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Stieg, Sr., Robert Wilson

Robert Wilson Stieg, Sr., engineer and designer of heavy-duty vehicles for military and commercial service, whose career spanned fifty years with two manufacturers, FWD Corp and Mack Truck, died at age 94, in his sleep, on February 15, 2013, in Cornwall, PA.

He was born on September 17, 1918, in Clintonville, WI. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Mechanical Engineering in 1940 and married Jane Ellen Gibson, of Lansing, MI, in 1941. At FWD, he helped create five different military vehicles during WWII. After the war he adapted pre-war plans he had worked on with the industrial designer Brooks Stevens to post-war commercial production. In the 1960’s, as Vice President and Chief Engineer at FWD, he had overseen design and production of an entirely new generation of “Tractioneer” trucks, as well as military applications. In 1968, he became Chief Engineer for Advanced Engineering at Mack Trucks in Bethlehem, PA, including the development of new lines of all-wheel drive specialty vehicles. He retired in 1988. In 1999 he was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Automotive Engineers. He was a member of the Perkiomen (PA) Chapter of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America for over thirty years as well as a member of the Delaware Valley Jaguar Club.

He was preceded in death by his wife Jane of sixty-three years. He is survived by his son Robert Wilson Stieg, Jr. (Millwood, VA) and his wife, Louise Blatt Stieg; by his son Philip Dennison Stieg, M.D. (Lebanon, PA) and his wife Rosemary Longo Stieg; by his grandchildren Philip (Pittsburg, PA) and Sarah (Tockwith, York, UK) Stieg; and by two great-grandchildren, Avery Jane and Brody Robert Stieg. He is also survived by one sister, Marjorie Stieg Miller, and by three brothers, Bernard, William, and Richard Stieg as well as numerous nieces, nephews and several great- grandchildren. He was predeceased by one brother, John Stieg.

Online condolences may be left at http://www.thompsonfuneralhomelebanon.com or mailed to Philip D. Stieg, MD, 1800 Fieldcrest Road, Lebanon, PA 17042. Contributions in memory may be made to: 1. Christ Congregational Church, 70 S. Main St. Clintonville, Wisconsin 54929; 2. Clintonville Area Historical Society, 25 W. 18th St., Clintonville, WI 54929; or 3. Baum School of Art, 510 W. Linden St., Allentown, PA 18101

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