Obituary of Robert Maurice Battin

Robert Maurice Battin, 87, died on November 15, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Bob was born on December 6, 1933 to Maurice and Ella Battin and raised in Edina with his two sisters, Dorothy Jean Linne and Mary Jane Battin.

After high school, Bob traveled to Britain and Northern Europe, where his love of motorcycles, bicycles and antique cars began. Subsequently, his tour of duty in the US Army took him to Germany as an Artillery Land Surveyor. Upon discharge, he returned to Minnesota where he graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in philosophy, anthropology and art, while working as an independent print maker with Malcolm Myers.

Shortly thereafter, he returned to Germany to continue to hone his skills in printmaking as well as sculpture and jewelry making through a residence at the Cologne City School of Arts and Crafts. In 1968, Bob entered the MFA program at the U of M while teaching printmaking at Macalester College. He continued to teach printmaking, drawing, sculpture and lithography during the ‘70s and ultimately received his MFA while exhibiting his work throughout the Midwest and Germany.

Bob was a self-described Anglophile, an eccentric and deeply curious person who loved teaching. He and his Remington typewriter were inseparable; he wrote letters to people he’d met throughout his travels and daily adventures and was a great friend and listener.

Bob met Uta Schulze in Cologne Germany and they married in December of 1971 in Minneapolis. They built a jewelry business in the Twin Cities and shared a love for animals, art and classical music. She died in August 2014.

Bob is survived by a circle of friends and nieces and nephews. A graveside memorial service will be at Fort Snelling in the spring of 2022.

Until then, his favorite poem will sustain us: “When the evening sun is setting and your mind from cares is free, and of thousand friends you’re thinking, won’t you sometimes think of me?”

Memorial contributions may be sent to the Malcolm H. Myers Graduate Fellowship in Bob’s honor at the U of M: z.umn.edu/Battin