Robert V. Reinke was born May 21, 1924 in Detroit, Michigan. His father Jules was a machinist who worked in Ford assembly plants. Bob was a Chief Radio Operator on the Aleutian Islands during World War II. He graduated with a Masters in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Michigan where he met Elizabeth D. Hannum. They married in her hometown of Mayville, New York, on June 12, 1948. He was a Project Engineer at Eastman Kodak for 35 years and held many patents in the fields of optics, imaging, and electronics. He was responsible for the command and control program module logic for the operations of the camera, film, and radio on the Lunar Orbiter and was at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena when the first high-resolution images of the moon were successfully received.
He was part of a strong parenting team. He was dependable, attentive, and generous with his time and expertise, later crisscrossing the country designing and completing projects for his children. He knew how to fix anything. He loved hiking and climbed most of the high peaks in the Adirondacks, backpacked in the Colorado Rockies, and worked as a volunteer on the Pacific Crest and other trails in California, Texas and New York. He taught sailing navigation and with a best friend sailed from Rochester though the Intracoastal Waterway to the Florida Keys and to the Bahamas.
He died peacefully in his sleep on April 29, 2018. He is survived by three sons Peter, John, and Tim, four grandchildren Christian, Jevon, Courtney, and Hannah, and four great-grandchildren Olivia, Caleb, Julietta, and Castle. We will miss his generous support and practical attitude.
A memorial service will be held at The Episcopal Church of the Incarnation at 11AM, Saturday, June 9, 2018.