Robert "Bob" Ray Richwine Jr.

Visitation will be from 6-8 p.m. on Friday, January 8, 2021 at Ridout’s Southern Heritage Funeral Home in Pelham, Alabama.

“Bob” graduated from Banks High School and achieved his undergraduate degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Alabama. He was married to Judy T. Richwine on May 16, 1987.

Bob was a passionate competitor in tennis and poker, challenging family and friends to frequent matches.

Preceding Bob in death were his father, Robert Richwine Sr.; his mother, Sarah Richwine; one brother, David Richwine; two sons, Michael Richwine and David Richwine; and a sister-in-law, Anne Richwine.

Survivors include Bob’s wife, Judy Richwine; brother, Don Richwine; sister, Bonnie Simmons (Jim); daughter, Anna-Raye Vick (Don); son, Daniel Richwine (Donna); step-daughter, Monica Ward (Mark); stepsons, Miles Little (Maggie) and Grant Little (Celeste); and grandchildren, Mandy McGrath Wallace, Mick McGrath (Anna), C.J. Vick, Chris Richwine, Justin Richwine (DeeAnna), Blake Richwine, Brigid Richwine, Michael Richwine, Gianna Richwine, Sophia Richwine, Max Ward, Sam Ward, Lucy Little, Caroline Little, Riley Little, Justice Little, Mia Yelverton and Maya Tyler.

Bob's remaining family also includes great-grandchildren, Chad Wallace, Alex Wallace, Will Wallace, Damon Wallace, Malyk Wallace, Jasper McGrath, Tristan Vick, and Jackson Richwine; and nieces and nephews, Ashley Holly Richwine (Jen) their daughter Emma, Colin Richwine, Sarah Osmor (Jake) and their children Caroline and Ben, Carlee Simmons and her son Cohen, and Allison (Adam) their children Madelyn and Max.

Bob enjoyed a long career as an engineer in the Aerospace and Reliability Engineering industries. He was a valuable teammate on projects such as the Apollo moon landing program. In 1976, Southern Company recruited to help create a new Reliability Engineering group. He was able to adapt the methods and techniques he helped pioneer in the Apollo program to the reliability analysis of electric power generating plants.

The new department was one of the numerous initiatives Southern Company undertook at the time to attempt to reverse the recent steep decline in its plants’ availability and reliability. As a result of the combination of the diverse programs, the equivalent availability (EAF) of the company’s 20,000-plus MW of coal-fired power plants rose from a low of 68% in 1976 to over 92%, one of the highest for any coal-fired generating company in the world. That availability improvement yielded annual net savings of over $1.3 billion per year, an amount equal to the company’s annual net income in 1991 on revenues of $10 billion. In addition, those improvements substantially reduced all emissions, including seven million tons of CO2 per year.

Bob was requested to assist several other companies both in the United States and overseas to develop their own performance improvement programs. Those companies included New England Electric System (NEES), Puerto Rico Electric Power Company (PREPA), Electricity Supply Board of Ireland (ESB) and ESKOM of South Africa. Other clients included TVA, AES, Mirant, Reliant, PowerGen of Trinidad, Tractebel, Hawaii Electric, National Grid Company of Ireland, Duke, the World Bank, the United Nations, the International Energy Agency, and the World Energy Council.

Bob was closely involved with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) beginning in the 1970’s. He supported their development of the Generating Availability Data System (GADS), the preeminent power plant reliability data system in the world with data from over 5,000 power plants collected since 1982, and then later GADS analysis software program pc-GAR.

In addition, Bob chaired NERC’s Fossil Design Review Task Force and was a charter member and chairmen of its Generating Availability Trend Evaluation (GATE) Working Group. For over 25 years, he was a member of the World Energy Council’s (WEC) Performance of Generating Plant (PGP) Knowledge Group and delivered several reliability workshops on behalf of the WEC in Warsaw, Prague, Kiev, India, Brussels, Moscow, Argentina, Brazil, Namibia, Nigeria, Indonesia, China, Egypt, Kenya, Jordan, Turkey, Italy, France, Germany, and Thailand. He was also active on ASME’s Reliability Standards Committee.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the American Heart Association (www.heart.org) or the American Cancer Society (www.cancer.org).