After nearly 32 years at St. Thomas, Bob Douglas, a longtime employee of the Facilities Management team, retired this spring.

Douglas began working at the university in 1983 and worked as a custodian for five years before becoming a custodial supervisor. After seven years as a supervisor, Douglas took over as the coordinator of central receiving and recycling, a job he held for the majority of his time with the university.

Despite spending more than three decades at St. Thomas, it was not the career path that Douglas had always envisioned.

“I made my living playing music for about 14 years, and then I came to St. Thomas. It was amazing they hired me,” Douglas said with a laugh. “Even though I had a bachelor’s degree from Macalester, I was willing to start off (anywhere) because I had a family, and I couldn’t support it with the amount of money I was making.”

During his time at St. Thomas, Douglas became a pioneer for recycling and sustainability efforts. He said it was a role that resulted from circumstances early in his time at the school.

“When I first started, (St. Thomas) had a group called the Environmental Initiatives Committee meant to bring awareness of environmental issues,” Douglas said. “When I became part of recycling, that committee was falling apart, so I wanted to keep up on environmental and sustainability awareness.”

Among other accomplishments Douglas helped start the food recycling program during his time at St. Thomas. He was also part of the group that helped write the school’s climate action plan in 2008 that was designed to achieve carbon neutrality at St. Thomas by 2035.

Associate Vice President for Auxiliary Services Gerald Anderley worked closely with Douglas and said he believes the recycling and sustainability efforts are Douglas’ biggest impact on St. Thomas.

“He was one of the first to talk about sustainability and recycling … how to become carbon neutral as a university and what kinds of things the university should do to become more sustainable,” Anderley said. “He was a leader in this area long before sustainability became important to people.”

Central Receiving Manager Paul Hietpas, a former assistant coordinator of recycling and central receiving under Douglas, agreed.

“When I went here in the ‘90s, recycling was not much of a thing,” Hietpas said. “Bob started the recycling program at St. Thomas before recycling was really the cool thing to do … I think that is really his legacy here at St. Thomas.”

Aside from his duties at Facilities Management, Douglas also performed music with the Show’d Up Band on campus. A founding member of the band, Douglas said it’s been a highlight of his time here.

Douglas showcased his talents on Garrison Keillor’s show “A Prairie Home Companion.” When the show went national, he was part of its regular Saturday band.

It comes as no surprise then that Douglas’ plans for retirement revolve around his musical passions.

“When I came here, it wasn’t ideal to my music, but I kept music relationships, so I plan to go back to it,” he said. “I used to teach, and I used to tour. Now that all the kids are grown up, I can do more touring and certainly teach when I want.”

But Douglas said he will miss coming to work every day because of the people from St. Thomas.

“Every day when you come in and you know people, and you have known them for decades in certain cases, you feel like you belong,” he said. “You are not anonymous. You are in a community that recognizes you and you recognize them. There are all kinds of people with all kinds of abilities here, and to feel like you are a part of it is special.”

Willie Faust can be reached at faus5612@stthomas.edu.