Robert Carey Kingsland

Robert Carey Kingsland, 65, passed away in the early hours of June 22, 2012 at his Scituate home. The son of his dear parents Lawrence Kingsland and Margaret Fitz, Bob grew up in Cohasset after a formative childhood in Naples, Italy, and Karachi, Pakistan. At Cohasset High School, he starred in musical productions and endeared himself to many with his deeply inquisitive and magnetic personality. A record-setting pole vaulter on the Track & Field team at Brown University, Bob paused his studies to participate in the peace movement of the late ‘60s. He graduated with the class of 1970, concentrating in anthropology and studio art. After research as an underwater archaeologist in Guatemala, he co-founded the company U.S. Bells, through which he created innovative kinetic metal sculptures, mobiles, and bells influenced by Alexander Calder and the natural world. Bob also spent nearly 15 years in the commercial swordfishing industry as a harpooner and spotter pilot off George’s Bank, earning an instrument rating and 3200 airborne hours. In the last seventeen years of his life, Bob, a world-class welder, was a senior experimental machinist at the Boston University Scientific Instruments Facility, where he also pioneered its renowned Student Training Center. As director, he ensured his students’ safety and fostered their intellectual curiosity, and they honored him by establishing an award in his name. Bob inspired many with his dream of building a 50’ L, 14’ W steel sailboat, a functional work of art which he named Restless and launched in Scituate Harbor in June 2007 after thirty years of creation (www.sv-restless.com). Friends and family will never forget his joy finally sailing this floating sculpture. He was a voracious reader and a brilliant, adventurous, witty, and compassionate man. In others’ words—a legend. His commitment to his family, loyal friendship, and student mentorship were as meaningful to him as his art.

Always a trailblazer, Bob was unmatched in his passion and determination. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer on his 64th birthday last March, and was exceptionally brave and courageous in the face of the disease which took the life he loved so much. He is already deeply missed by his immediate family, with whom he shared a rare and special bond: Sandy, wife of twenty-eight years; daughters Haley (25, of San Francisco) and Brooke (23, of Boston); as well as his feisty parrot Hondo and faithful poodle Jasper. Bob also leaves behind his four fond siblings: Margaret, Larry, Richard, and Holly. Innumerable close friends and colleagues, in-laws, and other relatives will remember Bob’s insatiable zest for life, as will the communities of the BU Physics Department, Satuit Boat Club, and Scituate First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, where a celebration of Bob’s life will take place on Wednesday, July 11, 2012, at 3 PM. Reception to follow at the Lightkeeper’s House, 15 Lighthouse Lane, Cohasset. Both The Scituate Library Foundation (85 Branch Street, Scituate, MA, 02066), and the New England Wildlife Center (NEWC, 500 Columbian Street, South Weymouth, MA, 02190) are accepting donations in Bob’s memory. We love you, Bob.