ROBERT WILLARD GLEASON

MIDDLEBURY — Robert Willard Gleason, 94, passed peacefully while surrounded by family members Friday, July 17, 2026, following a brief illness, in Middlebury, Vt.

Robert “Bob” was born Feb. 9, 1932, in Santiago, Chile, the second son of Frances Henderson Gleason and Isaac Willard Gleason. At age two, the family returned to the United States, settling in Belvidere, N.J.

The foundation of Bob’s strong moral character was laid in Belvidere under the nurturing influence of his mother and his maternal grandmother and through his involvement in Belvidere’s boy scouts, little league baseball, youth basketball, and other small-town institutions.

Bob graduated from Belvidere High School in 1949, where he captained the basketball team; his studies continued with a post-graduate year at Blair Academy, in Blairstown, N.J. On the advice of his Blair Academy guidance counselor, Bob applied sight-unseen to Middlebury College, was accepted, and in the fall of 1950, drove to Middlebury, Vt., and onto the college campus for the first time.

At Middlebury, Bob was a member of the Alpha Sigma Psi fraternity and received his Bachelor of Science degree in Physics in 1954. Bob decided in the fall of his senior year that he wanted to attend medical school. He took the Medical College Admission Test while also taking his first college chemistry class. However, without the necessary chemistry background, he did not earn a high enough score on the exam to apply to medical schools. Undaunted and still determined to pursue medicine, he decided to take advantage of Middlebury’s Master of Science program, subsequently earning his M.S. in Chemistry in 1956. In a curious twist of fate, during his M.S. studies at Middlebury he became fascinated with organic chemistry and decided to forgo medical school and focus further study in chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he ultimately earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry in January, 1960.

During his M.S. studies, Bob met his future wife, Betsy Brown Heath who was at the time a college freshman at Middlebury. They were married in Somerville, N.J., Aug. 2, 1958, the summer of Betsy’s graduation from Middlebury. They spent the first two years of their life together in Melrose, Mass., while Bob completed his Ph.D. at MIT. In February 1960, Bob accepted a one-year temporary appointment to teach chemistry at Middlebury College. He was ultimately asked to join the faculty at Middlebury, where he continued his teaching career until his retirement 34 years later in June 1994.

While at Middlebury Bob served as Chair of the Chemistry Department, Chair of the Division of Natural Sciences, as Dean of Sciences from 1982-1984 and as Dean of Faculty from1984-1988. As a dedicated professor at Middlebury, Bob pushed gently but compellingly for the legitimacy of the sciences in the liberal arts. His leadership was felt in the quality of the faculty he recruited, in his expectations for the Chemistry Department and the Natural Sciences Division, and in his pivotal role in obtaining grants to acquire and regularly upgrade scientific equipment over the course of his career.

Bob’s academic and service legacy extended beyond the College: he served on the Educational Testing Service Chemistry Advanced Placement Test Committee as a reader/grader of AP Chemistry tests for many years. He was also central to the development of the National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, a federal-state initiative to support the research of colleagues at Middlebury and other academic institutions in Vermont.

At his core, Bob was a teacher. His teaching was never fully restricted to the classroom, and was characterized by modesty, generosity, personability, and encouragement. Generations of students knew him as an imperturbable, ever patient and enthusiastic tutor through whom the problems of organic chemistry became challenges of intellect. Bob’s students always learned as much about themselves as they did about chemistry. Although a passionate scientist, Bob was also a stickler for English grammar; he faithfully and persistently guided his students (and his children, grandchildren, and his many caregivers) in using proper grammar whether it be in a casual conversation or a scientific writing.

On his retirement from Middlebury College in 1994, he was toasted as follows: “Professor Robert Gleason leaves us with over thirty-four years of gift and growth, a Department and Division immeasurably stronger for his contributions, and the friendship and example of a man who, with the iron integrity which characterizes everything he does, has done it all and done it well.”

Locally, Bob served as a Deacon and on the Prudential Committee of the Congregational Church, as a founding member and President of the Friends of Middlebury (youth) Hockey, and for 15 years on local school boards. In 1994 he and Betsy were chairs of the Addison County United Way annual capital campaign. Bob and Betsy supported the multi-year Middlebury College Bicentennial celebration in 2000 and are memorialized as benefactors of the McCardell Bicentennial Hall science facility on a plaque in that building’s Great Hall.

Bob loved supporting his children’s and grandchildren’s academic, cultural, and athletic activities. He enjoyed weekends skiing with his family, golfing (especially in later life with his son Mark and grandson Andrew), gardening, woodworking, home improvement projects, keeping bees and selling their collected honey (‘Bob’s Bees’), hiking and camping, following the Boston Red Sox, runs through Middlebury’s wooden covered bridge, a good winter snowfall with a well-stocked wood pile and a hot wood stove, relaxing on Long Beach Island in New Jersey, briefly escaping the cold Vermont winter to St. Maarten, traveling world-wide, and walking the many golden retriever dogs he and Betsy had over the years.

Bob will be remembered as a man of principle and integrity with an intellectual curiosity and a dogged determination for doing things right the first time. He saw positives in everything and everyone, had impeccable manners, and had an ingrained respect of all women. He was an engaged parent, was accomplished in the kitchen, and had striking blue eyes that twinkled when he smiled (which was often). He was honest, genuine, humble, and sincere, and he frequently delighted himself and others with his silly sense of humor.

Bob is predeceased by his parents, his brother Lawrence and wife Joan, and in 2024, his loving wife Betsy. He is survived by his three children: Nancy Simms of Dover, Mass., Amy Barrett and her husband Bill of Concord, Mass., and Mark and his wife Shannon of Salisbury, Vt.; nine grandchildren, Britty and husband Corey, Max and wife Merrill, Robert, Caroline, Allie and husband Dennis, Lizzie, Andrew, Catherine, and Abby; and two great grandchildren, Margot and Brooks.

A memorial service and celebration of life will be held Saturday, Nov. 14, at 11 a.m., at the Congregational Church of Middlebury, 2 Main Street, Middlebury, Vt. Following the service a luncheon reception will be hosted by the family for all guests in the Great Hall of McCardell Bicentennial Hall, 276 Bicentennial Way, on the Middlebury College campus.

Contributions in Bob’s memory may be made to the Middlebury College Chapel Fund, (Middlebury College Office of Advancement, 700 Exchange Street, Middlebury, VT 05753), The Congregational Church of Middlebury (address above), the Friends of Middlebury Hockey (P.O. Box 835, Middlebury, VT 05753), or any charity of one’s choice. ◊