Robert LeRoy Stearns

Robert LeRoy Stearns was born on August 22, 1925, in Port Chester, New York, the son of Fred LeRoy Stearns and Alice Edith (Gent) Stearns. He passed away on June 25, 2023. Robert lived with his parents in Rye, New York until 1933 when the family moved to the Oxecossett Farm in Wequetequock, Connecticut. Robert graduated from Stonington High School in 1943. During World War 11, Robert served with the United States Navy Air Corps taking pre-flight training at Yale University in New Haven Connecticut and University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. When the war ended, he was in flight training at Glenview Naval Air Station in Glenview, Illinois. He accepted discharge from there and went back to college at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Robert was graduated from Yale University in the class of 1948 with a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree. Robert married Margaret Jones of North Stonington, Connecticut on August 17, 1946, in North Stonington, Connecticut. Robert and Margaret had three children: Fred LeRoy, Thomas Robert, and Margaret Cecelia. Following graduation from Yale, Robert went to work for the DuPont Company at the Wilmington, Delaware Experimental Station. Robert worked with DuPont from February 1949 until the end of 1980 when he retired. During his DuPont career, he worked at the Experimental Station in Wilmington, Delaware, the plant in Charleston, West Virginia, the plant of the DuPont subsidiary, DuPont (Nederland) N.V. in Dordrecht, The Netherlands, and the DuPont (Nederland) N.V. Corporate Offices in The Hague, the plant in LaPorte Plant in Texas and the Corporate Offices in Wilmington, Delaware. While living in Delaware and in West Virginia, he was active in the Boy Scout organization serving as Assistant Cubmaster, Cubmaster, Neighborhood Commissioner, Assistant District Commissioner, District Commissioner and District Chairman. Robert retired from the DuPont Company at the end of 1980 after just shy of 32 years of service. Following retirement in 1980, he set up the engineering consultation firm of R.L. Stearns & Associates specializing in Environmental Engineering based first in Austin, Texas then moving in 1985 to Round Rock, Texas. Robert served as a Senior member of the Technical Staff of Webb, Murray & Associates, Safety and Fire protection Engineers on a contract basis, adding chemical plant and refinery safety to his consulting field. In his retirement, he became active in the movement in Texas to improve the status of victims of violent crime in the criminal justice system. Robert served as State Chairmen of People Against Violent Crime, a Texas crime victim advocacy organization. In 1986, Robert organized VIGIL, a coalition of crime victim advocacy organizations for the purpose of consolidating the legislative efforts of the movement before the Texas Legislature. Under Robert's leadership, the coalition was successful in adding a provision to the Texas State Constitution which provides a much stronger basis for the statutory provisions providing protection to crime victims. In December 2011, Robert and Margaret moved to a retirement village in Aurora, Colorado.