Col. Robert Diehl

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Col. Robert C. Diehl passed away on Friday, June 1, 2007.

He was born and raised in Hagerstown. Robert was a 1941 graduate of Hagerstown High School and a graduate of the University of Maryland. He served in the Army for 30 years including service during World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Denmark. Robert was a graduate of Command & General Staff College, The Foreign Services Institute and the Army"s Nuclear Weapons Deployment course at Ft. Leavenworth. Assignments consisted of various command and staff positions: Deputy of Director of Military Instruction at West Point, the Chief of Staff of the Army Training Center at Fort Bragg, and as military adviser to three foreign governments in the areas of personnel, training and financial management.

After retirement from the Army in 1972, he entered into city management and served as City Manager in New York, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. In 1983 he was appointed as the Deputy Director of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County office of Emergency Management where he served for six years. He then joined a local environmental consulting firm where he was employed for over 10 years as an environmental consultant and company president. During this time, he also served as chairman of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Local Emergency Planning Committee, the board of ATTI and Juvenile Court.

He has also served on the board of directors of Goodwill, the American Red Cross, and most recently on the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA), as well as St. Barnabas Nursing Home.

Col, Diehl was a founding member of the Anglican Church of the Redeemer.

He was the loving husband, Poe E. Diehl, who preceded him in death.

He is survived by his two daughters, Deborah Diehl Manger and Barbara Laird Diehl, both of Atlanta.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. on Tuesday at the funeral home chapel with the Rev. Steve Kelley and the Rev. Sam Payne officiating. Burial will be private in National Cemetery.

The family will receive friends from noon to 1 p.m. on Tuesday at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the American Red Cross.

Arrangements are by the North Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory and Florist.