Robert Kotowski

Longtime resident of Colorado, Robert Donald (“Bob”) Kotowski, died at home October 21, 2016, after a lengthy illness with his family at his side. He was 77. As an aerospace engineer, Bob had an impressive 40-year career with Lockheed Martin, retiring in 2000. One of his accomplishments was his work in 1973-74 on the Viking Lander project, in which his name is listed inside the lander on Mars. That mission was to photograph the red planet in detail and to find water and life on the surface. In 1974, Bob married former Utahn Diane Wetmore, later visual resources curator at the University of Denver. Together they lived in various Colorado cities of Littleton, Kiowa, Lakewood and Centennial. Later they designed and built a sprawling mountain retreat in Silverthorne. As Bob became ill, they relocated to the town of Morrison, near Red Rocks. Bob and Diane had two children: Susan Victoria Meinders, an assistant district attorney in Woodward, Oklahoma (sons Don Wesley and Benjamin Robert); and Robert John Kotowski, a building systems designer who served in the Peace Corps in Jamaica (wife Sancia, daughter Emily Sofia). Bob also had three children from a previous marriage: Eugene Robert (deceased), Dianna Koeppel and Cindy May Parker, who, together, gave Bob six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Bob was born September 23, 1939, in Bayonne, New Jersey, to a Polish-American couple, John Aloysius Kotowski and the former Sophie Geraldine Podciborska, both who preceded him in death. The couple had two sons, Bob and his younger brother, John A. Kotowski (wife, Jane), an energy entrepreneur now in the Bay Area of California. The family resettled in Colorado in 1957. Friends and family will remember Bob for his subtle wit and disdain for inauthenticity. His smile and love will be greatly missed by his wife and all his family. He loved nature and the great outdoors, including hiking, skiing, snowshoeing and target shooting. He enjoyed travel abroad, with trips to Germany and a honeymoon stay in the Bahamas with Diane. Among his favorite U.S. locales were coastal Florida and California. Most of all, in addition to his beloved family, Bob loved animals, especially his dogs, all of whom preceded him in death: Killer, Boomer, Sludge, Gus and Duke. Bob was cremated on October 26. A family memorial service will be held at a later date. The family asks those wishing to honor Bob’s memory to donate in his name to cancer research or animal-rights organizations.