Obituary of Robert McDuffie

Robert Scott McDuffie (Scott), 80, of Camas, Washington, passed away peacefully at the Fort Vancouver Post Acute care facility on July 6th, following his brief battle with brain cancer.

Scott was born to Richard and Frances McDuffie in Longview, Washington on June 13th, 1937. He grew up in various lumber towns in the Pacific Northwest, graduated from Springfield High School in 1955, and continued on to receive Bachelors of Mathematics and Masters of Computer Science degrees from Stanford University.

Scott was first married to Katharine Lang in 1958; they were married for 26 years and raised three children in San Jose, California and Portland, Oregon.  In 1985, Scott re-married Sharon Gray, and they raised her two children in Portland.  Scott and Sharon were married for 30 years until she lost her battle with lung cancer in 2015.

Upon graduating from Stanford, Scott worked as a computer programmer for IBM in what is now Silicon Valley until he returned to the Pacific Northwest to teach mathematics briefly at the University of Portland. He spent the remainder of his 40+ year career in the Portland area in data processing and IT management with the Bonneville Power Administration, Riviera Motors, and the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Through different phases of his life, Scott enjoyed hunting, fishing, photography, cycling, making gourmet coffees, and tinkering in the garage (his cars, boats, and bikes were always meticulously maintained). While Scott was a pragmatic, logical thinker, he always had a soft spot for cats and chocolate.

Scott is survived by his sons Greg (wife Anne) and Steve (wife Amy); daughter Anne McDuffie; step-son Matt Tamura (wife Lisa); step-daughter Jennifer Tamura Klein (husband Tim); grandchildren Erin, Laura, Dennis, and Mark McDuffie, Levi and Jack Klein, and Elli and Asher Tamura; brother Rick (wife Karen) cousin John Alley; and many other family and friends.

Scott’s memorial service will be held at 11:00am on July 18th at Columbia Presbyterian Church in Vancouver, Washington. Geordie Ziegler of Columbia Presbyterian will be officiating. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be given to the Columbia Land Trust, at www.columbialandtrust.org.