Robert Bonnar (Bob) Doane died May 20 with all three of his children, Linda, Cynthia and Robert, at his side. He was 92.

His wife of 28 years, Rosemarie Duys (Doody) Doane, predeceased him last year.

Robert was born in Melrose, the son of Arthur Johnston Doane and Mary Elizabeth Bonnar. He was a graduate of Melrose High School, class of 1946. After high school, he graduated first in his class at the Wentworth Institute of Technology, where he studied automated industrial electronics.

He continued his education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated in 1952 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science. During his junior year, he joined the ROTC, becoming cadet commander of the Air Force wing. He was called into active duty as a first lieutenant in June of 1952.

He returned to MIT the following year, receiving his master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics, specializing in weapons systems. Subsequently he was selected by the Air Force and MIT in a worldwide competition as one of 50 Alfred P. Sloan Fellows, earning a master’s degree in business management.

In 1955, he was assigned to the Air Force office at Boeing in Seattle. He worked as a test engineer for the automated bombing and navigation system for the prototype of the B-52 and received the Air Force Commendation Medal for his work on the flight testing of this aircraft.

While in Seattle, he met Julia Lee Humphries. They married and moved to Massachusetts, where they raised three children.

In 1961, at the age of 33, he was nominated by the president of the United States, and confirmed by Congress, to serve as a career PL 313 Air Force executive, a rank equivalent to an Air Force general officer.

Over his lengthy Air Force career, he was twice selected by the president of the United States as a meritorious senior executive, a distinction competitively awarded to only two percent of senior government executives.

He spent most of his career working at Hanscom Air Force Base in the electronic systems division (ESD), where he worked on programs being developed by MIT to defend the U.S. and Canada against aerial attack. He was the first Air Force civilian to become a deputy commander within the military structure of the ESD. At the time of his retirement, he held the position of technical director, with the equivalent rank of a two-star general.

In 1988, after 38 years of federal service, he retired at the age of 60. In retirement, he spent half of the year in West Tisbury on his family-held property of nine generations. He spent the other half of the year in Maine. He enjoyed building, woodworking, reading and cooking.

He will be remembered as a man of many talents, high intelligence, and a wonderful sense of humor.

He is survived by his three children: Linda J. Doane, Cynthia L. Doane and Robert A. Doane. He is also survived by his son in law, Scot Turcotte, and granddaughter Julia Y. Doane and her husband, Matthew Dolan. He will be buried next to Doody, on the Island.