Robert "Bob" Knight

Robert (Bob) Millen Knight was born in the naval hospital in Philadelphia, PA, on April 26, 1945, while his father was in active duty as a naval pilot, based in Cape May, NJ. He and his parents, Frank and Dorothy, moved back to Denver at the end of World War II, before he turned one. His formative years there nurtured a deep and abiding love of the West, where his family members had lived in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming for generations, and where he always felt most at home and himself, amidst the birds, animals, and assorted characters who call the rivers and mountains home.

He met the love of his life, Ellen Jackson Knight, while at Colorado College. It didn’t stick, but he lost no time when he got a second chance, bumping into her by happenstance on the enormous University of Michigan campus while he was attending law school and she had started graduate school at the School of Natural Resources. They married in 1969, lived briefly in Denver, and decamped for a life together in Montana in 1971. They have been in and of Missoula ever since, deeply involved in its civic and environmental communities, and passionate about the place they call home.

As a middle schooler, Bob had the good fortune to cut the lawn of Rollie Rogers, a criminal defense lawyer, keen observer of human beings, and master storyteller, who ultimately became Colorado’s first state public defender. He worked his way up from lawn boy, to office aide, to legal clerk, soaking up Rollie’s passionate love of an underdog and commitment to justice. Bob applied those same principles to his real estate law practice. He performed wonders with extremely complex land deals and repeatedly helped preserve the natural and wild places in Montana. This was his life's work. Having learned about the new tool of conservation easements while in law school, Bob helped to pass Montana’s conservation easement law, enabling the preservation of thousands of acres of critical habitat and open spaces. Among the prize places he helped to protect for the benefit of all Montanans are Mount Jumbo (a massive project he undertook on an entirely pro bono basis), Pineview Park, the Missoula Riverfront Trail System, and the Blackfoot River Corridor. He received the Nature Conservancy’s Oak Leaf Award for his creative and meticulous work, and the Arnold Bolle Conservation Professional Award for his long-time conservation efforts. He was among the founders of Five Valleys River Parks Association which eventually became Five Valley Land Trust. Bob also served on the Montana Board of Regents from 1982-84, dedicating many of his remaining non-legal waking hours to improving higher education in the state.

Bob loved jazz, a good (sometimes voluble) argument, logic and complex problem solving, hunting with pals Harlan and Grant and all the dogs, fly fishing, cooking extravagant meals, grilling in sub-zero temperatures, making and sharing jams and hot pepper relishes. He was a voracious reader, and wanted all the people he loved to read those books, too, the better to discuss them with him. He was a lawyer’s lawyer: his precision proved critical in many situations, professional and personal (while occasionally irritating opposing counsel, friends, and family). He was an inveterate storyteller, and would pull your leg if you weren’t paying attention or let your guard down. Over time, friends and loved ones could better see those moments coming, signaled by Bob grinning, with eyes twinkling, over something—often mischievous—that tickled and delighted him. He had a long running joke with his grandsons that he was in fact Superman, and once dressed up in an authentic (and tight-fitting) Superman suit to prove it. He had a wicked sense of humor, and could give a moving speech that you’d never see coming. He packed an accordion into the Bob Marshall in order to have rollicking cowboy singalongs way up in the wilderness. He loved the West, but as his children moved, he grew to appreciate the cities and places they found to call home, too. He continued to grow and learn and expand his sense of justice and the world, even as Montana remained his heart’s home.

Bob is survived by Ellen; his daughter Sarah, her husband Marc, and grandsons Sam and Abe, of Takoma Park, MD; his son John, his wife Ana, and granddaughter Alexandra, of Paris, France; his sister Ruth and her husband Ken, of Centennial, CO; brother-in-law Walt Jackson, of Missoula; and beloved dogs Gracie and Blossom. He leaves behind a beautiful and enduring legacy that is written on the landscape of Missoula and western Montana, and in the hearts of his friends and loved ones. 

A celebration of Bob’s life will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, October 14, at Garden City Funeral Home. Gifts in honor of Bob’s memory may be sent to Five Valleys Land Trust, 120 Hickory Street, Missoula, MT 59802; or to the UM jazz program via The University of Montana Foundation, PO Box 7159, Missoula, Montana 59807-7159, denoting UM Jazz Program/Rob Tapper.