Robert Cox Milnor, 97, died at home in Seattle, WA, on March 1, 2021 of natural causes.
Robert (Bob) was born to Joseph Willard and Emily Cox Milnor in New York City and was raised in Maplewood, New Jersey. At his parent’s farm he was free to indulge his never-ending passion to tinker, build and explore. It was there that he built his first train set, in the loft of the barn, and a telescope to watch the stars. He graduated from Columbia High School in 1941 and went on to the University of Michigan where he graduated in Aeronautical Engineering in 1944.
After college, he entered the Army Air Corps and served his country for two years. At the end of WWII, he was hired by Boeing and moved to Seattle where he began to love the outdoor activities of the Pacific Northwest. When his father took ill, Bob returned home to New Jersey and completed a Master of Science Degree at Princeton University in 1949 before returning to Boeing. His 43-year career enabled him to travel all over the world and work on many challenging space and missile defense programs, but his favorite assignment was the Light Rail Vehicle program based on his lifelong love of model railroading. He never stopped playing with trains.
Through the Mountaineers Club, Bob met Grace Jean Olson. While dating, they climbed Mt. Rainier from different routes on the same day, meeting on the summit. They married in 1952 and shortly thereafter climbed the Matterhorn in Switzerland. Together with their four children, Bob and Jean enjoyed years of hiking, climbing, camping, travelling, and skiing. Bob was active on the climbing committee of the Mountaineers in the 1950s and 60s and served on the Board in the 1970s. He was also a contributor to the first edition of “Mountaineering, the Freedom of the Hills.” The couple divorced in 1992, but nonetheless passed on their love of travel and the outdoors to their children. The last annual family camp was held in 2017 at Icicle Creek and included a swim in the glacier-fed river.
Bob’s latent interest in the Opera and Dixieland Jazz led him to meet and eventually marry Marina Tarlinskaya (in 1998). They enjoyed a shared loved of travel and he was an active participant in her Shakespearean research, writing and lectures worldwide.
He is survived by his brother Jack Milnor (Dusa); four children: John Milnor (Marge), Karen Milnor, Bruce Milnor (Lynne), Diane Milnor (Karin); his beloved wife Marina; stepdaughter Katya Coachman (Lee); eight grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
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