Robert Singleton Sherrard, star athlete, businessman, husband and father, died on March 20, 2014, at Brethren Village Retirement Community at age 92. He was born December 1, 1921, in Elkton, MD, the third son of Joseph Holmes Sherrard III and Amy Wiliams Sherrard. He is survived by his wife, Ruth Hemperly Sherrard, with whom he would have celebrated seventy years of marriage in June. He is also survived by his three children: Linda Reidenbaugh (Thomas) and Pamela Rosenberger, both of Lancaster, and Robert Sherrard Jr., (Maria), of Charleston, WV; seven grandchildren: Jennifer Becker Weyandt, Kati Becker Green, Leigh and Ruth Rosenberger, and Christina, Robert III, and Emily Sherrard; five great-grandchildren; and sisters Mary Ann Beeler of Lancaster and Sandra Crinnion of Oakland, CA. He was preceded in death by two brothers: Joseph Sherrard IV of Sacramento, CA, and Hugh Sherrard of Harrisburg, and sister, Primrose Gainer of Pequea.

Growing up in Pequea and practicing athletics at the Lancaster YMCA, Bob became a state champion gymnast and district champion pole vaulter, for which he was inducted into the J.P. McCaskey High School Hall of Fame from the class of 1940. His pole vault school record of 12'6″ using a bamboo pole stood for 20 years, and was eventually broken only with a fiberglass pole. In college at the Virginia Military Institute he was Southern Conference Champion in both wrestling and pole vaulting, and he was also inducted into the VMI Hall of Fame.

Bob's entire junior class at VMI was drafted to serve in World War II in 1943. He was assigned to the 11th Airborne Paratroopers in Okinawa. Later stationed in Japan during the post-war occupation, he supervised Japanese skilled labor in the 11th Airborne Sector.

He returned to VMI in 1946 to complete his senior year, and graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1947. After working for several years at Dan River Mills in Danville, VA, he again returned to VMI as instructor of engineering and wrestling coach. His team won Southern Conference Championship, but after only one year he was recalled to active duty for the Korean War, where his Division built roads to outpost positions and removed enemy minefields.

Bob began his career in general construction in 1952, working for several contractors as an estimator and engineer. In 1971 he cofounded his own company in Lebanon and subsequently Lancaster, Consolidated Construction, building many significant commercial projects in the 1970s and 80s including the original Penn National Race Course. He was president until he sold the business in 1988, then continued as consulting engineer for the new owner. Even well into retirement he worked part time as management representative during construction for Wyeth Laboratories and Lampeter-Strasburg School District.

Bob loved his family heritage and did much research of family history and genealogy, especially related to the Civil War era in Virginia. He enjoyed encouraging others in athletics, informally teaching gymnastics to neighborhood children at his home in Manheim Township, and later coaching diving for the Lancaster Aquatic Club. He maintained a lifelong goal of being active and physically fit, and even at age 90 taught himself the game of pool and played several times a week.

Private services and burial in Boehm's United Methodist Cemetery will be held at the convenience of the family. Memorials in Bob's honor may be sent to the Lancaster YMCA, 265 Harrisburg Ave., Lancaster, PA 17603, where Bob had been an enthusiastic member.