Robert Rohr, 91, Owned Island Insurance Agency

Robert E. Rohr of Vineyard Haven, who grew up in his mother's restaurant in Connecticut and grew old working as the state's oldest emergency medical technician, died Thursday, March 9. He was 91.

In between, Mr. Rohr was a biochemist, a magician, a war hero, an insurance agent, an entrepreneur, a boat builder and a 33rd degree Mason.

Born on March 27, 1915, in Lewiston, Me., he was raised in Westport, Conn., by his mother, the proprietress of the Hidden Door restaurant. He worked his way through Bowdoin College in Maine by teaching tennis and golf, and was graduated with a degree in biology in 1937.

A week after Pearl Harbor was bombed, Mr. Rohr and his brother, Joe, enlisted as ensigns in the Navy. Joe was killed within a year when his ship was torpedoed in the North Atlantic. Mr. Rohr volunteered for underwater demolition team service, rising to the rank of lieutenant commander by the end of the war.

As a Navy Frogman, Mr. Rohr trained by swimming up to 20 miles a day, and planted explosives on Pacific islands to destroy shoreline obstructions. One of these explosives detonated prematurely, breaking his back. He spent six months in a military hospital. This was Mr. Rohr's second close call in the Navy, the first having occurred when he was bitten by a deadly fer-de-lance viper while leading a rescue mission for a downed navy pilot in Panama. Fortunately, a navy medic in the search party was carrying anti-venom.

In 1945 Mr. Rohr met Phyllis Hammerstrom at a USO sponsored dance. They married in 1946 and went on to have two daughters and four sons. Mr. Rohr worked as an insurance agent in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts before purchasing the Martha's Vineyard Insurance Agency in 1967 and moving the family to Martha's Vineyard. Mr. and Mrs. Rohr had spent their honeymoon on the Island.

Mr. Rohr was an avid sailor, sailing the New England coast in a racing sloop with his wife and six children every summer. He spent many years building a 50-foot, ferro-cement ketch named Liontalk between the gas tanks in Vineyard Haven.

Mr. Rohr was involved in many social, religious and charitable organizations over his long life. He was a devoted member of Grace Episcopal Church in Vineyard Haven and was senior warden of the church for many years.

He served the Vineyard as an emergency medical technician (EMT) until 81 years of age, becoming the oldest active EMT in Massachusetts.

Mr. Rohr also served as a school committee member and was chairman of the Martha's Vineyard school committee. He also served as a tax assessor in Vineyard Haven for many years. He was active in the management of and fundraising for Camp Jabberwocky and served on its board of directors. Mr. Rohr was the treasurer of Havenside Elderly Housing for decades, and could frequently be seen with tools in hand performing maintenance to the buildings. He was a member and past president of the Old Colony Club in Plymouth. He was a 33rd degree Mason. He also served on the boards of several companies including Dukes County Savings Bank.

Mr. Rohr is survived by six children: Susan of North Carolina, Bruce of Canton, Joe of Pembroke, Chris of Hawaii, Bill of Needham and Elizabeth of West Tisbury. He is also survived by six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

A memorial service will be held at the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home in Oak Bluffs on Saturday, March 18, at 1:30 p.m.