Robert “Bob” Alexander Munro passed away peacefully Sunday, March 14, 2021 at his home in Penllyn, PA. He was 91.
Born May 27, 1929 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Elizabeth (Aikman) and George Allen Munro, descendants from Scotland, Bob graduated from Olney High School, and went on to serve in the U.S. Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps. At the age of 29, after the death of his father, in lieu of pursuing a college education, Bob took over the family business, Munro & Sons, a metal fabricating company in Huntingdon Valley, PA. From there, Bob enjoyed a long career as a serial entrepreneur, forming numerous companies and inventing many machines to improve the current state of manufacturing. His mission in life ‘to make everything better,’ permeated not only his businesses but also his life and the lives of those around him. Over a Gibson he would convince people that we all have a responsibility to do our best to improve the world.
He found the love of his life, Joan, on Memorial Day weekend, 1949, at The Viking, a rooming house at 4th and Atlantic in Ocean City, NJ. They married November 29, 1952. Always seeking new experiences, he took Joan to Chateau Frontenac, in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada for their honeymoon. That would turn out to be the beginning of extensive travels throughout the US, Europe, Asia and Australia and they returned to Chateau Frontenac for their 60th anniversary. They lived in the Lawndale section of Philadelphia, before moving to Southampton, PA in 1963. At the time it was as if moving to the other side of the world when in 1974 they moved to Essex Junction, VT, before returning to the Philadelphia area in 1984. Bob was a Mason, a member of the St. Andrews Society, a member of numerous business organizations and a member of the Upper Dublin Lutheran Church.
Bob was the smartest man most of us ever knew. An avid reader, he knew more than a little about a lot of things, and could carry on a conversation with anyone about any subject. He looked forward to Scottish poet Robert Burns annual birthday celebration, where he could don his Munro kilt and recite “Address to a Haggis” in an authentic Scottish brogue, even thrashing the haggis with his dirk. He loved family, skiing, a good biography and scotch whiskey.
He will be remembered as an enduring optimist who always believed that the best is yet to come. He will be missed but his legacy lives on in those who had the honor to know him. He found success in the success of others.
Bob is survived by his beloved wife Joan (nee Holt) and his children Heather O’Neill, Robert (Monique) Munro, David (Mary) Munro, and his ten grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his brother George Allen “Dick” Munro Jr., his step-sister Edith Kooker (Aikman), and his son-in-law Michael O’Neill.
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet
For auld lang syne