Robert Knowlton

Robert Gentry Knowlton of Denver, Colorado died peacefully at his home surrounded by family, in the early morning of November 27, 2021.  Rob was born December 10, 1948 in West Point, NY to Joseph L. Knowlton and Elizabeth Gentry Knowlton. As the son of a career army officer, Rob spent a peripatetic childhood growing up in Oklahoma, Washington D.C., Kansas, Texas, Louisiana, Governor’s Island in NY harbor, England (Surrey), Pennsylvania, and California before completing high school at The Taft School in Connecticut.  He graduated from Amherst College in 1970 with a degree in Biophysics, and following several years in the US Navy Reserve, he entered graduate school at the University of Colorado, Boulder.  After earning his Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Rob continued there as a postdoctoral researcher.  Rob’s experience in Boulder was transformative, and, at nine years, it was the longest he had lived in any community.  He made many life-long friends, thrived in a department with smart and exciting colleagues, and at the same time, discovered the exhilaration of hiking and camping in the Colorado mountains.  There, he met and married fellow graduate student Kaye Edwards, who became his beloved life partner for 40 years.

Rob and Kaye moved east, first to the Boston area, and then to Radnor, a suburb of Philadelphia, where they settled for 31 years and raised their three sons, Christopher, Timothy, and Gregory.  During those years and before retiring in 2009, Rob expanded his research repertoire by working on yeast at a biotech company in Boston, on human genetics while teaching biochemistry at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, and on biomedical databases at an international pharmaceutical company.  He co-authored over 60 peer-reviewed research articles in biomedical and scientific journals.

Rob was a loving and engaged father who coached T-ball and soccer, kept score during basketball games, chaperoned camping trips with Boy Scouts and YMCA programs, built sets for school productions, and proudly attended all his sons' musical and theater performances.  Rob was also a baritone with great comic timing, and he channeled those talents into community theater, singing and dancing in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and Broadway musicals.  Family and friends appreciated Rob’s mischievous sense of humor, his bad/dad jokes, and the sparkle in his eyes.  (Writing as a member of the chorus and with his signature wit, Rob claimed previous title roles in The Pirates of Penzance, Yeomen of the Guard, Trial by Jury, and The Gondoliers!). He also expanded his range of interests to include brewing beer in the basement, and family and friends were frequently gifted with his product.

Rob and Kaye had long dreamed of living again in Colorado, and in 2006, they purchased a second home an hour west of Denver from which they had easy access to great hiking, made wonderful mountain friends, joined the Peak to Peak chorale, began making pottery, and shared their love of the mountains by hosting friends from other states.  After Kaye retired from the faculty of Haverford College in 2017 and their sons had left home (Chris is now a researcher in computational neuroscience; Tim a fourth-year medical student; and Greg a graduate student in health care policy), Rob and Kaye moved full-time to Denver, Colorado.

Rob was diagnosed with pancreatic adenocarcinoma in early May, 2020. He maintained a positive spirit throughout his chemotherapy, surgery, and their side-effects.  The excellent and compassionate medical care he received at UCHealth-Anschutz made it possible for him to travel with Kaye to Creede in the fall of 2020; to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary in March 2021; to travel to Vermont to visit family that June; to spend a week-long vacation with their sons and partners in New Orleans in July; to visit Tim in Albuquerque in August; and to welcome the many friends and family who came to visit him during and after treatments.  Rob entered into home hospice care in September 2021.

Rob is survived by his wife, M. Kaye Edwards; their three sons:  Christopher J. Knowlton (New Orleans, LA), Timothy E. Knowlton (New Orleans, LA), Gregory S. Knowlton (Minneapolis, MN); his mother, Elizabeth G. Knowlton (Montpelier, VT); two brothers:  Joseph L. Knowlton of Tallahassee, FL and Steven F. Knowlton (Lindy Biggs) of Montpelier, VT; two cousins: Elizabeth Locke (Corinth, VT) and Margo Bradford (Kittery, ME); two nephews:  Peter Knowlton (Terry and their children Lila and Sadie) of Tallahassee, FL and Jeffrey Knowlton (Carla and their children Miles and Ellis) of Austin, TX; three cousins once removed:  Emily Locke (Washington, D.C.), William Locke (Kittery, ME) and Caroline Locke (Corinth, VT);  as well as many dear friends across the country.

Celebrations of Rob’s life will be held in Colorado and Pennsylvania, with burial of his ashes in the Quaker cemetery at Radnor Monthly Meeting in Pennsylvania (dates to be determined).  To honor Rob’s love of mountains and nature, his family suggests that donations in his memory be made to the National Park Foundation .

Among the qualities that made Rob so special to us were his generous spirit, his delight in family and friends, and his gracious manner that included the sense of humor that characterized virtually everything he did. He lived a life of optimism and warmth, and was able to elicit the best in all of us.