing recruit training (boot camp) at Naval Training Center, Bainbridge, MD, when World War II ended.

Upon completion of boot camp, he was assigned to the Classification Section of the Personnel Department at Bainbridge, and then the Naval Academy Preparatory School also at Bainbridge, where he underwent a course of instruction preparing him to take the entrance examination for the Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD. He passed the exam in the spring of 1946 and received a Fleet appointment from the Naval Reserve for entry into the Naval Academy in June 1946.

Upon completion of the Naval Academy in June of 1950, he reported to the aircraft carrier LEYTE in the Mediterranean in July 1950. However, the ship was sent to combat operations off the coast of Korea shortly thereafter, returning to Norfolk, VA in the spring of 1951. LEYTE was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for performance of Korea. He was the Signal Officer while assigned to the LEYTE.

In May 1952, he reported to the destroyer CONY in Norfolk where he was the Gunnery Officer. He was detached from the CONY in May 1954.

On May 29, 1954 he married Margaret Belle Edmiston in her hometown of Arlington, VA and the newlyweds spent their honeymoon driving to Panama City, FL where he assumed command of the minesweeper BRAMBLING.

Upon the decommissioning of the BRAMBLING in May of 1955, he reported to the Bureau of Ships in the Main Navy Building in Washington, DC where he was responsible for a program to reduce acoustic noise in minesweepers.

That tour was followed by taking command of the tank landing ship ST CLAIR COUNTY in Long Beach, CA in July 1957. The ship made two deployments to the Western Pacific before he relinquished command in May 1959.

Next came a tour as the Amphibious Placement Officer in the Officer Detail Branch in the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Arlington, VA from June 1959 to July 1961, reporting in July 1961 to the Naval War College, Newport, RI as a student at the Command and Staff School.

Upon completion of the War College, he reported aboard the destroyer TAYLOR (homeport Pearl Harbor, HI) in Pago Pago, American Samoa as Executive Officer in July 1962. In July 1963, he assumed command of the radar picket destroyer escort LANSING, also based in Pearl Harbor, where he participated in fourteen one month early warning barrier patrols off the Aleutians before the ship was decommissioned in Bremerton, WA in June 1965.

Duty in Strategic Plans Division (OP-60) in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in the Pentagon from July 1965 to July 1967 was followed by a year as a student at the Air War College at Maxwell Air Base, Montgomery, Alabama.

His last sea duty was as the Commanding Officer of the destroyer AGERHOLM from July 1968 to March 1970. During this period the ship was deployed to Viet Nam and fired 8000 rounds of five inch ammunition destroying numerous enemy installations in support of ground forces. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Vietnamese Navy DSO 2nd Class Medal in recognition of the superb performance of his crew off Viet Nam. Upon completion of the Viet Nam tour the ship returned to it’s homeport of San Diego by way of the Manus Island, Papua New Guinea; Brisbane, Australia; Auckland, New Zealand; Pago Pago, American Samoa and Pearl Harbor.

His naval service ended with a second tour in the Pentagon where he was head of Strategic Defense Systems in the Office of Offensive/Defensive Systems in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal upon his retirement from the Navy January 31, 1972.

He went to work immediately as a Financial Consultant handling investments for individual investors at Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith where he started training in December of 1971 while on terminal leave from the Navy. His office was at 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC from 1972 to 1989, when he moved to the Tysons Corner office in Vienna, VA, where he worked until March 1998 when he retired as a Vice President of Merrill Lynch Private Client Group.

He was a licensed real estate agent and had owned, managed, and maintained investment property in Fairlington and Rosslyn, Arlington, VA; and the Countryside development in Sterling, VA.

He was also part owner and Vice President of the Robert L. Merwin Co., a commercial real estate company in Frederiksted, St. Croix, USVI, established by his grandfather in 1892.

He continued to live in Arlington, VA since early 1970.

He is survived by his wife of 70 years, Margaret Edmiston Shultz; daughters, Holly Yummit (Mike) of Sterling, Virginia, Lisa Hargrave (Rusty) of Williamsburg, Virginia, and Malia Garman (Art) of Leesburg, Virginia; son, Bobby Shultz (Julia) of Fairfax, Virginia; brother, John M. Shultz of Austin, Texas; 13 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at a later date; future burial at Arlington National Cemetery when assigned.