Robert “Bob” Schwing

Robert L. “Bob” Schwing died peacefully, surrounded by family, on August 17, 2022. He is survived by his college classmate, best friend, and devoted wife, Susan Battaglia Schwing, their 5 children, Katrina Lucas (David), Mel Andrew Schwing, Karlena Schwing, Kamilla Schwing and Kyle Schwing, and his cherished granddaughters, Sofie Lucas and Madilyn Garcia who lovingly called him “Pops.”
Born on August 11, 1945, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Bob died only six days after his 77th birthday and seven days after his and Susan’s 54th wedding anniversary. His parents, Mary A. (Oelker) and Carl A. Schwing, his sister Mary Beth (the late Will) Gregg and his nephews, James M. Schwing and Reece M. Schwing, predeceased Bob, the fourth of nine children.
Bob’s Catholic education shaped his devout faith. He attended Immaculate Heart of Mary Grade School, graduated from St. Xavier High School (Cincinnati, OH), received a B.A. in Physics from Thomas More College (Crestview Hills, KY), and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Detroit (Detroit, MI), a Jesuit institution, where he was inducted into both the Tau Beta Pi and the Pi Tau Sigma National Engineering Honor Societies. During his 16-year Civil Service employment at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH, Bob earned a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Dayton, a Marianist school. In addition, he completed Defense Systems Management College for Program Management and the U.S. Air Force Air War College, Senior PME program. As he actively combined all this education with his creative mind and technical expertise, Bob acquired his reputation as a pioneer and expert in flight control and simulation. Despite these achievements, he was most proud of his accomplishment, through diligent study, hard work and professional growth, of becoming a Registered Professional Engineer in Ohio and adding “P.E.” to his signature.
In the summer of 1982, after much deliberation and concern for both Susan’s budding career as a university professor and his children’s adaptability to new schools, Bob moved his family to the Binghamton, NY, area to pursue an opportunity as Director of Research and Development (followed by promotions to Engineering Director, Technical Director, and Program Director) for Singer-Link, later becoming CAE-Link. In 1991, Burtek, a wholly owned subsidiary of French aerospace giant, Thomson-CSF, approached Bob to be Vice-President of Operations in Tulsa, OK, and responsible for all functions, except finance, in this international commercial business. Unfortunately, three years later, Thomson-CSF decided to close all US operations and consolidate all activities in France.
Bob and his family returned to Upstate New York and the home that had not sold during the 3 years of their absence. He worked as an Independent Consultant and a Software Development and Management expert witness for international arbitration. Agonizing over his family’s emotional and financial insecurity, Bob accepted a three-year appointment as the Chief Operating Officer of the Center for Computer-Aided Design at the University of Iowa. Choosing to not disrupt his family again, Bob infrequently returned to their home in Endwell for a short visit. The 15-hour drive between Iowa and Binghamton and his inability to be involved in his children’s lives devastated him. Through faith and determination, Bob persevered; he wanted to ensure his wife and children were safe and provided for, so he completed his commitment in Iowa, and returned to the Binghamton area and employment with Lockheed Martin Corporation until his retirement in 2013.
Unfortunately, a diagnosis of, and increasing debilitation from, Parkinson’s disease prevented Bob from having any opportunity to enjoy his “Golden Years.”
Bob was truly an engineer’s engineer. From an early age, Bob liked to reverse-engineer devices and mechanisms, taking them apart to see how they worked. As an adolescent, Bob repaired small appliances in a hardware store. He advanced from boat-building to vehicle repair, particularly steam and gasoline engines in any mechanical application. Consequently, Bob had a passion for automobiles: their style, their performance, their marketability, but especially, anything “under the hood.” He firmly believed in sharing his interests, skill, and ability with others and his legacy lives on in the things he created, adjusted, or meticulously demonstrated with his hands and his heart. From restoring the clock in the Engineering Building Tower at the University of Detroit, to reconstructing and maintaining the AV and clock equipment in the Catholic Schools of Broome County, to fixing the neighbors’ snowblowers and lawnmowers as he taught his friends how to do so themselves, Bob shared his God-given talents and treasure at any opportunity.
Consistent with this sense of service with which he lived his life, Bob wanted to donate his body to science to improve the health or quality of life for others. His family is grateful that the NYS Donate Life Center for Donation and Transplant will be able to use his long bones and soft connective tissue so someone else might walk, his tendons and cartilage to replace tissue lost or injured due to trauma, disease or infection and his skin to help severe burn victims or for cleft pallet repairs.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in Bob’s hometown, Cincinnati, OH, at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church on Friday, October 7, 2022, at 10:00 am. with the visitation at IHM on Friday, October 7, from 9:00-10:00 am for the convenience of Bob’s extended family including his siblings, Carl M. (Mary Ellen) Schwing, Susan M. (Don) Popelar, Stephanie Early, Thomas T. (Mary Pat) Schwing, Jerome J. (Judy) Schwing, John P. Schwing, and Joseph P. Schwing, and other special relatives and friends.
To honor Bob’s memory, please consider a donation to “Mom’s House,” Johnson City, NY, “Punch Out Parkinson’s,” Conklin, NY, or “StacheStrong,” Vestal, NY.