Robert (Bob) McGrath

Bob was a prolific scholar, writer, and curator. Born in Washington, D.C., Bob, an avid skier, was posted to the German Alps in the Cold War period as part of the ski patrol. He continued to ski until the final years of his life.  Completing his undergraduate degree at Middlebury College, he first received a M.F.A.in 1962, followed by a Ph.D. (1963) in Art History from Princeton University.  His dissertation was entitled, "The Romance of the Maccabees in Medieval Art and Literature."  Bob's life and career were marked and directed by his love of art and his closeness to nature. His teaching and scholarship in Medieval European and American Art History reflected a deep and abiding interest in the connection between human experience and the natural world. Bob returned to New England in 1963 and was appointed at Dartmouth as an Instructor in Art History and then as Assistant Professor in 1965. He was ultimately promoted to Professor in 1975, remaining at Dartmouth until his retirement in 2003. Bob's books include Early Vermont Wall Paintings, 1790–1850 (1972); Gods in Granite: The Art of the White Mountains of New Hampshire (2001); Art and the American Conservation Movement (2001); Visions in Granite: Two Hundred Years of Painting in New Hampshire's White Mountains (2008); and Mountains and Memory (2012). Beloved by his former colleagues and students, Bob is remembered as a lively and engaging lecturer.