Robert Charles Atkins (1944-2024)

Robert Charles Atkins (Bob) of McGaheysville, Virgina, passed away peacefully on August 20, 2024, in Alesund, Norway, after 8 months fighting an aggressive colon cancer. He was 80 years and one day old. Born August 19, 1944, in Norwood, MA, he was the only child of the late John Frederick Atkins and Ruth Froehlich Atkins.

Bob grew up in Fairlawn and Bergenfield, NJ. He earned an A.B. in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1966, where he was a proud member of Chi Phi, Beta chapter. He then completed a PhD in organic chemistry at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, in 1970. After a postdoctoral year at Columbia University in the City of New York, he spent 41 years teaching organic chemistry at James Madison University (formerly Madison College) in Harrisonburg, Virginia. In 1971, Harrisonburg was a dry town without so much as a McDonald’s – quite a culture shock from Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Generations of students had to pass “Dr. A” to fulfill their dreams of going to medical school. He also taught MCAT prep and was a pre-medical advisor.

On September 2, 1967, he married Mary Burke Atkins, who survives him. Bob is also survived by his son David (Jeanok Youn) of Lake Peekskill, NY, and daughter Maureen (Scott Vollmer) and beloved granddog Nemmi Vollmer of Vienna, VA, as well as cousin Ann Andrews, four brothers-in-law and three sister-in-law, many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, sister-in-law Betsy Burke Jacobson, and by his beloved dogs Missy, Sniffer, and Lizzie, and his first granddog, Turkey.

For much of his career he was also an author, working with Dr. Frank Carey of the University of Virginia on a seminal organic chemistry textbook and study guide, used by many universities across the world. No one else in the family really understood the subject, but a picture of Maureen running was in several editions, which was an improvement over photos of the family silverware in earlier ones.

Bob spent 20 years as a volunteer with the Harrisonburg Fire Department teaching safety classes to several generations of firefighters, and leading the technical response to chemical spills. He was affectionately known as “HazMat-1.”

Bob loved opera (especially Wagner), classical music, swimming, pier and later surf fishing on the Outer Banks, photography, spy novels, World War II history, JMU women’s sports, the US Women’s National team, and football. Lots and lots of football. For many years his affection for the sport was limited to the Green Bay Packers, but digital tv and streaming led to all football, all the time.

He had a wickedly dry sense of humor. He was calm and kind and would drop anything to help a friend.

Bob and Mary shared a great love of travel. They traveled across the United States many times, and visited more than 25 countries together. They especially enjoyed their trips with Road Scholar and Viking.

As a teenager Bob earned his pilot’s license. At age 78 he took a ride in a WWII biplane; his children were glad they didn’t know about this adventure in advance. On his final trip he had planned to take a seaplane ride over a Norwegian fjord and was very sad to miss it.

Bob powered through many significant health challenges, beginning with a rare diagnosis of Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1980, when he was just 36. Congestive heart failure, kidney failure, Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma recurrence, skin cancer, you name it, all followed. Any odds, he defied them. A running joke was that Bob had at least 9 lives; once he used all of those, it was upped to 21.

A memorial and celebration of life will be held at a future date.

The family would like to extend their deepest thanks and gratitude to UVA Health, especially the Departments of Cardiology and Oncology, and to the doctors and nursing staff of Alesund Sykehus in Alesund, Norway.

This obituary originally appeared on Legacy.com.