Robert William Bernard (1935-2016)
BERNARD, MINKLER
Posted By: Mark Christian
Date: 3/4/2016 at 10:58:38
Obituary From Adams Soderstrum Funeral Home, Story County, Iowa.
Robert William Bernard, 80, an long-term Ames resident and retired professor of French and Italian at Iowa State University, died Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, at Green Hills Health Care Center in Ames, IA.
Robert was born Sept. 15, 1935 in Detroit, MI, and was the only child of Kathleen and Harry Bernard, who were born in Trenton, Ontario. During his childhood, his father’s work took the family to many places to live, including Younkers, NY, Memphis, TN, and St. Paul, MN. Robert attended high school in St. Paul. He graduated from the University of St. Thomas, also in St. Paul, where he discovered his academic love of French literature. Robert completed his graduate work (Masters and Ph.D.) at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, with his dissertation on Christine de Pizan, a Fifteenth Century French medieval author. He settled in Ames in 1965 when he became an Iowa State University faculty member in the Department of Foreign Languages.
He raised two sons in Ames from his first marriage, Christopher and Peter. As a devoted son to his mother, he shared his home with her for eight years until she died in December of 1995. In January of 1996, Robert met his second wife, Julie Minkler, who was born and raised in Athens, Greece, and immigrated to the United States in 1974. Their new family also included Julie’s son, Stefan Minkler.
Robert’s passions ranged from his research and scholarship in French Literature and Film, as well as Classic American Cinema, from silent films through the 1960s. He also loved Italian language and culture, particularly focusing on 1950s cinema, as well as its extraordinary cuisine. With Julie, their mutual passions for international travel took them abroad many times. Over the years, through their many visits to Greece, they kept close ties to Julie’s cousins, Maria and Anna Tsivakou, and close friends, including Nick Zahariadis.
Robert was a long-term and contributing member of St. Thomas Aquinas Church. The last eleven months of his life, he spent at Green Hills Health Care Center, where he was cared with compassion.
He is survived by two sons, Christopher (Christine) Bernard, a Technology Executive in Microsoft, in Elmhurst, Ill; Peter Bernard, Lieutenant Commander in the US Navy (currently in Bahrain); one step-son, Stefan Minkler of Ames, who shares Bob’s passion for cinema; and his loving grandchildren, Benjamin, Ellie, and Erin.
Robert was preceded in death by his parents.
A Mass of Christian Burial
FEB 20. 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church & Catholic Student Center
2210 Lincoln Way
Ames, IA, US, 50010Graveside Service
FEB 20. 12:30 PM
Ames Municipal Cemetery
310 E 9th St.
Ames, IA, US
http://www.adamssoderstrum.com/
Story Obituaries maintained by Mark Christian.
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