Former St. Louis Man of the Year, Citizen of the Year and member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, Robert Ringen “Bob” Hermann died at his home in Ladue Monday at the age of 97.
Known for his philanthropy and his work on the board of many civic and charitable organizations including the Muny, the St. Louis Zoo and the Missouri Botanical Garden, Hermann also founded the Veiled Prophet Fair, which is now known as Fair St. Louis.
He was married twice, to the late Lilly Busch Hermann and to Mary Lee Marshall Hermann, who died last August. He is survived by children Carlota “Lotsie” Hermann Holton and Robert R. Hermann Jr.; daughter Christy Busch Hermann died in 1969. He had four stepchildren, six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Hermann served as a flight deck officer on the USS Savo Island aircraft carrier during World War II, seeing action in the southwest Pacific Ocean. He was commissioned as an ensign and achieved the rank of lieutenant during his time in the U.S. Navy.
A graduate of St. Louis Country Day School and Princeton University, Hermann founded Hermann Companies Inc. in 1956. The family-owned business makes plastic containers for food sales, takeout and delivery, as well as cling-film. Hermann Marketing, which was part of the business before being sold to a company that became part of Staples, was a pioneer in the fields of promotional marketing and corporate catalog sales.
“He loved business because it challenged his mind, but it was just a game. He was very successful, but frankly he was one of the original angel investors. He probably backed 300 companies,” said his grandson, Rick Holton Jr.
An irrepressible supporter of the St. Louis region, Hermann started the VP Fair in 1981 as a way to celebrate Independence Day and draw crowds to the Gateway Arch.
“Everyone said, ‘There is no way it will work, you can’t do it, it’s impossible,’” Holton said. So Hermann reached out to his friends and acquaintances in big business for financial and logistical help, and the fair has been a long-running success.
“Anytime somebody said, ‘You can’t do it,’ he would just do it,” Holton said.
In 1966, Hermann and William D. Cox started what became the National Professional Soccer League. The league only played for the 1967 season before merging with the United Soccer Association to form the North American Soccer League.
Hermann co-owned the St. Louis Stars team in the NPSL and the NASL from 1967 until the team moved to Anaheim, California, after the 1977 season and was renamed the California Surf. He continued as an owner until 1980.
The MAC Hermann Trophy, awarded to the best male and female college soccer players in the country, was funded by him and is named for him. The 1999 remodel of the soccer stadium at St. Louis University also was largely funded by him; it is now called the Robert R. Hermann Stadium.
He was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2001 and the St. Louis Soccer Hall of Fame in 2012.
Hermann founded the short-lived St. Louis Arts Festival and the Veterans Festival in Forest Park. He also began Operation Brightside, which is now called Brightside St. Louis; it cleans and beautifies public spaces in the city.
But much of his philanthropy was on a personal level, under the radar. Every year, he would disappear for a day; even his family did not know where he went, Holton said.
After 10 years, they found out: He would put on a Santa suit and, with the help of his late executive assistant Dodie Frank, would distribute presents to charitable organizations throughout the poorer areas of the region.
“A lot of his friends called him Mr. St. Louis, because everywhere in the world he went, he talked about how St. Louis was the center of the world,” Holton said.
