Robert William Rohr
Published in The Washington Post on 3/4/2007.
Robert William Rohr, 78; D.C. School Sports Star And Business Executive
					ROBERT WILLIAM ROHR
By Matt Schudel         Washington Post Staff Writer  Sunday, March 25, 2007
Robert William Rohr, 78, a three-sport athletic star at Washington's Coolidge High School, who became vice president of a moving and storage company, died Feb. 27 of cardiovascular disease at his home in Silver Spring. In 1969, Mr. Rohr joined two partners in the purchase of Colonial Storage Co. and helped make the business one of Washington's largest  moving and storage firm
Considered a master salesman, Mr. Rohr cultivated an elite clientele as vice president of the firm's international division, securing contracts with the White House, State Department, World Bank,  International Monetary Fund, Inter-American Development Bank and many embassies. He served on international trade groups and committees  related to his business before retiring in 1993.
Mr. Rohr, who was born in Alexandria, moved to the District as a boy  and became one of the city's most celebrated high school athletes of the 1940s. Known as Bobby Rohr, he led Calvin Coolidge High School to five D.C. interhigh championships in football, basketball and baseball.
As a junior guard on the Coolidge Colts basketball team in 1946, Mr. Rohr scored the winning basket in the city semifinal game against McKinley Tech, then scored several crucial late-game points as Coolidge defeated Western High School for the city championship. Later that year, he had three hits and scored three runs as Coolidge beat Central High School for the city baseball title. The next year, Coolidge repeated as interhigh champions in basketball and baseball, with Mr. Rohr starring in both sports.
In the 1946 city championship football game, played before more than 18,000 fans, Mr. Rohr -- a speedy 6-foot, 175-pound halfback -- caught two touchdown passes and returned an interception 59 yards for a third touchdown as Coolidge defeated McKinley Tech.
It came as no surprise to Coolidge High students when Bobby  Rohr rose to the occasion at last Friday night's interhigh championship football game at Griffith Stadium, scoring three times to pace his team to its third major athletic championship within nine months,  Washington Post sportswriter Herb Haft wrote. He has come through  in the clutch for Coolidge before.
Mr. Rohr was a two-time first-team selection on the all-city football team and, in basketball, was named by The Post the league's best defensive player . . . and also one of its most aggressive performers under the backboards. As a senior first baseman on the Coolidge baseball team, he hit .370 and had 12 stolen bases in nine games.
In 1947, the Touchdown Club named Mr. Rohr the city's outstanding high school athlete of the year, and he continued to receive awards for  his youthful athletic exploits throughout his life.
Mr. Rohr played a year of professional baseball in the Brooklyn Dodgers' minor-league system before returning to Washington and marrying his high school sweetheart in 1950. He spent a year with the FBI, where he helped with physical training and played on the agency's baseball  team. He then served in the Army as a photography interpreter in Germany from 1951 to 1953.
Back in Washington, he was a salesman with Beatrice Foods Inc. for several years and then entered the moving and storage business with Federal Storage Co. and other firms before becoming a partner with Colonial Storage.
Mr. Rohr was a member of Optimist International and the American Legion and served on the boards of Millian Memorial United Methodist Church in Rockville and, later, Oakdale Emory United Methodist Church in Olney. He also coached church basketball and baseball teams.
Survivors include his wife of 56 years, Terri Hopkins Rohr of Silver Spring; three daughters, Debbie DiBattista, Cindy Rohr and Robin Green, all of Columbia; three sisters, Clara & Betty Caffrey of  Silver Spring, Cathy Coleman of Gaithersburg and Donna Richardson of Myrtle Beach, S.C.; and three grandchildren.