Robert E. Fiertz ’51
Robert E. Fiertz ’51, one of Dartmouth’s all-time finest lacrosse players and captain of the team in 1951, died in Bonita Springs, Florida, on June 10, 2014. Services were held in Severna Park, Maryland, where Bob and his wife, Marilyn, lived for 40 years before moving to Florida. Bob came to Dartmouth from Manhasset, New York, having captained both his high school lacrosse and football teams. He was an All-American midfielder in college and played in the North-South All-Star game. He was a member of Chi Phi and earned a mechanical engineering master’s from the Thayer School. Three 1951 classmates, Jack Giegerich, Dick Mason and Jack Woods, spoke at the memorial service, along with Bob’s brother, Alden ’52. Family members present, in addition to Marilyn, included his four daughters (among them Pam ’81) and 11 grandchildren, several of whom are lacrosse players. Bob’s professional career was spent in the chemical industry as a manufacturing manager, addressing difficult technical and manufacturing challenges. Among his employers were DuPont, Chevron and Celanese. He also served as interim president of a new venture, Igene Biotechnology, retiring in 1991. Between 1954 and 1956 he served as an enlisted man in the U.S. Army. Playing golf with Marilyn, boating with family on Chesapeake Bay, volunteering in his community, orchestrating class mini-reunions in Florida and travel were strong interests. The Fiertzes and Woods made four trips to France as a foursome, finding their way on Bob’s “mediocre but enthusiastic French-speaking talents,” says Woods.
