Dr. Robert Danner, a prominent Utica dentist who practiced from his downtown office on the corner of Park Avenue and Hopper Street for nearly half a century, died on Sunday, March 1, 2015 at his home in Boca Raton, FL, where he had lived since his retirement in 1998. He was 91 years old.
Danner was born in Utica in September 1923 to William Danner and Celia Starman Danner. He attended John F. Hughes School and Utica Free Academy.
After working at the Savage Arms munitions factory in Herkimer he entered Marietta College in Marietta, OH.
While attending Marietta, Danner enlisted in the United States Navy in 1942. He served on an aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Bonne Homme Richard, where he commanded an anti-aircraft gun crew and took part in the Battle of Okinawa and the Battle of Leyte Gulf off the Philippines.
After the war, Danner attended the University of Pennsylvania School of Dentistry, from which he was graduated as a doctor of dental surgery in May 1951.
In 1949, a friend introduced him to the then Rosalyn Sitrin. After a short engagement they were married on June 11, 1950 and eventually settled into a house on Ferris Avenue in South Utica, where they would raise four children.
After working for a time at the Rome State School, Danner opened his practice at the corner of Park Avenue and Hopper Street. He would practice there for nearly 50 years.
During that time, he became a prominent figure in the Oneida-Herkimer County Dental Society. He was elected president in 1987 and served until 1993.
While leading the society he was active in promoting the use of fluoride in the Utica water system and he worked with the New York State government on a number of issues, including the administration of Medicaid, the program offering medical and dental coverage for the poor.
Danner was an active skier and hunter and spent summers with his family at their camp on Okara Lake, in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains just south of Old Forge, which had been built by his father as a fishing retreat during the early 1960s.
He was an ardent patron of the Utica Public Library and remained until the end of his life an enthusiastic reader, favoring history, politics and political thrillers.
Danner is survived by his wife, Rosalyn Danner, of Boca Raton, FL, and by three children: Holly Danner O’Brien of Jackson, WY; Mark David Danner of Berkeley, CA and New York City; and Lisa Gail Danner of Santa Fe, NM. Sheila Beth Danner, his second child, died in 1977.
He is survived as well by three grandchildren, Sara Sheila Suggs of Albuquerque, NM, Grace Beth Danner and Truman Leo Danner, both of Berkeley, CA, and two great-grandchildren, Mateo and Marcus Sanchez of Albuquerque, NM.
Funeral services will be held at Bentz & Amodio Funeral Home, 470 French Rd., Utica, on Sunday, March 8 at 11 a.m. Visiting hours will begin at 10 a.m.
