It is with great sorrow that we note the death of Robert A. Trenkle, a long time member, volunteer and officer of the Section.

Robert Anthony Trenkle, of Lady Lake, FL, formerly of Huntsville AL, died on Monday, January 21, 2002 at the age of 86.

Mr. Trenkle was a World War II Army Air Corps veteran and a Korean War and Vietnam War Air Force veteran. He worked as an engineer on the Apollo moon program and retired from the State of Alabama Civil Defense. He was a member of the Elks Lodge, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Knights of Columbus, St. Timothy's Catholic Church in FL and Saint Joseph's Catholic Community in Huntsville.

Bob Trenkle was the IEEE Huntsville Section 1973-1974 Vice Chairman and the 1974-1975 Chairman. He received the National IEEE Centennial Award in 1984 and the Section Professional of the Year award in 1986. He represented the Section at the Huntsville Association of Technical Societies (HATS) from 1972 through 1994.

Bob was the Vice President of HATS in 1976-1978, the President in 1978-1979, Secretary in 1982-1983, and the Program Chair for HATS' first TABES conference in 1984. Bob was a member of the founding Board of Directors of the Joint Engineering Council of Alabama (JECA) in 1979 and represented the IEEE there until 1994.

Bob also served as President of the local chapters of the Alabama Society of Professional Engineers and the Institute of Industrial Engineers.

Survivors include three sons, Charles R. Trenkle and David A. Trenkle, both of Huntsville, and John J. Trenkle of Lady Lake; one daughter, Mary Patricia Trenkle of Tom Ball, Texas; three brothers, Martin Trenkle of Wisconsin, Philip Trenkle of Pearland, Texas, and Thomas J. Trenkle of Waukegan, Ill.; two sisters, Caroline Whitton of Farmer City, Ill., and Genevieve Braun of North Ridge, Calif.; and two grand children.

The funeral was held in Florida with Beyers Funeral Home of Lady Lake in charge of the arrangements.