Necrology

Robert Bigelow DeMaine '50

Oct. 20, 1929-Jan. 18, 2020

Robert Bigelow DeMaine ’50, whose career trifecta included teacher, city planner, and landscape designer, was born on Oct. 20, 1929, and raised in New York City, a son of Harry DeMaine, an artist, and the former Lucy MacDonald, a secretary to the American Field Service Ambulance Corps during the World Wars.

At Hamilton, he focused his studies on art and history while finding time to participate on the track and cross country teams, the Charlatans, the Outing Club, Intramural Council, and Squires Club.

After earning a degree at Harvard Graduate School of Education and two years in the U.S. Army (1951-53), he used the G.I. Bill for another year at Teacher’s College, Columbia University. He then taught art at West Orange (N.J.) High School for nine years.

In 1963, a different career called, and he landed at the University of North Carolina Graduate School of City and Regional Planning. With his new master’s degree in hand, he became the first full-time planner for the town of Chapel Hill (1966-78). Later he became a regional planner at the Triangle J Council of Governments.

Although he had a talent for city planning, DeMaine felt as if his creativity was not being tapped to its full potential. In 1979, he entered a two-year program in landscape design at North Carolina State University. He was mostly self-employed in that field for several years beginning in 1981. In 1992, he eased into his final career, volunteering several days a week at Club Boulevard Humanities Magnet Elementary School in Durham, an activity he enjoyed for 28 years until late 2019.

DeMaine remained active throughout his life. In 1965, he discovered the Chapel Hill International Folk Dance Club, which he had been an active part of through its 55th anniversary in 2019. A runner since his Hamilton days, he took up with the Carolina Godiva Track Club in the late 1970s and the Tarheel Hash House Harriers, starting in their second run in 1981 and laying his last trail for them from Carol Woods Retirement Community in the winter of 2019.

A loyal alumnus who served Hamilton as a class agent, DeMaine died on Jan. 18, 2020, at his home in Raleigh, N.C., at the age of 90. He is survived by his wife, the former Ann Wuehrmann, whom he had married in 1970.

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