Dr. Robert William Cheney Gunderson
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It is with sadness that we let family and friends know of Dr. Robert (Bob) William Cheney Gunderson's passing, January 22nd, 2020. He was 83.
Bob liked to tell us that he was born December 6th in Great Falls during the record snow and fifty-below-zero cold weather of 1936 to May Cheney Gunderson and Carl Martin Gunderson. Thomas Carl Gunderson was three years older and the two had many adventures growing up in Geraldine, Highwood, Stanford, the Cheney Surprise Creek Ranch (2 Bar C) and Havre, Montana.
Bob graduated from Havre High School in 1954 and with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Montana State College in 1958. He completed a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Alabama in 1967. He was immediately hired by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and the Marshall Space Center, NASA, in Huntsville, Alabama from 1958-1968. He was selected by NASA Headquarters, Washington D.C. and Dr. Werner Von Braun, as the Lead Research Engineer to determine the feasibility of astronaut participation in the guidance of the Saturn V Rocket. The system was launched beginning with Apollo 11.
Bob accepted an academic position at Utah State University (USU), 1968-1999, beginning a long career teaching and continuing his research in control systems, pattern recognition and remote sensing. He was also the Director of the Center for Self-Organizing Intelligent Systems. Teaching and mentoring students were his priority and his subtle sense of humor will be missed by friends and former students.
After retirement from USU, he couldn't stay away from teaching and taught for another 10 years at Montana State University (MSU). Bob received many accolades and awards for his many years of research and teaching. But, he was happiest when the recognition came from his students. He was also honored to be a recipient of the George R. Stibitz Computer & Communication Pioneer Award in 2015. After a second retirement, he spent time fishing on the Gallatin and Madison Rivers and researching the family genealogy.
Bob was proud of his Montana pioneer family history and his Norwegian ancestry. He spent many hours researching the Gunderson/Cheney ancestry. We are the beneficiaries of all his hard work and are grateful for the many hours spent researching and writing family histories. Through his work, we have met many close relatives in both Norway and the United States.
Bob met Katherine Langdon at Havre high school and were married for 62 years. They had two daughters, Tandy and Sharlyn. He also had many dogs, cats and horses and gave them many chin scratches and special treats from the dinner table.
Bob leaves behind his wife, Katherine, daughters, Tandy Gunderson and Sharlyn Gunderson-Izurieta (Clem), two grandchildren, Brynn Katherine Olive Davis (Kevin) and Kevin Eric Olive, his "Norwegian" daughters, Solveig Langrud Sletten (Knut Erik), and Kristin Tusvik (Geir), and the cat, Katt.
We are grateful to Dr. Ben Smith and his staff at Bozeman Deaconess Hospital, friends, former students and the Cheney/Gunderson family members who have shared stories about Bob since his passing. We are humbled by the gratitude expressed to us about Bob's generosity, welcoming personality, caring and humor.
A Celebration of Life will be held this summer. In lieu of flowers and in honor of Dad's love of animals and Montana history, we would appreciate donations to Tiny Tails K-9 Pet Rescue, https://www.tinytailsk-9rescue.com/ or to the Montana Historical Society, https://mhs.mt.gov/ in Robert Gunderson's name. You can also honor Bob by enjoying a day of fly-fishing along the Gallatin and Madison Rivers. Condolences and memories may be shared with the family at https://dokkennelson.com/