Robert Kenneth Chatel Jr. was born in Northampton, Massachusetts to Robert Senior and Annella Card Chatel on May 30, 1949. He was the eldest of three sons growing up at 56 Oak Street in Hudson Falls. You could always find a woodcut hanging on their side porch of the figures of brothers Bob, David and Peter, side by side holding hands.
Bob excelled in school, serving as Treasurer and Vice-President of the Student Council and participating in football, wrestling, and track. He attained the rank of Eagle Scout and was awarded a Regents Diploma, graduating from Hudson Falls High School in 1967.
After attending Norwich University and graduating cum laude from SUNY Albany with a major in English, he pursued graduate studies at the University of Chicago in a doctorate program in the philosophy of language. Bob chose the topic of metaphor for his dissertation.
In 1978, Bob moved to Thessaloniki, Greece to join his partner in life, Kathleen Hart. There he taught English and Epistemology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He then moved to Portugal, where he spent many years working as a “leitor” (reader) at the University of Coimbra.
As a lifetime student of languages, he mastered Greek and Portuguese and collaborated as a translator for the Center for Social Studies in Coimbra. Upon returning to Greece in 1997, he served as an Assistant Professor of English at the American College of Thessaloniki. Additionally, he worked with Kathleen in Future Perfect, an enterprise that provided tutoring for students intending to study abroad. Bob also edited academic books, articles, and dissertations for clients whose mother tongue was not English.
On December 2, 2020, Bob passed away peacefully. Of his life’s accomplishments, he would no doubt first of all cite his daughter, Lara Chatel Turbide. He could also be proud (though pride was not part of his nature) of the many students, colleagues, relatives and friends whose lives were enriched by knowing him.