It is with great sadness that his colleagues in the Political Science Department at Northeastern University report the passing of Robert E. Gilbert, professor emeritus, who died on May 25, 2025, at The Valley Hospital in Paramus, NJ, following a lengthy illness.
Professor Gilbert, or “Bob,” as he was known around the department, was born in the Bronx on October 20, 1939. After earning undergraduate and master’s degrees at Fordham University, he received his PhD in political science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1967. Following an initial appointment on the faculty of Boston College, Bob joined Northeastern’s Department of Political Science in 1973. He held this position for 44 years before retiring in 2016.
A productive scholar throughout his career, Bob published several books as well as dozens of articles in respected journals like Presidential Studies Quarterly, Political Psychology, and Politics and the Life Sciences. He was an influential early contributor to the field of illness and the presidency. His pathbreaking volume The Mortal Presidency (1992) traced the consequences—administrative as well as political—when the nation’s Chief Executives have contended, often secretively, with an assortment of serious health problems, among them the aftermath of polio (FDR), cardiovascular disease (Eisenhower), debilitating back pain (JFK), and cancer (Reagan). A follow-up work, The Tormented President (2003), focused on mental illness in The Oval Office. Here the spotlight fell on Calvin Coolidge, whom Bob described as a misunderstood figure plagued by morbid bouts of grief and depression after his sixteen-year-old son died during the president’s early months in office. Cutting-edge research of this kind drew interest beyond the discipline of political science. As an example, the prestigious Countway Medical Library in Boston invited Bob to deliver a presentation on Calvin Coolidge’s ordeal as part of its 2004 lecture program.
Fueled by his concern with presidential illness, Bob also studied the 25th Amendment in depth. In a string of articles appearing in The Fordham Law Review and other venues, he questioned the Amendment’s adequacy for responding to all the circumstances that might give rise to, or accompany, cases of “inability” or vacancy in the presidency. Significantly, Bob did not confine his work in this area to a narrow scholarly audience. He served as a member of the distinguished Working Group on Presidential Disability, a body formed in 1994 with support from the Charles A. Dana Foundation. Then, in his 2000 edited volume, Managing Crisis, Bob assembled his own disparate gathering of experts from academia, government, medicine, law, and journalism to discuss the background and workings of the 25th Amendment. Years later, in April of 2014, Bob capped his tenure as Edward W. Brooke Professor of Political Science at Northeastern by organizing a multi-university conference on campus devoted to presidential disability and succession.
In addition to “The American Presidency,” Bob’s teaching assignment typically included sections of “American Government,” a foundational course for the political science major. A teaching award recipient, he earned his popularity with students through his love of the subject matter and impressive command of it. Bob was a gifted lecturer who appreciated the value of the colorful anecdote, the carefully chosen illustration, when explaining the intricate workings of American democracy. Conscientious in fulfilling his duties as an advisor, he took pleasure from getting to know students on a one-to-one basis. At times a strong connection developed, and some students maintained contact with him for years after they had graduated.
From 1978 to 1990, Bob chaired the Northeastern Department of Political Science. He was very effective in this position, which spanned a period of monumental change as the university set its sights on increased selectivity in admissions and becoming a foremost center of scholarship across the arts and sciences as well as such professional domains as law, engineering, and business. Bob took concrete steps to align our department with this institutional vision, adopting it as a guide in recruitment decisions, graduate program expansion, curriculum planning, support for faculty development, and other advancements. His advocacy on behalf of the department was tireless. Aside from his one “research day” each week, it was rare to find him away from the office, not even if one knocked on his door late Friday afternoon. It was a level of commitment that gained him enormous respect among the faculty.
Local and national media frequently contacted Bob for his perspective on happenings in the news. He was pleased to oblige such requests whenever possible. Among the issues that he commented on were presidential illness and succession—of course!—and other topics that ran the gamut from presidential debates, to elections, to media and politics, to public policy. One highlight of his long-term relationship with the media came in 1993 when he sat for an hour-long interview on “The Larry King Show” to talk about his book, The Mortal Presidency.
Bob was not only a great talker, he was a great walker too. For decades he resided in the town of Brookline, approximately 2 miles away from the Northeastern campus. As a full-time faculty member, Bob’s daily routine usually began and ended with the trek between these end points, a habit he maintained in all but the worst weather conditions. After retirement, Bob continued to complete this hike on a regular basis, taking advantage of a modest workspace set aside by the department for emeritus faculty, where he happily labored on his latest conference paper or journal manuscript. He was a delightful lunch companion if you could pry him away from his computer. Often this was a losing battle, however, since Bob preferred to work straight through lunch. A work ethic acquired over 50 years of research and writing did not fade away easily.
That said, as a retired faculty member Bob enjoyed his continued interaction with political science faculty and staff, particularly Janet-Louise Joseph, the department administrator, who became a cherished friend. Much teasing and joking around enlivened the relationship between the two, such as the lark when Janet-Louise and an accomplice seated a lifelike theatrical manikin of Abe Lincoln at Bob’s desk before his arrival one morning. (He took it in stride). At the same time, Janet-Louise looked after “Father Bob.” Mindful that he lived on his own, when the cold months descended she supplied Bob with large containers of home-made soup to help ensure the wholesomeness of his diet.
Bob Gilbert’s memory will long live on in the department whose future he did so much to shape. And at this moment in our country’s history when the physical and mental condition of American presidents has come under close scrutiny, one wishes for more of his learned insights on this issue.
