Necrology

Robert Stewart Disney '61

Mar. 18, 1939-Apr. 30, 2025

Robert Stewart Disney ’61 died on April 30, 2025, in Venice, Fla. Born in Rochester, N.Y., on March 18, 1939, he came to Hamilton from Brighton High School. On the Hill, he joined Theta Delta Chi fraternity and, while originally considering a career either in law or medicine, majored in Spanish. For several reasons, his graduation was delayed until 1963, but he retained his allegiance to the Class of 1961 as well as to his fraternity brothers throughout his life.

That life was not extensively documented, but we know that he served in the U.S. Army following his graduation. Expecting to become an infantryman, his performance during basic training was superlative enough that he was asked to become an officer, with its attendant three-year commitment to serve. Shortly thereafter, the Army unexpectedly changed the program, and he was honorably discharged for time served. He decided to work for the Marine Midland Bank. By 1970, he was manager of the bank’s Irondequoit branch and three years later was promoted to assistant vice president in Rochester. Later, he left banking and became a construction site manager in Idaho for several years. At some point, he was married; the couple had two children but eventually divorced.

Perhaps inspired by a summer spent on a dude ranch in Colorado while at Hamilton, Bob decided to leave his home state and move to Basalt, Colo. As it happens, many of those who staffed the ski resorts in nearby Aspen lived in Basalt, where, presumably, the cost of living was considerably lower. Bob, a self-described “ski bum,” became a mountain sports guide during the 1980s, drawing upon his skills at camping. Sometime in the next decade, he went to work for a cab company in Aspen. One of his assignments was to locate and purchase for the company older model cars at auctions, in one instance a “decommissioned” police car.

In 1998 and again in 2000, Bob reunited with Theta Delt alumni for several days, in the first instance in the Adirondacks, to which he drove from Basalt, and in the second, Montana. These reunions were organized by his sophomore year roommate, Tom Crane ’61, with whom over the years Bob was occasionally in touch.

By 2006, Bob moved from Basalt to Aspen, residing there until 2019. While in Aspen, he began a relationship with Marilyn Filbrick, an alumna of Skidmore College whom he had first encountered at Hamilton. They remained together for several years until her death. Shortly thereafter he left Colorado for Venice, Fla., where for a time he took up tennis and became fairly proficient.

While fraternity life and the friends he made at Theta Delta Chi were of enduring value, Bob also acknowledged the impact of Hamilton’s curriculum that gave him, as he put it in his 50th reunion yearbook, “the ability to think, write, and speak coherently.” He also valued the public speaking requirement and thought it a shame that this was later abolished.

Robert S. Disney is survived by his two children.

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