Robert (Bob) H. Falk

Robert (Bob) Falk, a resident of Danville, Calif. who worked in the machine shop at the Lab for a number of years, died May 29, following a number of debilitating strokes and associated complications. He was 93.

Falk was born Nov. 24, 1917, and raised in Mayville, Wis. He played multiple sports throughout high school, including varsity football and basketball, during which time he was a four-year letterman. Notably, Falk was the last surviving member of the Mayville High School Wisconsin State championship basketball team of 1935. After graduating from Mayville High School, he attended the University of Wisconsin, majoring in engineering.

After working at LLNL, he moved into the private sector, representing a wide range of companies involved in precision measurement equipment, optics and instrumentation. He owned and operated a successful company, Hampton-Donnelley International, for more than two decades.

Falk volunteered as an aircraft mechanic instructor during World War II. Once his lifelong sweetheart graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1942, they were married.

During the war, the couple moved west finding work at the Oakland Airport. They purchased rural acreage in the San Francisco Bay Area, and in 1947 began construction of their home in Danville.

Upon retirement, Falk and his wife traveled extensively.

Falk was preceded in death by his wife, Marian Thiel Falk, who died in 2002 at the age of 84. He also was preceded in death by his four brothers, Frank, Clarence, Edward and Arthur, and his three sisters, Julia, Margaret and Rose.

He is survived by his two sons, John Robert Falk and James S. Falk, and six granddaughters, Kristen, Jennifer, Megan, Becky, Courtney and Kirby Anne.

A memorial mass will take place today (June 4) at 10:30 a.m., at St. Isidore’s Catholic Church, 440 La Gonda Way, Danville. A reception will immediately follow the service. Graveside services will be conducted in Mayville, Wis., at a later date and time to be determined.