Robert Louis Stauter, MD, JD, FACEP, son of Roy and Jean Stauter, was born September 10, 1952. Bob grew up in Fonda, Iowa and graduated from the Fonda Community High School in 1970. After graduation he attended the University of Iowa, where he received a degree in Elementary Education and General Science in 1973. After graduating he taught grade school in Ankeny, Iowa for one semester. The following fall he was accepted into the School of Medicine at the U. of I. During Bob’s Senior year of Medical School he chose to spend his elective rotations overseas. He worked in such locations as the Isle of Skye off the coast of Scotland, oil platforms in the North Sea, the Death and Dying Institue of Calcutta, India, a remote location in the Philippines, and with the Flying Doctors of Northern Australia. While in India he met Mother Theresa and was served Communion by her. He graduated in 1978 from the U. of I. with a Doctorate of Medicine (MD) and was accepted into the Emergency Medicine Residency at Akron General Hospital in Akron, Ohio. After his Residency, FACEP, he accepted a position in the Emergency Department of Trumbul Memorial Hospital in Warren, Ohio. While working there, he was an Assistant Professor in Emergency Medicine with the Northeastern Ohio University College of Medicine.

While practicing as an ER Physician full time, he attended law school at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio as a full time student. He graduated with a Doctorate in Jurisprudence (JD) in 1988. Bob’s truest enjoyment was traveling around the world. He was fluent in French and could converse in several languages. He maintained many long-term friendships with people from around the world. Many of them visited him in the U.S. and some of them have traveled to Fonda. They were like family to him.

Another of Bob’s lifelong ambitions was his joy of flying. On his 16th birthday he not only received his driver’s license, but also soloed in a single engine airplane. That interest continued to remain a very large part of his life. On August 31, 1998 he completed his commercial check ride. He holds his Commercial Pilot’s License with Glider Instructor and Instrument Airplane Ratings with many hours in rotary wing aircraft. He was a member of The Soaring Thunderbirds glider club in Ohio for 18 years.

Bob loved life and loved to learn. His interests were his family and friends. His hobbies included scuba diving, photography, skiing, fishing, cooking and many more.

On September 2, 1998, Bob was a confirmed passenger on Swissair Flight 111. He was flying to visit longtime friends in Geneva, Switzerland.

Bob was preceded in death by his Stauter and Mercer grandparents and five uncles. Bob is survived by his parents, Roy and Jean Stauter of Fronda, Iowa; his sisters and brother, Kathy and Ross Nixon of Ankeny, Iowa, Jane and Brian Smith of Omaha, Nebraska, Tom Stauter of Gainesville, Georgia and Carol Stauter of Spring Park, Minnesota. Also six nieces and nephews–Kam, Anne, and Grant Nixon and Louisa, Krista and Brian Smith; aunts, Mary Jane Turner, Jan Andersen, Margaret, Irene and Darlene Stauter, and Joyce Mercer. He also leaves many cousins-and friends from around the world.

There has also been a memorial page created by the Wadsworth Soaring Thunderbirds in Bob’s memory. You can access the site at
http://web.raex.com/~monotube/ .