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Engineer, adventurer
Claremont resident Douglas Walter Grobecker died on January 29, 2008 at his Claremont Place home, surrounded by his family. He was 86.
Born on August 4, 1921, Mr. Grobecker was a retired captain in the US Army and a veteran of World War II. He was a registered engineer in 3 fields, and a very proud graduate of the Colorado School of Mines. He also attended Ohio State University and taught engineering classes at various colleges.
Mr. Grobecker’s passion was a lifetime of work dedicated to studying recovery waste management to provide new sources of fuel and energy using recycled waste.
He was also an adventurous man who loved to travel, hike, ski, bicycle, fly, entertain, cook, paint and garden. He enjoyed traveling to many elder hostels, trekking about on Sierra Club outings, hiking over the Himalayas and biking around the Balkans. In 1997, he participated in the California AIDS Ride, a 560-mile bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, in an effort to raise money for AIDS research.
Mr. Grobecker’s last wishes were for all of his family and friends to celebrate his life with a toast, a good Frank Sinatra song, “I Did It My Way,” and a party, which would express the love and respect that he savored for all of the important people in his life. Details on the party will be forthcoming.
Mr. Grobecker is survived by his companion, Virginia; by his sister, Betty; by his two daughters, Theresa and Leslie; and by his 6 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.
