Robert Philip Stupp, a business and community leader for many years died on March 2 after suffering a series of strokes. He was 83 years old.
Mr. Stupp began his career with the Stupp Companies in 1952, serving as president of several divisions. He became the president and chief executive officer in 1989 and has been serving as chairman of Stupp Bros. Inc. since 2004.
Stupp Bros, Inc. is a privately owned company founded in 1856 by Johann Stupp, Mr. Stupp’s great-grandfather. Its companies manufacture the essential materials to build pipelines, bridges, high-rise buildings and sports facilities, provide corrosion protection for pipelines and manufacture specialized equipment for solid state bonding for customers in the private and public sectors. The company also founded a bank in 1928 that has evolved into Midwest BankCentre.
Throughout his life Mr. Stupp participated in many community and national organizations. He was on the boards of John Burroughs School and St. Michael’s School, was president of the Tower Grove Park board of commissioners, the vestries at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and the Church of St. Michael & St. George. In addition to being past president of the St. Louis Rotary Club and an officer of the Academy of Science, he has served on the boards of Goodwill Industries, Junior Achievement, the St. Louis Explorer’s Club, Shriners Hospital, RCGA, St. Louis Zoo Friends, the Better Business Bureau and the St. Louis Boy Scout Council. He was a member of the Royal Order of Jesters of the Masonic Order.
His business interests included directorships at Laclede Gas Co., Tower Grove Bank, Association of General Contractors of St. Louis and the Midwestern Joist Co. He chaired the American Institute of Steel Construction, was president of the Central Fabricators Association and founding chairman of the National Steel Bridge Alliance.
Mr. Stupp was a graduate of Washington University with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and received the Washington University Engineering Alumni Achievement Award.
He was preceded in death by his first wife, Jane Howell Stupp in 1988. He is survived by his wife, Anne C. Stupp; three children, Leslie H. Stupp of San Diego, Julia Jane Stupp of Ladue and Robert Philip Stupp Jr. (Judith) of Webster Groves. His grandchildren include Jane Stupp O’Neill, Jared Stupp O’Neill, Robert Philip Stupp III, Henry Traylor Stupp and William Glenn Stupp.
Memorial services will be held at the Church of St. Michael & St. George, 6345 Wydown Blvd., at 1 p.m. on March 7. Memorial gifts may be made to the Robert Philip Stupp Memorial Scholarship Trust c/o the Church of St. Michael & St. George, St. Louis, Mo. 63105. The trust was “established to further the education of many.”
