Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1939.  He earned his Ph.D. at Iowa State University in 1967, working with Dr. Richard W. Pohl.  After a brief stay at the Milwaukee Public Museum, he joined the UW-Stevens Point faculty in 1968.  Here he taught vascular plant taxonomy to over 4,000 students in 32 years, plus courses in agrostology, aquatic plant identification, dendrology, and edible wild plants.  Starting with one cabinet of about 1,000 plant specimens in 1969, he (and Dr. Frank W. Bowers) built the UW-Stevens Point herbarium into the 3^rd largest in Wisconsin, with over 200,000 specimens, based mainly on collections by him, Frank, and their students.  Bob is a specialist in grasses, particularly the genus Panicum/Dichanthelium, but is also one of the authorities on the flora of Wisconsin.  He and his wife, bryologist Sally K. Freckmann, are avid rock gardeners.

Here, Bob shows the parsley family member Oxypolis rigidior to the Botanical Club of Wisconsin, at Avoca Prairie (Iowa County, Wisconsin), in August 2006.