Robert W. Wennerholm

ROBERT W. WENNERHOLM

Iowa City

Robert W. Wennerholm of Iowa City "slipped the surly bonds of earth" on March 11, 2017, after a very full life and an extremely short experience of cancer. A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, March 20, at First Mennonite Church. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 19, at Lensing Funeral Service in Iowa City.

Bob was born in Port Huron, Mich., on July 5, 1939, to Henry W. and Florence Steele Wennerholm. In 1973, he married Rosemary Michael. Through his life he lived in many parts of the U.S., but the state where he spent the largest number of years was Iowa.

His missions in life were to know God, to assist and to improve the world, and to protect those for whom he was given responsibility through family and community ties or career duties. Bob's ultimate career was a police legal advisor, after a variety of positions in different fields. He received a JD degree from the University of Illinois, Champaign, and along the way studied many subjects at several different universities, including Wayne State, Florida, the University of Chicago, Western Illinois and Iowa.

Bob's police legal career began at the Metro Miami-Dade Public Safety (Sheriff's) Dept., where he served as head of the legal unit, and continued as legal advisor at Fort Launderdale. He came up with the idea of providing computer-based continuing legal training to law enforcement officers, which he saw as the most effective way to keep officers updated on the law. He founded a company, The Police Law Institute, to provide current, practical monthly lessons in topics such as use of force, search and seizure, and stop and frisk, as well as other areas of criminal law.

Bob taught both business and criminal law at universities such as Florida International University and St. Thomas University. But his love was in doing live police legal training. This continued until near the end of his life for the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and others in Illinois, and occasionally in Johnson County. He was a member and chairman of the Legal Officers Section of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the American Society for Law Enforcement Trainers and the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association.

Survivors include his wife, Rosemary Michael, and daughter, Kira Wennerholm; brothers-in-law, Jan Michael (Susan Garzon) and Peter Michael (Donna Barr); sister-in-law, Elizabeth Michael; as well as nephews, James Prior and Skyler Michael. His parents and an infant sister preceded him in death.

The family would like especially to thank Dr. Chris Schuster of Mercy Family Medicine and the staff who cared for Bob at University Hospitals, as well as staff at Iowa City Hospice, for their kind and committed care.

For those who wish to make a memorial, we encourage you to perform a service or send a donation to a charity you feel will help the world.

A full obituary and online condolences are at www.lensingfuneral.com.