‘Robert N. Stutz, R.I.P.’

    

RW Bro. Bob Stutz at the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library’s Freemasonry and the Arts Dinner-Lecture, December 8, 2008.

Sad news yesterday of the death of RW Bro. Robert N. Stutz of New Jersey. Bob was 95.

I had the pleasure of meeting him many years ago upon the launch of the research lodge, and it was always a joy to greet him again there for many years thereafter, and especially at other places where Masons “who get it” congregate. For example, he made sure he got to the Masonic Society’s Second Circle dinner-lectures in New Jersey (he was not a PayPal customer, so he was the only one from whom I accepted payment at the door), and it was delightful to shake his hand at similar events in Manhattan.

At age 95, Bob obviously was one of the “Greatest Generation,” the popular abbreviation for those young Americans who donned our country’s uniform to deploy in distant lands to obliterate the enemies of humanity. Bob was of the Seabees (C.B. = Construction Battalion) of the U.S. Navy, serving in the Pacific Theater, from Pearl Harbor to occupied Japan, with the Battle of Iwo Jima along the way.

He was a Past Master (1993) of Mercer Lodge 50 in Trenton, and he served as Secretary to Grand Master Ray Vanden Berghe in 1996.

A lot of life transpired between the war and my acquaintance with Bro. Bob, and I regret not talking with him about things not Masonic so I might tell you more about him now, but Bob Stutz was a joy when it came to Masonic conversation. His demeanor said gentlemanliness to all, but the initiated eye perceived the Light that makes a man a Mason. May we bear his memory to keep his goodness alive.