Obituary: Captain Robert F. Desel, U.S. Navy (Ret.), 95, of Southport

Captain Robert F. Desel, U.S. Navy (Ret.), 95, of Southport, and the beloved husband of Virginia (Engelhart) Desel, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, October 24, 2017. He was born in Brooklyn, NY to the late Walter and Emma Desel.

A graduate of Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Brooklyn, the University of Michigan and MIT, Desel was trained as a naval architect and marine engineer. He was in college in the Naval ROTC when World War II began and served in numerous naval engagements in the European and Pacific Theaters. His first orders on the newly commissioned destroyer USS O’Brien (DD725) took him to the D Day Normandy Invasion. His service in the Pacific theater included the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Following the war, he served as a White House Military Aide to President Eisenhower and completed his 25-year Naval career at the Brooklyn Navy Yard where he was the Building Superintendent for the construction of the aircraft carrier USS Constellation (CV64).

After retiring from the Navy, he joined Mobil Oil Corporation in their Marine Division, working in New York, Bermuda and Beaumont, Texas, including as Manager of Mobil’s Gulf & East Coast Fleet. His great loves, in addition to his wife and family, Church and country, were sailing and painting.

In addition to his wife, Robert is survived by his loving children, Paula Desel and her husband, Henry Ayon of Richmond, VA; Jean Gustafsson and her husband, Jan of London, England; Anne Desel of Fairfield; and Robert E. Desel and his wife, Janine Sullivan of Wilton. He will also be missed by his sister, Sr. Madeline Desel, RDC of Bronx, NY and by his grandchildren: Christopher, William, Yates, Sarah and Emily. He was preceded in death by his siblings, Walter, Paula and Emma.

Friends are invited to attend his funeral on Friday, October 27, 2017 at 11 a.m. at St. Luke Church in Westport for a Mass of Christian Burial. Internment with full military honors will follow in Oak Lawn Cemetery in Fairfield. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made in Robert’s name to Sisters of the Divine Compassion Retirement Fund, c/o Sr. Madeline Desel, Holy Family Convent, Bronx NY 10465. To send an online condolence, please visit www.shaughnesseybanks.com