Robert Edward Weigend, a civil engineer, was born on June 16, 1926 in Columbus, Wisconsin and married Carol E. Weigend with whom he had three sons. Weigend served as a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Engineering Corps from 1946-1948. He received his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin in June 1953, and was a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Wisconsin. He began working for the City of Milwaukee Civil Defense Administration in June of 1958 as a civil engineer, and remained employed there until 1964. He worked on several different projects during this time period, all of which involved civil defense for Milwaukee in case of a nuclear attack. When he left the Civil Defense Administration in 1964, he went to work for the Wisconsin Electric Power Company, where his job was to develop a power grid system that could survive a nuclear attack.
Weigend was also involved in civil defense education. He contributed to materials for courses offered at the Department of Defense Staff College in Battle Creek, Michigan (the regional DOD headquarters), and he led workshops aimed at educating the general public about surviving a nuclear event. He also worked part time for the University of Wisconsin Engineering Extension Division, teaching civil defense courses to architects and engineers.
Active in his professional community, Weigend was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Wisconsin Society of Professional Engineers, and the American Society for Public Administration. He also served as a consultant to the Milwaukee-Waukesha Chapter of the American Red Cross and was on the American Red Cross Shelter Subcommittee.
Robert Weigend died August 7, 2009.
