Dr. Robert L. "Bob" Lytton

Dr. Lytton was born October 23, 1937 in Port Arthur Texas to Robert O. Lytton and Nora Mae Verret Lytton.

His family moved around when he was a boy, eventually settling in San Antonio where he finished high school. He attended St Mary’s University in San Antonio for 2 years, where he excelled academically and participated in the ROTC program. He then transferred to the University of Texas where he completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, while still participating in ROTC.

He was commissioned into the Army, and married his college sweetheart, Eleanor Marilyn Anderson Lytton September 13, 1961. They started a family while stationed at Ft Hood, Texas, celebrating the birth of their first child Lynn. Bob attained the rank of Captain, and was honorably discharged following his service. He then spent a couple of years working at a professional consulting engineering firm in Houston, and a 2nd child Rob joined the family.

After this, Bob went back to the University of Texas and completed his PhD in 1968. A National Science Foundation grant resulted in the family’s move to Melbourne Australia next, as Bob worked with CSIRO for 2 years, creating standards for building foundations on expansive soils. A third child, John, joined the family towards the end of this period. In 1971 Bob and the family moved back to the United States, to Bryan College Station where he joined the faculty at Texas A&M. He was on Faculty at Texas A&M for 51 years, retiring in 2021. He held the A.P. & Florence Wiley Endowed Chair and the Fred J. Benson Endowed Chair in Civil Engineering, was awarded the Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award in Research, and was the director of Center for Infrastructure Engineering for the Texas Engineering Experiment Station, and was honored as a professor emeritus as he retired.

During his professional career, Dr. Lytton was a globally renowned scholar, researcher and mentor known for his enormous contributions to unsaturated soil mechanics, foundations on expansive soils, nondestructive testing, asphalt technology and mechanics. His passion for teaching and mentoring graduate students and fellow faculty was impactful in the pavement and geotechnical engineering communities. He authored or co-authored more than 600 professional publications. He held many awards for his research including the John B. Hawley Award and the Carl L. Monismith Award by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Dr. Lytton was always enthusiastic, generous and supportive of his students and the team at TAMU/TTI.

Bob’s work on unsaturated soil mechanics and the translation of that work into practice in foundation engineering has fundamentally helped the large number of Texans living in the many houses that have been constructed using the design approach he developed, saving them untold money and headaches by preventing cracked foundations and walls, as well as doors that stick or don’t shut at all. Bob’s work in the field of pavements and materials was impactful, leading an evolution from a heavily empirical field to one that is now underpinned with physics, chemistry and mechanics.

Outside of work, Bob was an enthusiastic student of Texas history, and enjoyed researching genealogy – and he was always happy to share things he had learned about both with anyone interested. Friends affectionately remember his as an encyclopedia of Texas History.

Bob is preceded in death by his wife Marilyn; by his parents Robert O. Lytton and Nora Mae Verret Lytton, by brothers Lee Edward Lytton and James Patrick Lytton, and by his son, John Kirby Lytton.

Bob is survived by his sister Noeli Lytton of Sunset Hills Missouri, daughter Dr. Lynn E. Lytton of Austin Texas; son Rob Lytton of Plano Texas, and grandchildren David Lytton of Bryan Texas and & Elizabeth Lytton of Plano Texas.

Visitation will be held at the Memorial Funeral Chapel College Station, located at 2901 Texas Ave. S., College Station, TX, on November 24, 2025, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. A vigil and rosary will also take place at the Memorial Funeral Chapel starting at 7:00 pm.

The Mass of Christian Burial will be held Tuesday, November 25, 2025, at 10:00 am at St. Thomas Aquinas, 2541 Earl Rudder Fwy, College Station, TX. Pallbearers will include, Rob Lytton, David Lytton, Alex Finn, Zack Wotowa, Arvind Devadas, Wenting Liu, and honorary pallbearer, Roger Smith.

Entombment will take place on November 26, 2025, at Holy Cross Cemetery, Mausoleum, located at 17501 Nacogdoches Rd, San Antonio, TX.