Dr. Robert Leonard Polk Sr

Dr. Robert Leonard Polk Sr

August 26, 1936 – July 5, 2022

Robert was born to William and Ruth Polk in East Liverpool, Ohio. Two older siblings, brother William “Billy” Polk and sister Bonnie Woessner preceded him in passing. He is survived by his younger brother Richard and his wife Virginia “Ginny” in Galloway, Ohio, and their two children: Gretchen Furlong in Lancaster, New York, and Megan Dennard in Palm Beach, Florida. Robert had four children: Michael (Deceased), Robert II and his wife Victoria of Leesburg, Virginia, John of Tucson, Arizona, and Erin Austin of Tyler, Texas. Robert also leaves behind his childhood friend Kaye Michels in East Liverpool, Ohio, Linda and Neil Cutler in Canada, and his good friend Dana Spaccarotella here in Bellevue, Nebraska.

Robert’s life interests were immensely varied. This led him to seek career paths over a wide spectrum of disciplines. Early positions in the aerospace community gave way to roles in the liquor and winery industry, a pivot back to aerospace, university level teaching positions, a divergence to government roles with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other intelligence related work with private companies. It was this final work that brought him to Bellevue, Nebraska, an area he came to love and thrive in.

Perhaps his greatest talent was to adapt quickly to life situation developments requiring change. He was fond of saying: “Reflect, reorganize, relearn if you have to, and move on to bigger and better — maybe even the best of times”. He was always seeking opportunity over security, and it can be said that precarious situational changes occurred from this ethos, but overall, it served him well.

He always insisted his great “Insurance Policy” in life was education. A bachelor’s degree in physics, complemented by two degrees in business disciplines was capped by a Doctorate in Business Administration. His class ring from that last achievement accompanies him in final resting.

In his later years and retirement, his passion for arts and writing emerged. Although he would insist these activities were cathartic in nature, numerous paintings and books were shared openly and entered the public domain.

Any spare time found among these works was spent in simple activities such as trail walking, reading and cooking. However, his greatest joy of all was carving out time with his friend Dana. Together they would seek out the wonders of local attractions and restaurants and sharing their observations with others through writing.

He was a minimalist man who wanted few material things to get in the way within his small “wonderful” apartment as he described it. Somewhat of an isolationist, he chose his friends carefully and they were few. But he preferred it that way, as it allowed him to share of himself sufficiently with each. You would often hear him remind you of the One to a Box theory by the writer Robert Ringer: “When you die, how many other people do you think will hop in the box with you?”

Private services were held.