Robert J. Blackwell was born in 1925. He was a native of Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from Syracuse University and Harvard Law School. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1943 to 1946. His government career began as an attorney with the Federal Maritime Board, then as director of several bureaus within the Federal Maritime Commission. In May 1969 he became deputy maritime administrator and in March 1971 Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Maritime Affairs. He served through the remainder of the Nixon and Ford Administrations and into the Carter Administration. He left that post in 1979, and was replaced by Samuel B. Nemirow. In 1976 he received the VADM Land Medal of the Society of Naval Architects & Marine Engineers for Outstanding Accomplishment in the Marine Field. 

January 1st, 1925 in (Age 99)