Memorial service for Robert Pringle Memorial service for Robert Pringle (January 26, 2005)

He was a founding member of the Child and Family Institute in Menlo Park.

By Rebecca Wallace

Almanac Staff Writer

From now on, the cheerful red heart logo of the Child and Family Institute in Menlo Park will be bittersweet for director Kris Goodrich.

Whenever she looks at it, she thinks of Robert C. Pringle, a well-known Menlo Park marketing and communications professional who helped create the logo. Mr. Pringle, 54, died January 18 after being struck by a train in Menlo Park.

Mr. Pringle and his wife, Maggie, were founding members of the 19-year-old institute, which helps strengthen families with programs such as mother-child teas and men's groups, Ms. Goodrich said. She said Mr. Pringle was "like the Eveready battery," always willing to help.

"He'd give anything: his time, his expertise. He was always a phone call away," Ms. Goodrich said. "He chose the heart, and I was thinking that he'll always be at the heart of the institute."

The institute is on the grounds of the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Menlo Park, where the Pringles have worshipped, but the church turned out to be too small for Mr. Pringle's memorial service, Ms. Goodrich said. So the service was held January 24 at the Memorial Church at Stanford University.

A Menlo Park resident, Mr. Pringle was a Stanford graduate and associate vice president and director of development marketing at the university from 1997 to 2002.

"Bob's love and enthusiastic support of Stanford were evident in everything he did," Stanford president John L. Hennessy said in a prepared statement. "This made him a great treasure to have in our midst: first as a student, then as a supporter and volunteer and, finally, as associate vice president."

While the San Mateo County Coroner's office has not yet ruled on whether Mr. Pringle's death was a suicide, Caltrain spokeswoman Jayme Maltbie Kunz said at this point it appears to have been one.

Mr. Pringle was found along the tracks around 10:25 a.m. after being struck by a low-hanging piece of equipment on a southbound train near Encinal Avenue, which is between stations, Ms. Kunz said. The engineer did not see him, and it appears that he dove into the path of the locomotive close to the ground as it passed, she said.

He was pronounced dead around 12:15 p.m. at Stanford Hospital, the coroner's office reported. A final coroner's ruling is expected to take four to six weeks.
Star swimmer

Mr. Pringle grew up in Woodland, California, and was a star swimmer at Woodland High School, according to an obituary prepared by his family.

He graduated from Stanford in 1972 with a degree in history and economics, and then earned a master's of business administration in 1980 from Northwestern University.

From 1988 to 1997, he served as executive director and principal at Landor Associates, a global identity and design firm based in San Francisco, handling key accounts such as Frito-Lay and the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games of 1996, his family said.

Most recently, he was chief marketing officer for the Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe legal firm.

Besides his involvement with Holy Trinity, Mr. Pringle was a member of the Filoli board of directors, the Menlo Country Club, and the Bohemian Club. He was a regular swimmer at Stanford's Avery Aquatic Center and also enjoyed golfing, hiking and spending time with his family in the mountains.

Mr. Pringle is survived by his wife, Margaret Ely Pringle; his children, Abby, David and Will Pringle; his mother, Janet Pringle of Portola Valley; and his mother- and father-in-law, Shirley and Leonard Ely of Palo Alto. Mr. Ely is a longtime Palo Alto philanthropist who ran auto dealerships in Redwood City and Menlo Park.

The family requests that memorial donations be made to Stanford University through Gift Processing, 326 Galvez St., Stanford, CA 94305-6105; or to the Child and Family Institute, 330 Ravenswood Ave., Menlo Park, CA 94025.

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