Robert Perew

Olympic medal record
Men's Rowing
1948 London coxless fours

Robert "Bob" Strahan Perew (August 5, 1923 – November 14, 1999) was an American oarsman who competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics.

He was born in Philadelphia, PA and died in Denton, TX. His mother was Bernice Perew (maiden name Strahan) and his father was Robert Jackman Perew. His paternal grandfather was Captain Frank Perew, owner of a fleet of cargo ships on the Great Lakes during the mid - latter 19th Century.

Robert lived in Buffalo, NY and West Palm Beach, FL during his youth. He graduated from Lafayette High School (Buffalo), NY in 1941, then attended Yale University where obtained a degree in mechanical engineering. Midway through his college career he served in the U.S. Navy. Perew was commissioned as the communications officer on the submarine the USS Thornback (SS-418). After serving in the Pacific during World War II, he returned to Yale where he graduated as part of the class 45W in 1949.

He began rowing at Buffalo's historic West Side Rowing Club while still in high school. During college he was on the Yale crew and also on the U.S. team Rowing at the 1948 Summer Olympics. His event, the Men's Coxless Fours, took the bronze medal for their race. Robert always claimed they could have taken the gold except they thought there was a false start by the German team and hesitated for a second, thus they only placed third at the finish line. Rowing in this event were Gregory Gates, Stuart Griffing, Frederick Kingsbury, and Robert Perew.

His career included work at General Electric, Electric Boat -a division of General Dynamics, and York International. He always enjoyed boating and lived near Long Island Sound in Waterford, CT for over 40 years. He was a member of the Yale-Harvard Regatta committee until the year he died and never missed this annual event.

Robert died on November 14, 1999 in Denton, Texas where he resided from 1996-1999 near his daughter's family.


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