Pueblo, Colorado, was the birthplace of Bob Gulardo on August 8, 1930. He moved to Los Angeles, CA, in 1937 and resided in California until 1962. He attended California public schools including Susan Miller Dorsey High School (academic major-1948), Los Angeles City College (AA in Business Administration-1950) and California State University at Los Angeles (BS in Industrial Management/Industrial Engineering and graduate courses toward an MBA-1958). Bob was a member of the United States Army in 1950/1951, attending basic training and Leadership School at Ft. Ord, CA, and Officer Candidate School at Ft. Riley, KS.
In May 1952, Bob married Beverly Schoellerman, his high school sweetheart. Son Steven was born in 1954. Over the next 50 years, in addition to initially living in California, Bob and Beverly resided in Illinois (20 years), Texas (2 years), Ohio (2 years) and Missouri (18 years). After Beverly’s death in 2002, Bob married Marian Gibson, who, with her late husband Ted, were 50-year friends of Bob and Beverly. Bob and Marian resided in Iowa.
In September 1951, after discharge from the Army, Bob joined Northrop Aircraft and started what became a 50-year career in all aspects of facilities planning, design and construction. As a senior facilities engineer with Northrop, Bob was concerned with design, manufacturing, and testing military aircraft. In February 1960, Bob became a member of the FMC Corporation’s Central Engineering Laboratories/Engineered Systems Division. As a senior systems engineer and operations manager, Bob spent the next two decades responsible for commercial facilities, systems, and equipment, primarily for food processing.
Bob joined Sverdrup Corporation, a major A/E/C firm, in 1982. As vice president and deputy corporate principal, he was responsible for planning, design and construction of facilities for the manufacturing and process industries. From 1990 until his retirement in 2001, Bob served as a consultant and senior staff member for several major engineering and construction firms including Davy McKee, Fru-Con and SSOE. During his 50 years of engineering service, Bob was responsible for facilities valued at more than $2 billion.
Bob was a member of the Presbyterian Church USA for more than 60 years and served as both Deacon and Elder. He was also a multi-year member of the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE), Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), American Management Associations (AMA), and Institute of Food Technologies (IFT).
Bob and Marian enjoyed wintering in Arizona from 2004 to 2018. Marian died in May of 2018, and Bob continued wintering in Arizona for two more years. Bob resided in Jefferson until his death.
Bob was preceded in death by his wife Beverly, his wife Marian, his father Emil, and his mother Mabel.
He is survived by his son Steve (Gay) Gulardo of St. Peters, MO; stepdaughter Diane Gibson of Jefferson; stepson Bruce Gibson of Mesa, AZ; grandchildren Kendra (Ryan) Culleton and Wendy (Graham Smith) Lukefaahr of St. Peters, MO; great grandchildren Olivia Culleton, Sophie Culleton, Thomas Culleton, Sawyer Smith, and Arya Smith; other relatives; and friends.
Funeral services will be July 14, at Slininger-Schroeder Funeral Home in Jefferson. Burial will take place at Union Cemetery, St. Charles, IL. Memorials are suggested to the First Presbyterian Church in Jefferson or the Floyd Brown American Legion Post #11 in Jefferson, IA.
