Robert W. Stusrud

Robert W. Stusrud, 87, passed away on September 3, 2024, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was born on January 4, 1937, in Fargo, North Dakota, to the late Ben and Ruth Walters Stusrud. 

Bob grew up in the cold, white north of Fargo, ND, where he started his journey to becoming an Eagle Scout. He was a true outdoorsman and often went camping, canoeing, fishing and hunting with his parents and friends. 

After moving with his family to Rockford, IL, he graduated in 1954 from West Rockford High School. He was passionate about swimming, tennis and skiing. 

Once beginning his collegiate career at University of Illinois, he found his true career passion. He graduated with a B.S in Metallurgical Engineering from University of Illinois in 1959 and moved to Indianapolis, IN, where he began his first job at Detroit Diesel Allison Engineering. For over 50 years, Bob worked to build airplane engines for a variety of uses in the world. He was always fascinated by flight, airplanes and the things that made them work. He loved to build and fly model airplanes sharing this love with his grandchildren until his very last days. 

He leveraged this expertise to also work part-time for Roger Penske Racing in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s where he was on the pit crew for over a decade. In 1985, Bob was part of the pit crew with Danny “Spin and Win” Sullivan when he won the Indy500.

Bob was also an avid sportsman. He loved skiing, teaching his wife and two daughters to ski first in the cold Michigan winters and then again in Colorado. They followed his bright orange ski jacket down the mountain heeding his coaching about how to make the perfect turns (and keeping snacks in your pocket to avoid the lunch time crowd in the lodge). 

Bob spent much of his time in the sunshine playing and teaching tennis. He played his entire life, competing at various levels throughout the Midwest in the USTA Amateur leagues. Again, teaching his daughters to play and love the sport. Later in life he found paddle tennis and pickleball where he was part of a strong community of devoted pickleball players.

Bob always had an engineering heart and a practical Midwestern mindset. He was a shy individual who believed in treating everyone with respect and listening to what they had to say. He was a curious soul with many hobbies and an avid reader of WWII history. He believed there was nothing that couldn’t be rebuilt and fixed so that it could be used again. There was never a “Dad” joke that went untold in his household and those around him knew it was coming when he would smile his goofy “joke-telling” grin. It will be much missed in this world. 

Bob is survived by his loving wife, Judith; daughters, Wendy Stusrud (Ron Arndt) and Katherine Stusrud (Jeff Friedman); grandchildren, Alexander Arndt, Luke Arndt, Benjamin Friedman and Maddie Friedman and his sister, Julie Stusrud Held.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Hoosier Village Chapel on Sunday, October 27th at 1pm follow by a reception.