R. Robert Linowes · 1991 Honoree

No measure of success will ever spoil Bob Linowes, or it would have done so many years ago. He is an urban giant whose influence and accomplishments in the professional world are dwarfed only by his need to do for others. He stands among the skyscrapers of Metropolitan Wahington’s business leaders with his feet planted firmly on the sidewalks and flame of “humanity” ablaze in his heart.

Bob Linowes was born in Trenton, New Jersey to parents who were Russian/polish immigrants. He attended public schools and remembers learning as much as selling newspapers and working at the A&P as he did during school hours. Mr. Linowes received his law degree from Columbia University and came to Washington in 1948 to work for the Federal Power Commission. A few years later, while at the Agriculture Department, he took an idea and transformed it into the nationally recognized “Smokey the Bear” fire prevention campaign.

In 1954 he responded to an ad in the Washington Law Journal to become an assistant county attorney in suburban Maryland. Serving in this position, he became exposed to the legal complexities of land use planning and, with a vision toward the explosive future of Montgomery County, he co-founded the law firm of Linowes and Blocher in 1956. The remarkable story of his subsequent professional success as an attorney will be relegated to a volume in the contemporary history of the Washington business community.

In 1985, cultural shock waves spread through the Capitol Hill community and across our city with the announcement of the impending demise of the Folger Shakespeare Theatre. Compelled by a great love of the classics, fostered during his undergraduate years at Hamilton College, Bob Linowes stepped-in and refused to let it happen.

With the help of an active board and several benefactors, Mr. Linowes set to work reorganizing the theatre as Shakespeare Theatre at the Folger. He remembers walking out of a subsequent performance and feeling “not pleased” with the product being offered. Bob used his influence to attract artistic director, Michael Kahn from the renowned Juilliard School in New York; prominent stage and screen actors were recruited to take lead roles in the Folger’s productions. Today the once beleaguered Shakespeare Theatre is, once again, the shining jewel among Capitol Hill’s cultural treasures.

A past president of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, Bob Linowes’ towering list of awards and achievements are simply too numerous to list. His humanitarian zeal extends to young people, civil rights, the arts, civic involvement, science and sports. He lives to make things work, but they must always work in the context of a living human community.

Standing on his lofty shoulders, the citizens of Capitol Hill and all of Washington are poised to see the future. With a man the stature of Bob Linowes to carry the torch, the vision is bright indeed.