Robert E. Magnuson
September 29, 1927 – February 13, 2008
Services for Robert Emanuel Magnuson, of Snowshoe, WV, will be held at the First Presbyterian Church in Morgantown (456 Spruce St) on Saturday, February 23 at 11 A.M.
The father of actress Ann Magnuson, of Los Angeles, Bob passed away in Morgantown, WV on the morning of February 13 from congestive heart failure, a complication of pancreatic cancer. He was 80.
Bob was predeceased by his mother, Olga Marie Lindbloom Magnuson; father Rev. Malcolm Otto Magnuson; older sisters Helen White (of Cleveland, OH), Carol Skidmore (of Ashland, KY); older brother Malcolm O. Magnuson, Jr. (of Pittsburgh, PA) and son Robert Carson Magnuson (of Baltimore, MD.)
Both of Bob’s parents were of Swedish heritage (his mother arrived in the U.S. at 6 months old via Ellis Island). His father, originally from Chicago, was a Swedish evangelist who preached to the various Swedish communities in Wisconsin, Minnesota and throughout the Midwest. Debilitated from the 1918 flu, Rev. Magnuson was told to go to the mountains to regain his health. He discovered a little Presbyterian church through a church magazine and in 1922 the family moved to Kingwood, WV.
On September 29, 1927, Robert Emanuel Magnuson was born. He was named “Emanuel” because, in the words of his mother, ‘Bob was such a special baby.”
In 1929 the family moved to Weston, WVA where Bob’s father was the minister at the First Presbyterian Church until 1937. They lived in the manse at 419 River Street, on the edge of a river and across from the church.
In 1937, the father retired, and the family moved to Morgantown. They lived on 227 Kirk Street, very near the Hotel Morgan (the house has since been demolished). In the early Forties they moved to Maple Street then 445 Linden Street in the now-historic section of South Park. During this time Bob went to Morgantown High School where he excelled academically. He also participated in a host of extracurricular activities (the choral Hi-Y Club being his favorite) and edited his senior class yearbook.
Beginning in the summer of 1945 Bob attended West Virginia University where he was initiated into the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1946 he enlisted and served in Japan as part of the occupation. He then returned to get his undergraduate degree then moved onto the WVU College of Law where he graduated first in his class and was elected to the prestigious Order of the Coif. He was also the first student editor-in-chief of the West Virginia Law Review.
It was at WVU where he met Fairmont native Eleanor “Kit” Carson and the couple married in 1953 and moved to Charleston soon after. Kit and Bob had two children, Ann (born in 1956) and Bobby (born 1958 and died in 1998, from complications due to AIDS).
After graduating law school Bob was appointed Law Clerk to Federal District Judge Ben Moore. After a year of service to Judge Moore, he accepted a position as Assistant Attorney General on the staff of Attorney General John G. Fox. He then became Chief Deputy Attorney General. In 1957 he joined the Charleston law firm of McClintic, James, Wise and Dadisman. That firm later became James, Wise, Robinson and Magnuson. In 1969 the firm moved into the then new Charleston National Bank Office Tower. From 1976 until 1983 Bob was a partner in the firm of Love, Wise, Robinson and Woodroe. From 1983 until 1989 he practiced with the firm of Love, Wise & Woodroe. In 1989 he became a partner in the merged firm of Kay, Casto, Chaney, Wise & Woodroe. He retired from law practice in 1992. He was also a past president of the Kanawha County Bar Association.
Bob and Kit divorced in 1975, the same year Bob ran for West Virginia Supreme Court Judge. (A second marriage, to lawyer Hazel Straub, also ended in divorce.)
When he was not elected he turned his attentions to his love for skiing. An early supporter of Snowshoe Mountain, Bob eventually retired to live full time at the ski resort. During the winter he skied every day (even at 80 years of age!) and in the summers could always be counted on to attend the Chili Contest and every concert held during symphony weekend (Bob had also served as President of the Charleston Symphony from 1974 to 1976) A beloved member of the Snowshoe community, Bob was also the president of the Shamrock Homeowners Association.
In addition to skiing, Bob’s passions included flying, travel and history and he often combined all three interests. An amateur pilot, he flew his light aircraft all over the U.S. (as well as to Canada, the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands). A longtime supporter of the WVU Mountaineer football team, he once flew his plane to Phoenix to see the team play the Fiesta Bowl and often visited his daughter Ann at her various movie locations.
Bob was also a voracious reader. Especially knowledgeable about the American Revolution and the Civil War, Bob often traveled to those battlefields with his son Bobby as well as continually exploring other historical sites. Bob took full advantage of his retirement and made many trips abroad, most notably to Europe, Russia, Egypt, Hawaii, the Greek Islands and Namibia, Africa. The latter trip was made in 1995 and was, in his words, “the most memorable”. After attending the Miss Universe pageant (where Ann was a judge that year the contest was held in Namibia) they booked seats on a week-long ‘fly-in safari’ in which a local pilot took Bob, Ann and three elderly German ladies in a light aircraft over the world’s largest sand dunes, up the famed Skeleton coast and into the remote and exotic interior of the country.
But Bob always returned home to West Virginia and could never envision living anywhere else. He was especially relieved to return to Morgantown after having surgery related to his pancreatic cancer at the University of Virginia hospital. He died peacefully while convalescing at the home of a friend in South Park just down the street from where he grew up.
It was, as he remarked the week before he passed away, “like coming home.”
Bob is deeply missed by his friends and family and will be remembered for his keen intelligence, handsome good looks, a love of whistling, big band music and gardening, as well as his deep baritone voice and loud, boisterous laugh.
Donations can be made in Bob’s name to the WVU College of Law.
Additional memorials will be held in Charleston and at Snowshoe this spring when his ashes will be scattered per Bob’s request. Keep checking this site for updated information as well as photos and other remembrances.