Professor Robert J. Schultz, legendary Oregon educator

Professor Schultz was truly one of a kind.  I'm kind of impressed he is not wearing his khaki field outfit in that photo.  I would really like to get my hands on his self-produced lab instruction videos from the 80s.

Go Beavs

R.I.P Mr. Schultz. You helped a LOT of future Surveyors become licensed.

Nearly every person who has been licensed to survey in Oregon during the last 40+ years attended at least one, and often several, of Professor Schultz' seminars - if not his classes. He certainly left his mark on the profession.  

Professor Schultz was an institution and leaves a massive legacy of 4+ generations of surveyors.  He's a big part of what made me a surveyor.  

His beach bill work was monumental, really putting a stamp on all of Oregon.  

Now that they've posted his obit, here's a copy/paste of the text (I couldn't edit my original post to add it)

I've surveyed in Oregon for 50 years and every PLS I know has taken a class from Schultz. Along with a lot of techs. Primarily his survey law class, which was offered to the general surveying public rather than just for OSU students. The classes were held either as a night class once every week for a term or as a long, intensive, 3 or 4 day class slopping into the weekend. I took one of his weekend prep classes in 1986 prior to the LSIT and then the law class in 1989 prior to taking and passing (thanks Schultz!) the PLS test. A tall rangy guy with a crew cut who had a heavy Massachusetts accent despite living in Oregon for over 60 years.

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Obituary for Robert "Bob" James Schultz 1933-2026

Robert “Bob” James Schultz, professor emeritus of Civil and Construction engineering at Oregon State University, died at his home surrounded by his family on April 2nd, 2026. He was 92. He was a devoted husband, father, educator, athlete and member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church. He valued hard work, fairness, precision, respect and caring for others, and giving back to his community.

Bob was born in Worcester, Massachusetts to Joseph and Clarissa ”Blanche” Schultz, the youngest of two sons. He graduated from South High School and went on to Worcester Polytechnic Institute where he would receive his Bachelors of Civil Engineering in 1955 and his Masters of Civil Engineering in 1960. He was a member of Skull Club and Phi Kappa Theta Fraternity. He also served in the US Army Corps of Engineers in the late 1950’s.

A talented athlete, Bob was never short on hustle. He was a three sport athlete who played football, basketball, and baseball in both high school and college. While at WPI, he earned twelve varsity letters and he was the captain of the basketball team his senior year. In 2008, he was inducted into WPI’s Athletic Hall of Fame on his own merits.

Bob was a member of the Mid-Valley High School Football Officials Association for more than 45 years. He officiated many high school football games at all levels including the Oregon State High School Championships. He was the rules interpreter and taught many of the newer officials. He also officiated high school basketball for more than fifteen years.

Bob was also a long time attending fan of the OSU Beaver Football and Basketball teams, as well as the Corvallis Knights baseball team, rarely missing a home game and attending games all the way up to the months before he passed.

Bob moved to Corvallis in 1962 to begin teaching in the Civil Engineering Department at Oregon State University and continued teaching for 56 years. As a result of his longevity, three generations of students received education from him. He was well known for reminding students to “draw a sketch” and “check their work” when doing challenging computations, and he cared about his students, giving his time freely helping them to understand the content. In addition to the university classes, Bob taught professional workshops on several surveying topics for practicing surveyors and engineers. These workshops helped many people prepare for and pass the professional land surveyor and Oregon state-specific surveying exams.

A notable achievement for Bob’s professional career occurred in 1968 with the passage of the Oregon Beach Bill by Gov. Tom McCall, which established public ownership of Oregon beaches. Bob was one of the critical people that helped determine the methodology of how to appropriately define the boundary between public and private lands on the Oregon coast.

Bob served from 1979-1987 on the Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying. He was a member of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology Engineering Accreditation Commission. His life-time memberships included the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, National Society of Professional Engineers, and Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon.

Bob received much recognition for his commitment to teaching. He received the SaGES Career Recognition Award, the 2002 OSU RIchard M. Bressler Senior Faculty Teaching Award, the 2013 OSU College of Engineering Alumni Teaching Award and was the 2018 Dennis Marker Teacher of the Year. He also was honored with the OSU President’s Medal for 50 years of service to Oregon State University.

When possible, Bob also donated his professional services to the community. Some examples include the layouts of the outfield fence at Spartan Stadium and the Veterans Memorial at the armory.

He was an active parishioner at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. He served on the church’s OSU Newman Center Board in the 1980’s. He was a lecturer at Mass for many decades.

In addition to sharing with his family his passion for sports, Bob also took the time to share with them the beauty, wonder, and history of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Many trips and adventures were taken over the years, including crabbing trips to Newport, ski trips to Hoodoo and Bend, camping trips and adventures to many state and national parks, hikes on both local trails, and in the Cascades.

Bob is survived by his wife of 60 years, Constance Schultz, his daughter Anne Marie Schultz and husband Jay Resch; son John (Alma) Schultz; daughter Georgeanne (Kurt) Windisch; and daughter Mary-Jo Schultz.

There will be a funeral mass Wednesday April 22nd at 11am at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Corvallis, Oregon. There is a LiveStream scheduled at ggl.link/Schultz-funeral.

A private family burial service will be held at a later time at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Corvallis, Oregon.

The family suggests those wishing to honor Bob’s memory may donate to the Robert J. Schultz Geomatics Endowment Fund, which supports geomatics education and research in the OSU College of Engineering’s School of Civil and Construction Engineering. Contributions to this fund can be made at give.fororegonstate.org.