Robert Glenn Sherer Jr.

Dr. Robert Glenn Sherer Jr. was born on March 13, 1940 and died on August 22, 2017. Rob was a wonderful husband and father. He was dedicated to his family, to his faith, and to social justice. He will be missed and will be remembered as the truly great man he was. His parents, Esther Lee Brakefield and Robert Glenn Sherer, Sr. were from Jasper, Ala. Rob grew up in Dothan, Ala. His Aunt Ruby Lois Sherer helped raise him and his brother, John Minter Sherer Sr., all of Dothan, predeceased him. His survivors are his wife, Carol, a son, Robert Glenn Sherer III (Jennifer Shepherd), their son, Robert Maxwell Sherer, Houston, Texas, a daughter, Dr. Ann Marie Sherer Trammell, her son, Michael Brookshire Trammell, Keller, Texas, one nephew, John Minter Sherer Jr., and one niece, Allison Sherer Kirby, both of Dothan. In 1995 he married Rev. Carol Starkes on staff at Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church in New Orleans, La. His stepchildren are Tamara Starkes Henderson (Joshua Alan Henderson), New Orleans, and Dr. Monte Thomas Starkes (Amy Johnson), grandchildren (Luke, Charity, Phillip, and Anna Grace Starkes), Atlanta, Ga. Rob attended Auburn University in 1959 and was a Freshman Honorary Phi Eta Sigma. In 1959 he transferred to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, graduating in 1962, Phi Beta Kappa, B.A. History Honors and magna cum laude. He spent 1962 as a Rockefeller Fellow at Yale University Divinity School. He earned a Master of American Studies, 1967, at Brown University. In 1970 he earned a PhD in American History at UNC. He received a Master of Library and Information Science, 1989, University of Texas, Austin. Active in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's, Rob participated in the March on Washington where he heard Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. give his "I Have A Dream" speech. He taught part time at North Carolina State University (1967-68) and Tulane University, and professorships at Stetson University (DeLand, Fla.), Alcorn State University (Lorman, Miss.), and Wiley College (Marshall, Texas). He was Tulane's University Archivist (1989-2007) before retiring to Little Rock, Arkansas in 2007 after Hurricane Katrina. After moving to Little Rock, he was on the Arkansas United Methodist Conference History Board and its Museum Board, and the Board of the History Institute of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Arkansas' Governor Beebe appointed him to the seven members Arkansas History Commission, reappointing him in 2014. At the First United Methodist Church in downtown Little Rock he was a teacher of the Unity Sunday School class and helped it join the Reconciling Ministries Network. He was in the FUMC Tuesday Men's Group and the Methodist Federation for Social Action. He was a member of the local Sierra Club, the Pulaski County Historical Society, and the County Democratic Committee. In lieu of flowers please donate to First United Methodist Church, in memory of Rob Sherer. These funds will be distributed to mission projects and to books for our Child Development Program. The memorial service will be at First United Methodist Church, 723 Center Street, Little Rock, Arkansas on Saturday, August 26, at 10 a.m. Reception to follow at the church. Arrangements are entrusted to Ruebel Funeral Home. www.ruebelfuneralhome.com.