On the way to basketball practice when he was a kid, William Bieri would ask his dad questions about science.
His father was an engineer with a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering who had a way of explaining things.
“He would break down really complicated stuff and leave all the math out of it and explain quantum mechanics to me in the car on the way to basketball practice,” William Bieri said about one of his favorite memories of his father, Robert “Bob” Bieri. “And it was — it was really special.”
Bob Bieri, 61, — who his eldest son described as a “family man” — was found dead in Shenandoah National Park Monday, days after he went missing during a trip to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia with his wife to celebrate their anniversary.
Christine Bieri said her husband, a Severna Park native, was “quick to laugh,” smart, loving and “always had a smile on his face.”
“He was my ride or die,” she said. “And I thought the ride would be a lot longer.”
Christine Bieri met Bob Bieri while she was studying at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and he was enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They married in 1991 and had three sons.
A graduate of Severna Park High School, Bob Bieri returned to Severna Park in 1995 after graduating from college and living in California for six years.
He spent his career as an engineer, working in areas including sonar and software engineering, Christine Bieri said. In 2020, Bob Bieri took a position as a system engineer with Northrop Grumman, the aerospace and defense company, where he worked until his death.
William Bieri said while his father might not have been big on hobbies, “he was always a very big family man.”
In the early to mid-2000s, Bob Bieri was a cubmaster to Shipley’s Cub Scout Pack 688. When his sons moved on to Boy Scout Troop 339, he became a committee member for the troop. He also helped organize the troop’s annual popcorn fundraiser.
Craig Lindsay, past scoutmaster of the troop and longtime friend of Bob Bieri’s, said he was a great mentor and role model.
“He always seemed to look out for the scout that needed extra help or the scout that maybe needed more support,” Lindsay said.
Lindsay said he was someone he enjoyed sitting around the campfire with.
“He always had sort of a twinkle in his eye,” Lindsay said. “You could tell when he was telling a story that there was a joke coming up.”
Christine Bieri remembers the family teasing Bob Bieri for his “shortcuts,” where he would get so interested in what he was talking about while driving with the family that he would forget to take the proper turns.
“We always had a contest to see how long it would be before he realized that, ‘Oh wait, we’re crossing the Bay Bridge when we meant to go to Annapolis,’” she said.
Before his death, Christine and Bob Bieri enjoyed traveling, taking weekend trips to see the country.
When Christine Bieri would host her book club or game group, “Bob was one of the girls,” she said. “He was ‘Bartender Bob,’ and he made sure that we were having a good time.”
Christine Bieri said she and her husband were hiking in Shenandoah National Park on July 5, the day he was reported missing.
According to the National Park Service, the park launched a full-scale search, with federal, Virginia state and local agencies participating.
Two days later, Bob Bieri’s body was found near an 81-foot waterfall in the park.
In an email sent Thursday, Allysah Fox, a spokesperson for the National Park Service, said Bob Bieri’s cause of death has not yet been determined. She said an investigation is ongoing and the agency could not share more information.
Bob Bieri was a “very experienced” backpacker, Lindsay said, and he would always hike in his “Smokey the Bear traditional scouting hat” passed down from his father, a longtime scoutmaster.
When Lindsay heard his friend’s body had been found, he was on his way to Ocean City. It had been raining as Lindsay was driving down U.S. Route 50, he said, and a rainbow appeared.
“Sometimes when you see a rainbow, you see bits and pieces of it,” he said. “But here it’s a whole rainbow from one end to the other.”
In Lindsay’s eyes, Bob Bieri was a man who was “full of life.”
“And so to think that that’s no longer, it’s just hard to fathom,” he said.
A viewing for Bob Bieri will be held Friday, July 18, 3 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at Barranco Severna Park Funeral Home & Cremation Care in Severna Park.
A funeral service will be held Saturday, July 26, 11 a.m. at St. Martin’s-in-the-Field Episcopal Church in Severna Park.
Have a news tip? Contact Maggie Trovato at mtrovato@baltsun.com, 443-890-0601 or on X @MaggieTrovato.
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