Robert William Bogen

Dr. Robert William Bogen, 92, died Monday, May 20, 2019, at his home in Nashville, Tennessee. Robert (Bob) was born on November 23, 1926 in Cleveland, Ohio. He subsequently moved to Atlantic City, New Jersey. He attended Atlantic City High School. His family moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1942 where he graduated from Frankford High School. He then enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania as a scholarship student. His education was interrupted by World War II as he was drafted into the Navy and served until the end of the war. He was discharged in 1946 and returned to complete his bachelor’s degree in Zoology and Chemistry in 1949. He married Marion Bryde, in 1950 and began teaching Science and Math in Fairfax, Virginia. He also attended George Washington University, Washington, DC and earned his Master’s Degree in Education, 1953. In 1959, he was hired as the first Executive Director of the Nashville Education Council, which was merged into the Metro Nashville Education Association (MNEA) with the metropolitanization of Nashville. The organization dedicated to advocate for public school teacher rights and benefits. He was hired away by the Arlington (VA) Education Association in the same role. In 1966, Bob returned to Nashville to earn a doctorate in educational administration at the Peabody College of Teachers, now a college of Vanderbilt University. He briefly taught courses at Tennessee State University before the MNEA hired him back as Executive Director, a position he held until his quasi retirement in 1994. Not one to be idle, he obtained a volunteer position at VISTA, the domestic peace corps, coordinating a literacy program aimed at helping welfare mothers prepare for meaningful employment. He earned a grant to study German as a second language at Belmont University and as an exchange student in Dresden, Germany.

He came back from Germany and was hired as the Executive Director of the Tennessee Retired Teachers Association in 1996. In 1999, Dr. Bogen was elected to the Metro Nashville City Council for one term. During that tenure, he was active in the Sister Cities organization. He was instrumental in the creation of the Magdeburg Greenway, in Nashville and the Nashville Promenade in Magdeberg, Germany, along the River Elbe. This relationship expanded into a continuation of learning German and many months of long visits to Magdeburg. In 2011, still feeling the need to serve the community, Bob became a crossing guard with the Metro Nashville school system, until his health forced real retirement in 2015.

Robert is proceeded in death by his father and mother Eroman Bogen and Caroline E Fay(Bogen), his Aunts Nellie Wehner and Florence Galen, his wife of 68 years Marion, and his middle child Carol (Moss). Surviving Dr. Bogen are his eldest and youngest children Robert, Jr (Lynn) and Patricia (Lance) Aaron, Carol’s daughter, his granddaughter Kristin (Robbie) King. Also Kristin and Robbie’s sons, Bob’s great grandsons Rowe and Sloan. And his beloved and constant companion, Eli the fox terrier.

Bob was a big advocate for the environment and animals, tame and wild. After a decade on the couch, Bob sprang into running, winning many road races, in his age group.

A celebration of his life will be held in his honor on Tuesday, May 28th, 2019. There will be visitation from 12 to 1pm and a brief service to follow.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Guiding Eyes for the Blind, a program for training seeing eye dogs (https://www.guidingeyes.org/)

alternative memorial donations honoring Dr. Robert W. Bogen may be forwarded to Metro Nashville Retired Teachers Association at the following address: MNRTA Scholarships, P. O. Box 120145, Nashville, TN 37212. There will be a 2020 scholarship in Dr Bogen’s name.