My late, great-uncle
ROBERT T. MITCHELL
25 May 1916 - 21 September 1998
Robert Thomas Mitchell, my Uncle Bob, or more accurately great-uncle, was a man of compassion and many talents.
He is identified on the WWW as: Robert T. Mitchell, Wildlife Biologist (retired), Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, Maryland. A graduate of Ohio State University in Applied Entomology (M.Sc., 1940), he was associated with Federal agencies, especially in relation to agriculture and wildlife areas. His knowledge of butterflies and moths stems mainly from a hobby started in his youth and from subsequent specialized avocational studies on parasites of Lepidoptera.
Bob and Catherine Helms were married in a small service at Westminster Presbyterian Church in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on 26 Aug 1942. A lifelong Quaker, he was a conscientious objector. During the Second World War, Bob served in the Civilian Public Service (CPS) program. He was sent from Ohio to Pautuxent, Maryland. Making his home in suburban Maryland, he had a career as a Research Biologist for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Bob retired from the federal government in 1976.
Over the years, Uncle Bob and Aunt Kay raised two sons. In 1964, he co-wrote, with Herbert S. Zim, "Butterflies and Moths" (part of the Golden Book series). Through the years the book was revised, and is now in its third edition. He is the author of articles contained in several other reference works.
Bob Mitchell was historian and one of the founding members of the Society of Friends Meeting in Adelphi, Maryland (formed circa 1957), and where he continued as a member to his death. Over the years Uncle Bob volunteered and participated in select peace and green causes.
Following his retirement, he devoted much effort to tracing his own Quaker and English ancestry and that of his wife.
Uncle Bob died at home in suburban Maryland of natural causes surrounded by his loving family. He was preceded in death by a grandaughter, Julianna Marcelle Mitchell.
- Adelphi Friends Meeting
"Butterflies & Moths" by Robert T. Mitchell & Herbert S. Zim
- Entomological Society of America
- Internet Resources for Lepidopterists
- Lepidopterists' Society, The
- Nature Conservancy, The
- Ohio State University
- Religious Society of Friends, The
- U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
- Entomological Society of America
Copyright 1998-2001, Irv Mitchell. All rights reserved.
Posted 21 Sep 1998 . . . This page was last updated 31 Aug 2001