Robert A. (Bob) Farmer

Robert A. (Bob) Farmer, age 81, of Bel Air, MD passed away on March 21, 2018 at his home with family. Born in Plainfield, NJ , he was the son of Fred and Elizabeth (Watson Howard) Farmer.

He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Regina Knudson Farmer, two daughters Amy Farmer Cassilly (Andrew) and Beth Farmer Scheir (Scott), 5 grandchildren Emma, Ned and Lydia Cassilly and Eileen and Anna Scheir, all in Harford County and his sister Elizabeth Louise (Betty Lou) Farmer Lincoln, of Connecticut. He cared deeply for his nieces & nephews.

Bob grew up in Cranford, NJ enjoying many wonderful days skating, swimming and fishing in the Rahway River in his back yard. He was a Veteran of the United States Army, as was his father. He served at Ft. Dix and Ft. Monmouth in NJ and Red Stone Arsenal in Alabama. During his time in the Army he was a recipient of the Good Conduct Medal and completed both Signal School and Ordnance School and studied electronics. Upon his discharge, Bob returned to Cranford and attended Union Junior College where he met his future wife.

He started his career with Stavid Engineering (later acquired by Lockheed Martin Corp). After having done work with Bell Labs while at Stavid, he took a position with Western Electric (predecessor of AT& T Technologies and Lucent Technology). It is Western Electric that brought he and his wife Regina to the small rural town of Bel Air, MD in 1965. Bob then pursued and obtained his Degree in Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

Harford County was very important to Bob and he wanted to take part in planning it’s future. While he was pursuing a degree in Land Use planning at Penn State Harrisburg, he was appointed to the Planning Advisory Board that was responsible for recommendations related to the 1977 Harford County Master Plan. The Development Envelope, a novel concept at the time, was first introduced and added to the Master Plan that year as a growth management tool. The county has directed growth to this area since 1977, which has decreased development pressure on and helped preserve rural areas since that time.

Bob was not all work and no play. During this same time, he was a coach for Bel Air Girls Softball and coached the Snoopers to the 9-12 tournament runner up spot. In addition to coaching his daughters, he truly enjoyed other hobbies including gardening, playing Bridge and running. By the early 1980’s Bob was very involved in running and enjoyed participating in a variety of races, both locally and elsewhere. One of his favorite races was the Bel Air Town Run. By the mid 80’s he began to participate in longer races including both the Maryland Marathon and then the New York Marathon in 1985. Triathalons then peaked his interest but he found that swimming was not his strong suit. He changed to run-bike-run biathalons. Among his biathalon racing successes were a first place finish in the US National Championship in New York in 1988 in the 50-54 age group and a first place finish in the 1996 Maryland State Championship in the 60-64 age group.

It was after this that his grandchildren and other hobbies became more of a priority. He spent time providing babysitting for the grandchildren with Regina. He worked almost daily in his yard and garden growing and propagating plants for himself and family, as well as helping to maintain the yards of neighbors and at his church, St. Albans. As the grandchildren grew in their sports activities he enjoyed watching and giving them insights and training hints.

Bob survived cancer multiple times over the majority of his adult life. Having survived pancreatic cancer that was diagnosed in 2012, he made a recovery goal to run in the Bel Air Town Run once again with his grandchildren for his 80th birthday, which he did!

In lieu of flowers, donations to St Albans Anglican Church, 1011 Old Joppa Rd, Joppa MD or pancan.org, Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.