Robert McCown

ROBERT A. MCCOWN

Iowa City

Robert McCown, 75, died March 31, 2015, after a long and courageous battle with Parkinson's disease. He has donated his body to the University of Iowa College of Medicine for scientific purposes. A celebration of Bob's life will be 4 p.m. Saturday, April 4, at Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service in Iowa City, with a reception to follow.

Bob was born in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Nov. 21, 1939, the only son of Don Cleveland and Frances Anne Freking McCown. He went to grade school in Hawarden, Iowa, and attended Galen High School in LeMars. He received a B.A. degree from St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn., an M.A. degree from the University of Iowa and an M.S. degree in library science from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

He taught history at Canterbury School in New Milford, Conn., for five years before moving to the University of Iowa Libraries in 1970. He worked for 31 years in the Special Collections Department as the manuscripts librarian and was head of the department from 1986 to 1997, retiring in 2001.

In addition to his regular duties of acquiring and processing collections and then helping researchers to use the manuscripts and the rare books in the department, Bob edited three publications: Books at Iowa, The Manuscript Society News and The Ruth Suckow Newsletter. He also put together a book of essays on the English poet, Leigh Hunt, entitled The Life and Times of Leigh Hunt.

Bob was a member of the advisory committee of the Center for Recent American History, a delegate to the White House Conference on Library and Information Services in 1979, contributor to The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa and a member of the Iowa Historical Records advisory board appointed by Iowa Governor Terry Branstad. In 2001, he was the recipient of the Petersen-Harlan Award presented by the State Historical Society of Iowa as a person "who has made significant longterm or continuing contributions to Iowa history."

Bob dearly loved hiking in the mountains in the Southwest with his beloved wife, Judi, reading historical books, eating gourmet meals cooked lovingly by his wife, and especially spending time with his children and grandchildren.

He is survived by his wife, Judith M. Gust; two children, John McCown of Iowa City and Anne Hussey and her husband, Chris Hussey, of Rowayton, Conn.; five grandchildren, Molly, Charlotte, Jane, Sarah and Pete; and six of his wife's children – they include David Gust and his wife, Patsy, of Harwood, N.D., Renee Gust of Minneapolis, Sarah Kirk and her husband, Mark, Jeffery Gust and his wife, Linda, of Clive, Jerome Gust of Bloomington, Ind., and Neil Gust of Brooklyn, N.Y.; and six grandchildren.

Bob was preceded in death by his son, Mathew Cleveland McCown.

A special thank-you to Dr. Rachael Dirksen, the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and the fabulous staff at the Oaknoll care facility.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the University of Iowa Foundation in support of the Iowa Women's Archives at the University of Iowa's Main Library or to Iowa City Hospice.

Online condolences may be directed to the family at www.lensingfuneral.com.