On Wednesday, July 13, 2022, Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame lost one of its strongest supporters and one of its loudest cheerleaders when Bob Galkin died at age 95.

Bob was a very successful but also very low-profile businessman, who also made his mark as a philanthropist.

By the time we began our recognition of Rhode Island’s aviation heroes in 2003, Bob Galkin and his brother Warren were fully invested in our efforts to bring an aircraft carrier into Narragansett Bay as a family attraction, education center and museum. Bob was especially bullish about the vocational training and workforce development contributions such a ship could make to the Rhode island economy.

In 2017, we decided to rename one of our awards in recognition of the many years of support and valuable contributions to our efforts made by Robert and Warren Galkin.

The Galkin Award is given annually to someone who was born in or educated in RI, and whose contribution to aviation included an advancement of the field, be it though technology, design, implementation, exploration, bold initiative and/or risk-taking.

Click here to read the full obituary of this unique and fascinating man. He will be missed by everyone here at the RI Aviation Hall of Fame.