Robert A. Saut Jr.
It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of our brother, Bob Saut Jr., of Cecil, who passed away Monday, January 18, 2021, at the age of 64. He was born September 11, 1956, the eldest of five children to Robert “Bob” Saut and Mary Jean Cherry Saut. He was the grandson to Alex Saut and Ida Saut Haney, and Gertude Sullivan Cherry and Henry Cherry, all of whom are deceased.
Bob leaves behind his siblings, Rene Saut (Terry Miller), Rich Saut (Karen Saut), Randy Saut (Sarah Saut) and Rhonda Saut Tregay (David Tregay Jr). He also leaves numerous nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins.
As a young boy, Bob was enthralled with the Space Race to the Moon. He often launched model rockets and gazed through a small telescope. He graduated from Canon-McMillan Senior High in 1975. After high school, he served in the U.S. Air Force, based in Korea for a short time and at Langley AFB in Virginia. He also belonged to the Air Force Reserves 9/11th Air Wing at Pittsburgh Airport. Bob attended Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics and became an aviation mechanic. He spent the majority of his career working for NorthWest Airlines (later bought by Delta) at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport and at Duluth International Airport in Duluth, Minn.
Bob also followed his dreams. Bob worked for US Science Foundation working in Antarctica for 18 months. He helped to build the dormitories and drove large Snow Cats across the ice. He assisted with experiments and data collection, explored ice caves, and took beautiful photos of penguins and the landscape.
Bob worked at Wallops Island, Va., and at Edwards AFB in California with NASA on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. It is the aircraft that carried the space shuttles across the country piggyback. He was selected to help remove the sensitive equipment from the aircraft after the Space Shuttle program was retired.
Bob loved his telescopes, his cameras and drones, and nature, often sharing his photographs of the stars, comets, the sun, eagles and other wildlife. Every year Bob would attend the weekend-long astronomy event held at Black Water Falls, W.Va., given by the Kanawha Valley Astronomical Society. There he met many wonderful lifelong friends, Dianne Wood and Melissa Thorner and others through KVAS.
Bob loved science, history, reading and travel. He loved his friends and his family and was generous to all of them. He sent the funniest cards on birthdays and for holidays. He shared his photos to brighten our days. He will be greatly missed by all.
Arrangements are being handled by Pittsburgh Funeral & Cremation. A memorial service is being planned for later this summer.
Donations in his memory can be made to Kanawha Valley Astronomical Society, P.O. Box 2132, Charleston, WV 25328, Attn: Rodney Waugh.
“I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night” (The Old Astronomer to His Pupil by Sarah Williams).