SCHACHT, Robert (Bob) Marshall

Arizona Daily Sun, Flagstaff, Arizona, Sunday, January 06, 2013 Robert Marshall Schacht, 69, passed away in his home in Flagstaff on December 30, 2012. Born September 18, 1943 in Racine, Wisconsin to Alice and Robert Schacht, Bob was the second of five children. In 1946 the family moved to Madison. They were a musical family, and Bob pursued his love of music throughout his life, singing tenor and playing stand-up bass in bluegrass bands and guitar in church groups. After graduating from Madison’s Wisconsin High School in 1961, and from the University of Wisconsin in 1965, Bob earned a Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Michigan, specializing in archeology. He made Iran the focus of his archeological research, doing field work there in the 1970s. He taught anthropology at the universities of Maryland and Houston, Wayne State, Ganado College (where he met his first wife Charlotte Goodluck, later divorced), and Northern Arizona University, before obtaining a research and grant support position at the Northern Arizona University Institute for Human Development in Flagstaff, where he worked for many years. In 2004 he moved to Honolulu to work as Research Director of the Pacific Basin Rehabilitation Research and Training Center. There he also met and (in 2008) married Nel Riddle (now Riddle-Schacht). Following his retirement in 2008 they returned to Flagstaff in 2009. Bob was active in the Episcopal Church during his many years in Flagstaff. He also was an avid progressive activist, both on the web and in local political groups, promoting human rights and social justice. He was tireless as his family’s archivist and historian, compiling biographies of his mother and grandmothers and researching family ancestry. He also continued his review of his archeological research in Iran, working with his mentor and colleague Henry Wright. Bob is survived by his beloved wife Nel and her children and their grandchildren; siblings Richard, Charles, Anita and James; and their spouses, children and grandchildren. A memorial will be held at the Flagstaff Episcopal Church of the Epiphany on January 12, 2012 at 3:00 p.m., preceded by a reception at 1:30 p.m. This obituary was prepared by the Advertising Department (928) 556-2279.