Robert "Bob" Raymond Sharp, Jr., Ph.D., P.E.

Robert (Bob) Raymond Sharp, Jr. Ph.D., P.E. died on January 8, 2020 at his home in Placitas, NM surrounded by family. Bob Sharp was born March 5, 1934 in Douglas, AZ. He graduated from Los Alamos High School in 1951 and served in the U.S. Army from 1957-1959. He graduated from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in 1955 with a BS in Mining Engineering, and completed his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Geological Engineering from the University of Arizona in 1972. Bob worked for the Los Alamos National Laboratory for over thirty-five years, during which time he was involved in a number of initiatives that supported the end of the Cold War.

After retirement, Bob pursued his passion of geology and pre-Columbian archeology in the western hemisphere. He was an intrepid traveler who often ventured to remote archeological sites around the world with his son Robert and his son-in-law Steve. He was a voracious reader and gun enthusiast. He had some famous sayings that his friends and family will remember fondly. When you were dressed up for an event he would say, “You look like Charlie Potato walking down the street.” When you irritated him with what he thought was a silly question he would say, “If you had a brain in your head it would rattle around in your head like a BB in a bathtub.” And his most famous saying was, “To make a long story short”, which was repeated many times during a single lengthy discourse.

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Lois Sharp; his three children, Renida Carter, Raeanna Sharp-Geiger (Steve) and Robert R. Sharp III (Dana); and his six grandchildren, William, Erik, Robert, Aubra, Cooper and Owen.

Bob will be remembered as a man with unquestionable integrity who had a photographic memory, the uncanny ability to not remember names or important family milestone dates, and an incredible work ethic.

Bob will be interred at the Santa Fe National Cemetery at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in his name to the Mineral Engineering Department at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, NM. Donations can be made at www.nmt.edu, by selecting “Giving” and followed by “Tribute donation form”, or by contacting LaVern Robinson at (575) 835-5616.