Fluno, Robert Younger

Robert Younger Fluno was born on November 27, 1916 in Appleton, Wisconsin. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Rollins College in 1938. Fluno went on to study at the American University in Washington, D.C. from 1938-1940; University of Minnesota from 1946-48; and the London School of Economics and Political Science from 1950-51; finally earning his doctorate of philosophy in 1952 from the University of Minnesota. During his study he taught political science at the University of Minnesota (1947-48) and Mount Union College, Alliance, Ohio (1948-52). He accepted a position at Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA in 1952, where he served a 30-year tenure until his retirement in 1982. He was married to artist and poet, Ruth Fluno in 1944, until her death in 1974; and was remarried to Marcella Kerins in 1979.

During Fluno’s tenure at Whitman College, he was an active professor and advisor for the student body, serving as a pre-law advisor and Chairman of the Political Science Department, organizing a number of symposiums and seminars and, perhaps most notably, serving as the advisor to Whitman Political Union. The Whitman Political Union was formed in 1954-55, following the success of the Workshop in Practical Politics in April, 1954 and the Intercollegiate Mock Political Convention in March, 1956. The Political Union remained active for approximately twenty-five years as a bipartisan group fostering political awareness and student involvement. The group sponsored annual Mock Conventions, Student Legislatures, as well as a number of political speakers, and an annual seminar-Roots of Contemporary Democracy which ran annually from 1961-1969. In April, 1990, The Whitman Political Union held a reunion of its former participants who had been identified through listings in articles from the Whitman Pioneer (1952-1958). The reunion was organized by Sally Rodgers, Robb Ball, and Robert Fluno. Fluno was the keynote speaker.

Shortly after the Political Union Reunion, Robert Younger Fluno died on October 6, 1990, at the age of 73 in his home in Berkeley, CA.

From the guide to the Robert Fluno Papers, 1952-1990, (Whitman College and Northwest Archives)