Robert Knute Gustav Arwezon, Jr. ’53

Robert Knute Gustav Arwezon, Jr. ’53 died on February 22, 2005, in Anchorage, Alaska.

Born on August 25, 1931, in Providence, RI, he prepared for college at Classical High School in Providence and became a member of Chi Psi Fraternity at Bowdoin. He received his Bowdoin degree in 1957 as a member of the Class of 1953. From 1954 to 1956, he served in the U.S. Army, mostly in Alaska, and was the all-Army swimming champion in the 400 individual medley and 200-meter breaststroke events in 1955. From 1956 to 1962, he worked in oil company marketing in Rhode Island and New Jersey. After returning to Alaska, he bred and raced sled dogs from 1965 to 1971. He entered the real estate profession in 1967 and served as president of the Anchorage Board of Realtors in 1975. He was also a director of the Alaska Association of Realtors and served as its treasurer for three years. He served on several Anchorage committees and task forces set up to review and/or alter wetlands zoning and land subdivisions ordinances and a coastal management plan. In the 1980s he was a member of the Southern Alaska Advisory Council, overseeing Bureau of Land Management activities, serving as the Council’s chair in 1986, 1987, and 1988. He was honored as the Anchorage Board of Realtors Realtor of the Year in both 1974 and 1984, and in 1984 was also the State of Alaska Realtor of the Year. Surviving are his wife, Alice Thompson Arwezon, whom he married in 1956, and a sister, Tondy Burr of Massachusetts.