The funeral service for former American River College philosophy professor Robert Buckenmeyer, who passed away Dec. 12, was held early last month at St. Joseph Catholic Parish in Lincoln.

“I respected his deep passion both for students and philosophy,” said fellow ARC philosophy faculty member, Dennis Holden

 Buckenmeyer last taught in ARC during the 2008 fall semester.

“Teaching for over 40 years and to still have that passion, I say that’s pretty cool,” added Holden.

Buckenmeyer is described by Holden as someone who was very into the philosophy of education, saw his classroom as a sacred place and would wear suits, but take his shoes off before teaching as a voluntary gesture.

 When it came to his students, Holden said that Buckenmeyer cared about the education his students received from him, instead of failing students, he would edit and let his students rewrite their papers.  He would even work with students individually because, it was really important to him, for the students that cared about their grades.

 “He was quirky, but full of information, and always entertaining,” humanities administrative assistant Liliya Dorofeyev said.

Aside from being an educator, the San Francisco native, born on Sept. 9, 1931 was a husband, a father of five and a grandfather of eight.

“Bob taught us many wonderful lessons about life and how to be gentlemen,” Bob Becker said of Buckenmeyer on the obituary website, legacy.com.

He had many different talents and hobbies and in his free time enjoyed making wine. He was also a youth soccer coach, and had a black belt in Tang Soo Do.

 Buckenmeyer was the author of three poetry books, two books on Montessori education and a book on Philosophy.

For 55 years, he served as a professor of philosophy at several other colleges, including Santa Clara University, Mount St. Mary’s College and Canisius College in Buffalo, New York.