Necrology
Robert Alan Stookey '63
Jan. 22, 1942-Dec. 30, 2020
Robert Alan Stookey ’63, an OB/GYN responsible for bringing nearly 5,000 babies into the world, died on Dec. 30, 2020. He was 78.
Born in Corning, N.Y., on Jan. 22, 1942, to Donald and Ruth Stookey, he prepared for Hamilton at Northside High School. On College Hill, the chemistry major joined Gryphon and lent his musical talents to the band and Glee Club.
Shortly after graduation, Stookey married Sally Parsons, whom he had met in Sunday school when they were 4 years old. He had proposed to her in Hamilton’s Root Glen and had the good fortune of inviting her to be his date for 12 Hamilton houseparty weekends.
Stookey enrolled at Columbia University Medical School in New York City before moving to Rochester, N.Y., where he completed his internship at Strong Memorial Hospital. Next came service in the U.S. Navy as a doctor at the Main Naval Dispensary in Washington, D.C. He retired as a lieutenant commander before moving back to Rochester to complete his residency at Strong.
After settling in Pittsford, N.Y., Stookey would spend the next 36 years working as an OB/GYN, many of those years as a partner at the Westfall Park Obstetrical and Gynecological Group. In 2007, he retired as an emeritus professor at the University of Rochester.
“Bob was greatly loved and respected by the students, nurses, fellow doctors, and the countless patients whose lives he touched,” a published obituary noted. “His wry sense of humor, both at work and at home, will be fondly remembered by all who knew him.”
During his retirement, Stookey rekindled his interest in music by playing trombone in the Honeoye Falls and Rochester Eastman School of Music New Horizons bands. He and Sally also sang in the choir at the United Church of Pittsford. He was a member of the Rochester Rotary Club for 45 years.
Most of all, according to the obituary, Stookey was a family man. He hunted, fished, and skied with his sons and shared his love of the outdoors with his grandchildren. He and Sally cherished their life at Sky Top Farm. Each fall they hosted a cider party where they gave tractor rides to the children and treated guests to cider made with an old-fashioned press.
He also enjoyed travel to many countries, as well as fishing in Florida, Mexico, Alaska, and fly-in trips to northern Canada. Another favorite destination was Hamilton, where he returned for alumni weekends.
“Hamilton has meant an excellent liberal arts background from which to pursue almost any career … many enduring friendships, building of self-confidence, finding you could ‘hold your own’ with bright students from all over (and outside) the country,” he wrote in a reunion yearbook.
Survivors include his wife, two sons, including David Stookey ’86, a brother, Donald Stookey ’72, and four grandchildren.
