After childhood in Topeka, Robert served in the U.S. Army during World War II. As a sergeant in a command company's intelligence section, he was assigned to reconnaissance missions along the rapidly changing front lines, as Patton's Third Army moved across Germany in 1945. Upon Germany's surrender, his unit was immediately dispatched to the Philippines (via the Panama Canal), where it participated in the final weeks of military action against Japan. During the Korean War, Robert was again called to duty, although remaining within the U.S.
Following World War II, Robert completed undergraduate work at Washburn University in Topeka, then earned a Masters of Fine Arts degree at University of Iowa, where he met and married Anna Ladd. Their marriage lasted 62 years, until Anna's death in 2011.
After teaching art at several colleges in the Midwest, Robert obtained a doctorate in education from the University of Kansas. He moved his family to Beaumont in 1961 and joined the faculty at Lamar University, where a few years later he became the head of the school's art department - a position he held until his retirement in 1990. Robert was also active in art groups in the Beaumont area.
Robert was widely recognized as a painter, as well as an educator. His decidedly modernist paintings evolved through different creative styles over the years, but generally displayed vivid colors on frameworks of loosely geometrical black lines. His work is prominently noted in the book "Midcentury Modern Art in Texas" (2014) by Dr. Katie Edwards, curator of the Umlauf Museum in Austin.
He is survived by two sons, Robert Michael Rogan and Steven Ladd Rogan, daughter-in-law Joanne Rogan, granddaughter Jennifer Foulds and grandson-in-law William Foulds, grandson Kyle Rogan and granddaughter-in-law Therese Rogan, and great grandchildren Bailey Foulds, Lindsey Foulds, Tyler Scoval, Caiden Rogan, Alexis Rogan, and Harrison Rogan.
Graveside service for Robert will be held October 14, 2020 at 2:00 pm at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park, 4950 Pine, Beaumont, Texas. The family asks that in lieu of flowers memorial contributions be sent to Some Other Place of Beaumont or the Lamar University Friends of the Arts in Robert's honor.
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