Robert Walton Kasten ’39

Robert Walton Kasten ’39 died on December 21, 2005, in Mequon, Wisconsin.

Born on August 21, 1917, in Milwaukee, WI, he prepared for college at the Milwaukee University School and became a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity at Bowdoin. Following his graduation in 1939, he attended Harvard Business School for a year and then for some years was vice president, sales manager, and a director of Albert Trostel and Sons Company in Milwaukee. In 1966, he bought the Gilbert Shoe Company of Thiensville and became its president. He was also vice chairman and a trustee of the Milwaukee Downer Seminary, vice president of the Salvation Army advisory board, and a member of the Milwaukee Country Club, the University of Milwaukee Club, and the Town Club. During World War II, he served as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Force from 1943 to 1945. He was also vice president and director of sales with the Weinbrenner Division of Textron. He was appointed to the River Hills Village Board in 1962 to fill an unexpired term, was elected to a full three-year term later that year, and was re-elected six times, serving for 20 years before being elected to the Village Board presidency in 1982, and continued in that office until 1990. Surviving are his wife, Mary Ogden Kasten, whom he married in 1941; two sons, Robert W. Kasten, Jr. and William Kasten; a daughter, Christine K. Connelly; and eight grandchildren.