Robert Townsend Reese

Robert Townsend Reese, 68, passed away on January 13, 2022. He is survived by his wife of 28 years, Janet Glore Reese, and their three children: sons Andrew and Philip Reese, and daughter, Emma Reese. He is survived, too, by brothers Hugh, French and Lang Reese. He was the eldest son of the late Robert Bacon Reese and Constance Fryer Reese of Washington, D.C.
Townsend received a B.A. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland in 1976. In 1983, he was awarded a B.S. in Engineering with a primary focus in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Maryland. Townsend participated in clean up efforts at Three Mile Island and spent several years working at Nuclear Power Plants in Illinois, Miami, and Huntsville, AL, before returning to the Washington area. Townsend joined the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 2013 as a Patent Examiner, a job he held until his death. He was proud to be a Civil Servant and often commented on how it allowed him to demonstrate his patriotism.

Townsend was fascinated by baseball, space flight, dinosaurs, politics and history and had an encyclopedic knowledge of each. He will be remembered for his sweet nature, limitless patience, quirky sense of humor, and above all, his tremendous love of his family.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Townsend’s memory may be made to The Arc of Northern Virginia, a nonprofit that serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities of all ages and their families. Donations can be made online at www.thearcofnova.org or mailed to: The Arc of Northern Virginia, 2755 Hartland Road, Suite 200, Falls Church, VA 22043. Alternatively, donations in his memory may also be made to the Nature Conservancy at nature.org. Please click on “membership and giving”, not “donations.” The second click should be on “other ways to give,” and the tribute section for Robert Reese.

A Memorial will be on Sat,. Feb 5 at 1:30 pm at the Old Presbyterian Meeting House at 323 S. Fairfax St, Alexandria, VA.