Bob Mahood
Robert P. Mahood died peacefully on July 8, 2009, in his Davidson home with his two daughters at his side. He was 79. He was a longtime Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools psychologist and in recent years had been “cove keeper” on Lake Davidson, where he lived. A memorial service is planned Friday. (Details below.)
Born on October 30, 1929, in Pittsburgh, Bob and his family moved often throughout his childhood because of his father’s military service, residing in Bluefield, W.Va., Charlotte, Gulfport, Miss., Clearwater, Fla., La Grange, Ill., and Coopersburg, Pa., among other cities.
He graduated from Louisiana State University in 1953 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and began a master’s program at Vanderbilt University before relocating to Bristol, England, where he was a clinical psychologist.
In 1961, he met and married Helga Kramer and they and their two daughters lived in England until 1973. In that year, the family repatriated to Cullowhee, N.C., where Bob completed his master’s degree at Western Carolina University.
In 1978, he joined Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools as a psychologist, where he worked until his retirement in 1992. During these same years, he indulged his passion for singing as a member of the Opera Carolina Chorus. He was also an active member of the Sierra Club and his interest in environmental causes later led him to join the Catawba River Foundation as Cove Keeper at Lake Davidson, where he had resided since 1998.
He was also an avid windsurfer, a sport he adopted shortly before his retirement, and he spent summers teaching windsurfing at Lake Constance in Germany.
He was predeceased by his wife Helga, and is survived by his daughter Zoë Mahood and son-in-law Jim Davis (of Durham, NC), daughter Gale Mahood (of Glasgow, Scotland), brother William Lee Mahood and sister-in-law Charlotte Mahood (of Oakton, Va).
A graveside memorial will be held at Mt. Zion Community Cemetery in Cornelius at 10 am on Friday, July 10. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Catawba River Foundation or the Charlotte Symphony.
Raymer Funeral Home is serving the family.
