Robert Earl Engel

Robert Earl Engel of Catonsville, a long-time resident of Glen Burnie, Anne Arundel County, and career employee with the Department of Defense (with NSA), died of age-related degeneration of the brain September 22, 2020 at the Charlestown Retirement Community.  He was 93 and had lived in retirement with his wife, Ann D. (Latini) Engel, at Charlestown for the past sixteen years.

He graduated from Quincy High School and immediately entered the army near the end of World War II.  In the army as part of its counter-intelligence operations, the army sent him for special classes at Yale University to study the Japanese language.  He served as a translator/interpreter in the Pacific Theater and ultimately in occupied Japan after the surrender.   He returned to Massachusetts and graduated from Boston University. After graduating from Boston University, he was hired as a linguist and cryptologist by what became the National Security Agency.   He was proud of his job and his country.

In 1958 the family moved to Glen Burnie, Maryland. He helped found the Glen Burnie Park Little League and the Glen Burnie Park Swim Club.  He loved coaching his children when they were young and later watching his children and grandchildren playing youth sports and high school and college sports.  His favorite sport was baseball.  He became a big Baltimore Orioles fan even while maintaining his love for the now mostly forgotten Boston Braves.

He loved music, opera and the theatre.  He played the piano his entire life.  After his wife and he moved to Charlestown in 2004, for many years he played the piano at the various dining rooms and he played and led sing-a-longs for the patients at the Charlestown Rehabilitation and Long-term Care facilities.

He is survived by his wife of seventy-one years, Ann D. (Latini) Engel of Catonsville, his eight children, Alan Engel of Linthicum, Bruce Engel (Randy Engel) of Stuttgart, Germany, Carol Ann Rider (Ron Rider) of Glen Arm, Christine Silcox of Laurel, David Engel (Allison Blackburn) of Silver Spring, Elizabeth Fletcher (George Fletcher) of Glen Burnie, Frank Engel of Severn, and Fred Engel (Anna Engel) of Pasadena, twenty three grandchildren, and eighteen great grandchildren.  With such a large family, a memorial service is hoped to be planned to be held at some time after things have become more settled following the Covid-19 pandemic.  In lieu of flowers contributions can be made to your favorite charity.