Robert A. Bennett

Bennett, Robert A., 85, of St. Pete Beach, died Friday February 18, 2005. He was born in Sarasota and moved to St. Pete Beach from Tampa in 1942. He attended schools in Tampa before going to Porter Military Academy in Charleston, SC. In 1941, he graduated from the University of Florida and was enrolled at the University of Virginia Law School. From 1942 through 1946 he served in the Army in the US, South Pacific and Japan, at the end of the war, he commanded the Ordinance Battalion. He returned to attend Law school at the University of Florida, was integrated into the regular Army and received a MBA from the University of Chicago. As a contracting officer with the Detroit Ordinance District, he signed the first contract exceeding one billion dollars with the Ford Motor Company for the production of tanks. He subsequently served with the Military Aviation Advisory Group in Paris, Frances and later taught management at the Ordinance School in Aberdeen, Maryland. He retired in 1962. He was at one time an officer and Director of the Clarke Siviter Co., Hensberry & Co. Investments, the Robert A. Bennett Foundation, and form 1968 to 1972 was Executive Director of the St. Petersburg Episcopal Community , now known as Suncoast Manor. Mr. Bennett was a member of Beta Theta Pi, Phi Alpha Delta legal fraternity, Delta Sigma Pi and served on the Vestries of St. Bedes and St. Albans Episcopal Churches and as a President of the Seamark Condominium Association on St. Pete Beach. He is survived by his wife of 26 years, Betty Jo Bennett and a step-son:Victor L. Warren of Largo, FL. Anderson-McQueen Funeral & Cremation Centers-NE St. Petersburg Chapel.