Robert Henry Farwell, formerly of Lexington and Edgartown, died peacefully at home in Hudson, Ohio on Feb. 20. He was 96.

He was raised in Washington, D.C., served in the Navy in World War II and earned his engineering degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. In 1948, he received a master’s in business administration from Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania.

He began working at age 10 and had a distinguished career in business, culminating in a number of international telecommunications projects including in Chile, Cameroon, Nigeria, Iran, Algeria, China and Japan. He served as vice president of GTE International and retired as president of GTE Communications Systems in Asia.

While attending Wharton he met and married Martha Allen, his wife of 67 years.

Bob believed in the importance of service, taking on leadership roles in his Unitarian Universalist faith community, on town committees and on boards of various organizations. Intellectually curious, humorous and pragmatic, he was engaged and loving to the end.

He is survived by his daughters Nancy Farwell and her spouse Richard vanHaagen of Berkeley, Calif. and Sally Farwell and her spouse Jeffrey Cohen of Solon, Ohio; grandchildren Jennifer Cohen and her spouse Joe Arkin, and Joshua Cohen and Saba Farwell; and two great-grandchildren as well as many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his wife Martha and daughter Becky Farwell.

A celebration of life is planned in the near future.