Robert ‘Bob’ F. Hartman ’42 of Pleasanton, Calif., died December 28, 2010. He was born in 1919 in El Centro, Calif. While at Mines, Bob was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Sigma Nu fraternity, and graduated with a professional degree in petroleum engineering.
In 1942, he married Mary Ellen Perry. That same year, Bob began his professional career as a petroleum engineer for Standard Oil in El Segundo, Calif. In 1956, he patented a method for the recovery of hydrocarbon vapors emitted during the pumping process, resulting in a major reduction in air pollution. The following year, Bob took his family to Adaban, Iran, to work in conjunction with National Iranian Oil for two years. In 1962 he received his master’s degree in engineering from UCLA.
Bob retired from Chevron in 1982 after 40 years of service, but he continued his public service to philanthropic organizations, his local church, and Plumas Eureka State Park, where he reconstructed the assay office and gave lectures on ore milling. After 62 years of marriage, he was predeceased by Mary Ellen. He is survived by his second wife, Dorothy; daughters Janice Cheney, Linda Hall and Carol Smith; seven grandchildren, including Shawn Cheney ’97; and nine great-grandchildren.
