Roger Ralph Brandt

Roger Ralph Brandt died peacefully at his home in Sonoma, California, surrounded by family, on January 8, 2019. Roger was born in Glenwood City, Wisconsin, on December 17, 1936, to Lucille and Ralph Brandt. He grew up on the Brandt family farm outside of Wilson, Wisconsin, attending the neighborhood elementary school and graduating from Spring Valley High School, where he played various sports and won the Scholar-Athlete Award his senior year. He attended Augsburg College in Minneapolis and then transferred to the University of Wisconsin—La Crosse, where he majored in physical education and history.

Between his junior and senior years of college, Roger served in the United States Army, specializing in cryptography work in Germany, and was later re-called during the Cuban Missile Crisis to teach cryptography at a US Army base.

Roger began his teaching and coaching career at Bloomington (Wisconsin) High School and later taught and coached at Melrose-Mindoro High School in Wisconsin. He left teaching when he was recruited by New York Life Insurance Company, working first in the Milwaukee office, then in Philadelphia, New York City, and finally San Francisco. After retirement from NYLIC, Roger joined ABD, an insurance company in Redwood City, CA, where he worked as a lead underwriter until his second retirement, in May of 2002.

Roger loved to travel and was interested in learning about new places. He had traveled to Australia, New Zealand, all of the Western and Northern European countries, Italy, Greece, and Turkey.

Having enjoyed singing as a boy, Roger resumed singing in his retirement and sang with community chorales in both Hollister and Sonoma, California, where he lived in his retirement.

Throughout his life, Roger enjoyed playing and watching sports., following college and major league teams and professional athletes in various sports. He continued throughout the years to enjoy golf and played his last round in July of 2018. 

Roger is survived by his partner of 28 years, Linda Scholer; by his daughter, Tracy (Tom) Heiner, and his son, Jason Brandt; by Linda’s son, Andrew (Amy) Scholer, and Linda’s daughter, Leah (Ben) Spero; by eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren; by his sisters, Beverly Brooke, Barbara (John) Kirk, and Klover (Dennis) Schafer; by his brothers, Douglas (Mary) Brandt, and Rex (Janet) Brandt; and by numerous other relatives and friends.

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