Robert Katrin

5/14/39 – 5/21/26

Robert Leonard Katrin (Bob), 87, of Southern Pines, North Carolina passed away on May 21st, 2026, from health complications after a fall.

“But at the laste, as everything hath ende, she took hir leve, and nedes wolde wende”, translation “All good things must come to an end.” Geoffrey Chaucer

Born in Brooklyn, New York on May 14, 1939, Bob attended James Madison High School and then went on to New York University where he did post graduate work beyond his master’s degree in English. In his early years, he thrived in leading a team of lifeguards on Manhattan Beach/Cony Island and Jacob Riis Park.

After college, he taught at Pratt University and Medgar Evers College, as well as worked for the New York Parks Department before moving to North Carolina in 1973. He built a teaching career as an English professor at Sandhills Community College, from which he retired. He had also obtained his credentials as a Marriage and Family Counselor in North Carolina, where he had a part time private practice.

He is survived by his only child, Mona Ingrid Gambill and her husband, Mark J. Gambill, who resides in Maine and by his grandson, Michael Tomney, residing in Colorado.

He is predeceased by his sister, Susan Katrin, who died in March of 2026.

He will be remembered as a teacher, an avid reader, a writer and most notably a poet. He self-published a book of poetry called “Whirligigs”. He spent many years of his life engaged in the Chapel Hill poetry group, the Southern Pines Sangha community, practicing yoga and meditation, while also biking, hiking, and swimming.

He was an intellectual with a complex personality. He loved art, especially glass art. He also had an affinity for motorcycles, loving his Harley Davidson of his youth. He always dreamed of riding again.

No funeral services are planned at this time. His daughter Ingrid invites you to privately celebrate Bob’s memory.