Robert Francis Burt transitioned peacefully on February 16, 2021 at age 101 with his family surrounding him, in the bedroom of his home of 60 years, in Palo Alto, California.
Bob, or as he was affectionately called, “Big Bob Burt” was born in New York City, a second son to Frances and Abraham Jacob Burt. His older brother was William “Bill” Burt, who passed in 1990.
Bob grew up in Brooklyn, among many cousins, attended Boys High School and then graduated from Columbia Teacher’s College in 1948 with a MA in Music and Music Teaching and from New York University with and MS in Physics in 1955.
Though he had an undying love for music, the burgeoning aerospace industry offered him work and eventually brought him and family to Palo Alto, California where he worked as a physicist for Lockheed Missiles and Space Corporation for the rest of his career. He was one of the first people to utilize computers (back when one computer filled a room…) and he worked on such aerospace problems as how to bring two space ships together in space (the beginnings of GPS!). Much of his work was “secret” so he did not share it with family, but he would say, “I can’t tell you what I do, but just read the newspaper….” Bob was a real rocket scientist. His favorite part of his job was creating a manual on “Celestial Mechanics,” which he used while teaching both at Lockheed and at Santa Clara University. Even at age 97, he was working on a mathematical problem – a new proof of the Pythagorean theorem, which he was also tying into a proof of gravity.
Bob’s love for music was with him to the day he passed. He listened to music everyday. He primarily loved classical music and was a wonderful pianist. He played mostly for himself, his family and gatherings of friends. His daughters remember family “sings” from classic American folk song books – with him playing piano. He developed “Transparent Notations,” a new musical notation system utilizing a visual representation of the piano, and with time running vertically on the page. With this, he taught his grandson, Diishan, who had never played piano, to play the first movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata.
Bob began and intensive study of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and at age 99 and 100, despite being almost blind, he learned to use apparatus for enlarging print, and voice over on his iPad to write several chapters discussing his ideas in detail about the character Hamlet .
Bob is also remembered for his remarkable sense of humor. He had a keen sense of comic timing, often flipping a conversation upside-down and keeping his family and friends in stitches of laughter forever.
Bob was a beloved family man. He is survived by his wife of 76 years, Lillian Anita Landsman Burt, and two daughters - Karen Burt-Imira, and Julie Oak-Cassilly. He has two adoring grandchildren (Karen’s children), Diishan and Ku’ulani Imira, for whom he he was a “larger than life hero.” When mentioning family, we cannot leave out his famous sidekick, the family dog, Pandora, who also kept the family laughing continuously with her antics and lived to be 20 years old.
Bob and Lil had the great fortune of excellent health and vitality into their 90’s. However in the 5 years before his passing, they both declined steadily. Despite blindness and loss of much mobility, he still managed to perform on the piano at a grand birthday celebration for him when he turned 100. Ninety people celebrated his life and their marriage, honoring him with many memories of his generosity, warmth, humor, intelligence, and love of music, art, good food, dancing, nature, general fun and rousing conversation.
Bob was fearless about death and opened his heart wide to everyone – in his last days saying goodbyes to family and close friends. And then was surrounded by his daughters and grandchildren when he passed – entirely peacefully and complete with a life well lived and with so much love.
