Necrology

Robert “Zip” Clayton Conklin '50

Jul. 13, 1929-Jan. 2, 2024

Robert “Zip” Clayton Conklin ’50, P’83 died on Jan. 2, 2024, in Grand Rapids, Mich. Born on July 13, 1929, in the village of Stamford, N.Y., in the Western Catskills, he came to Hamilton from the Stamford Central School. 

On the Hill, he was a member of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity and majored in anthropology. Having played baseball in Stamford on the local men’s team during World War II, it wasn’t surprising that he played for Hamilton as a freshman and as a sophomore. Golf, a passion he brought from home, occupied him during his final two years and would continue to do so throughout his life. He also played on various intramural teams for his fraternity. He joined the International Relations Club in his second year and served as its vice president as a senior.

Following graduation, and with the Korean War just beginning, Bob enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and was assigned to the 117th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, which was relocated to a newly established NATO base in Germany. Beyond his official duties, Bob became a member of the base’s golf team and competed with teams from other Air Force Wings. Acquiring an MG car, he used it to travel to play on courses in France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. In an unusual twist, in addition to the normal sand traps and water hazards, some of these courses featured unexploded German World War II ordnance as a further challenge to players.

Following his honorable discharge with the rank of staff sergeant in 1954, Bob sold the MG in order to pay for law school at Cornell University. Subsequently, finding legal studies boring, he left Cornell and went to work for the Carrier Corp. in Syracuse where he became a sales engineer for HVAC systems. In 1956, Carrier transferred him to its Detroit operation. It was there that he met Susan Tower, a native of Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., and an alumna of Smith College. Their courtship was brief, and they were married on Sept. 8, 1956, in Oberlin, Ohio. They had three sons.

That same year, they moved to Grand Rapids, where Bob opened a branch office for a Detroit company that sold air conditioners, this at a time when this appliance was comparatively new. In 1958, as he would later note in his 50th reunion yearbook, “with a new baby, a heavily mortgaged house, a worried wife, and $500 in the bank, I did the obvious — quit my job and started my own business.” That company, Wilson-Conklin, initially operating as a manufacturers’ representative, would evolve into a construction firm that designed and installed computer-controlled climate systems for large buildings. Meanwhile, his family relocated to East Grand Rapids, Bob’s home for the rest of his life.

In 1981, Bob founded a second company, EnerTemp, Inc., which installed digital automation systems for building temperature control. 

During this period, Bob was also actively engaged in the community. A member of the YMCA, he co-chaired its annual fundraiser beginning in the mid-1960s and joined a men’s bowling league team sponsored by a local bar. In 1967, he co-founded an aquatics program for numerous age groups in East Grand Rapids; more than 400 swimmers joined in its first year. He supervised practices and organized swim meets. Likely as a consequence of the swim program, the East Grand Rapids High School became a powerhouse in interscholastic swimming. Bob was also a member of the East Grand Rapids Recreation Commission and helped plan for a new athletic complex in one of its parks.

He joined the Green Ridge Country Club in 1961 and its successor, Egypt Valley Country Club, while also playing an active role in its search for a new location in 1985. 

Selling EnerTemp to its employees in 1990, Bob began to divide his and Susan’s time between East Grand Rapids and Tucson. In addition, as an active member of the U.S. Golf Association, he volunteered as a course rater in both Michigan and Arizona. As he noted, it was a tough job, but somebody had to do it.

Bob’s encounter with several of Hamilton’s faculty had a lasting influence. In his 50th reunion yearbook, he reflected: “Learning to write well enough to satisfy Frank Ristine was invaluable. Lectures by psychology professor Max Schoen and an ethics seminar by [philosophy professor] Paul Hayner influenced the way I see life’s eternal questions. Earl Count’s anthropology courses led to a lifelong interest in that field.” He also acquired the essential ability “to see the many shades of gray in a world where too many see only black and white.” 

Bob’s loyalty to the College was reflected in part by his attendance at every class reunion from his 40th to his 65th. It is also reflected in the fact that he was a Joel Bristol Associate and a donor who made a bequest to the College.

Robert C. Conklin was predeceased by his wife and is survived by his three sons, including Richard E. Conklin ’83, and six grandchildren.

Necrology Home