Robert Russell McCartney ’54

Robert Russell McCartney ’54 passed away on February 14 in Nebraska. Bob came to Dartmouth from Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, where he attended Wellesley Senior High School. At Dartmouth he was an economics major and a brother of Gamma Delta Chi. After graduation he was commissioned in the U.S. Air Force, attending pilot training at Stallings Air Base in North Carolina and at Reese Air Force Base in Texas. Bob’s Air Force career included two separate assignments as a pilot in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. He also served on a missile crew, as senior controller and on the joint strategic planning staff at Offutt Air Force Base and as deputy wing commander of the 8th Air Force at Barksdale Air Force Base. He then served as chief of the national strategic targets list, which indicated where nuclear targets where located. In 1983 Bob retired from the Air Force with the rank of colonel. After retiring he worked in the Washington, D.C., area for Electrospace Systems Inc., Command Control and Communications Inc. and Artel Inc. as a communications technician, producing airborne and ground command control exercises and supporting the Federal Emergency Management Agency in its disaster response build-up. Bob retired in 1998, moving to Bellevue, Nebraska. In retirement he volunteered for his church, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Civil Air Patrol, where he was a former commander. Bob is survived by his wife, Nancy, daughters Heather and Heidi ’81 and son Rob.