On October 27, 2020, Robert D. Mettlen, Ph.D., passed away peacefully. Bob, who was born in 1936 in Hutchinson, Kansas, to Pauline and Ward Mettlen, a salt maker and World War I veteran, excelled in school both academically and athletically.
He earned a B.S. with distinction from the University of Kansas in 1958 where he played on KU’s tennis team. In 1959, he earned a graduate diploma from the University of Birmingham, England, also with distinction, and was named to the United Kingdom Universities basketball all-star team. He received his M.B.A. and doctoral degrees from Indiana University in 1960 and 1969. It was at KU where he met the love of his life, Judith Neil. Bob persuaded Judi to accept his engagement ring before he went to England, and they married upon his return.
In 1966, he joined the University of Texas at Austin Finance Department faculty. He held central administrative posts at UT from 1970 to 1974 and again from 1979 to 1986, including Executive Assistant to the President and three Vice Presidential portfolios. Awarded the Lamar Savings Centennial Professorship in Finance in 1984, he resumed his teaching career in 1986. His main teaching duties were in the area of monetary economics, banking and capital markets, in both the University’s M.B.A. and undergraduate honors programs. He was passionate about teaching, and his classes and tests were legendary for their difficulty! In 1982 he was appointed Board Chairman of the regional Federal Home Loan Bank, a multibillion-dollar institution he helped move from Little Rock to Dallas. He served the bank for eight years, coincident with the country’s savings and loan crisis, as a Public Interest Director.
He took pride in his efforts to marry the interests of town and gown. His civic affairs included directorships of Austin Chamber of Commerce, Paramount Theater, Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, Austin Lyric Opera, Armstrong Community Music School, and the Austin Symphony Orchestra. He was President of the Austin Community Foundation in 1993.
Bob is predeceased by his parents and his brother Eugene, fifteen years his senior and a World War II veteran. He is survived by his wife Judi of sixty-one years, his three daughters – aka “little deficit units” – Amy Meadows of Dallas, Heather Montgomery of Round Rock, and Sarah Mettlen of Austin, their spouses Michael Meadows, Scott Montgomery IV, and Cindy Davis, and four grandchildren Matthew and Makenna Meadows and Kendall and Alyssa Montgomery.
Bob, who was known for his wonderful sense of humor, loved being surrounded by “his girls,” all things Britannia, his home-away-from-home in Evergreen, CO, and playing a mean game of tennis.
The family expresses sincere gratitude to the staff of The Village at the Triangle and Magnolia Hospice.
Due to COVID, a celebration of life will be held for immediate family only.
For those so inclined, memorial contributions may be made to the Austin Community Foundation, Power for Parkinson’s, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Austin Lyric Opera or UT’s Faculty Seminar on British Studies.
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