Nov. 11, 2025
Contact: Jennifer Manning, manningje@missouri.edu
Photos courtesy of David Whatley, Tom Richards and Nancy Staats
Col. Robert (Bob) Banning served his country for three decades and supported his alma mater for a lifetime. And even after his passing, his story would bring together a group of Tigers to celebrate his contributions.
Last month, University of Missouri alumni and friends gathered at Arlington National Cemetery to pay their respects and give him the farewell he deserved.
Bringing Banning to his final resting place with full military honors was a mission nearly two years in the making. One that began with the generosity of a man who left everything to Mizzou and was carried forward by the relentless determination of Mizzou employees.
Banning presents a certificate to a fellow soldier.
A life of service and loyalty
Banning attended Mizzou on a Curators’ Scholarship, graduating in 1958 with a bachelor’s degree in public administration. As a member of Delta Sigma Phi and the Army ROTC, he built lifelong friendships that further deepened his affinity for Mizzou.
After graduation, he began a distinguished 30-year career with the U.S. Army, serving in the Vietnam War. His high-profile assignments included a White House detail during which he served former President Richard Nixon. As a high-ranking military official, Banning — who grew up five doors down from future president Harry S. Truman and his family in Independence, Missouri — was given the honor of escorting President Truman’s daughter, Margaret Truman, at his funeral.
“He had all the qualities you look for in an officer in the military,” fellow Army veteran and fraternity brother Bruce Loewenberg, BSF ’61, said. “He was dedicated. He was knowledgeable. He was loyal. He was remarkable. He really skyrocketed during his time in the Army.”
For his dedication to service and gallantry in action, Banning received numerous awards, including the Bronze Star and Silver Star.
“He was in a helicopter on a mission when he got a radio message that a unit was under fire and in danger of being overrun,” Loewenberg said. “The anti-aircraft fire was very heavy, but he was able to direct artillery fire and save the unit. Because of that, he was awarded the Silver Star for outstanding service under fire from the enemy.”
As his military career took him across the globe, his connection to Mizzou never wavered. He continued to support the university through charitable gifts, most notably to the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy. His generosity to the university was inspired by the support he received as a student.
“During his time at the university, his father passed away,” Loewenberg said. “The university made scholarships and money available so he would not have to drop out of school. And he never forgot that.”
Such was his dedication to Mizzou that when it came time to create a will, he worked with Mizzou Advancement’s Office of Gift Planning to donate his entire estate to the university, with the Kinder Institute as the sole beneficiary.
U.S. Army personnel fold the U.S. flag during the funeral ceremony.
An unexpected mission
After Banning’s death in April 2023, the gift planning team began to finalize this long-planned gift. That’s when they hit the first of many roadblocks.
With no next of kin and no immediate family members, it was unclear who would fulfill his final wishes.
That’s when Executive Director for Advancement Anne Morgan’s team and the Office of General Counsel made an uncommon decision — Mizzou would be the executor.
“This is not something that Mizzou normally does,” Morgan said. “We knew we were taking on a task we were not particularly well-suited for. But given Col. Banning’s relationship with the university, and our feeling that we had a responsibility to make sure this was done correctly, we stepped into the role of executor.”
Still, probate law required a human representative. Tom Richards, chief investment officer for the University of Missouri System, stepped up to fulfill that role.
As the team began navigating the necessary paperwork, they made a heartbreaking discovery. Banning had never received a proper burial. His remains were still with a funeral home in Tucson, Arizona, almost a year after his death.
“I will never forget that day,” Planned Giving Administrator Laura Gordon said. “That changed the whole thing. It created a sense of urgency to do what is right. That’s when we decided we had to start escalating this.”
The project was no longer about finalizing a donation — it was about honoring a decorated veteran with a proper military funeral.
Mission complete
Banning wished to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, a long process, even without the added complications of his estate.
Determined to set things right, Gordon, Morgan and Richards — all from military families themselves — began the complex process of making the arrangements.
“I felt very strongly we needed to make sure he got the proper burial he deserved,” Gordon said. “Society sometimes forgets what our veterans have done for us. They should be admired and not forgotten.”
After months of hard work, everything was finally in place. Morgan sent personal invitations to Mizzou alumni and veterans in the D.C. area, asking them to join in honoring a fellow Tiger.
On the morning of Oct. 14, Morgan and Gordon received an email from Richards with two simple words: Mission Complete.
“It was such a sense of peace knowing that we had completed the mission,” Morgan said. “There wasn’t a dry eye in the house to know and be able to say, after all this time, we really did it. It finally happened.”
Richards, Mizzou veterans, Mizzou Army ROTC alumni and Delta Sigma Phi fraternity brothers, including Loewenberg, were present to pay their respects. During the service, the flag draped over Banning’s casket was presented to Loewenberg and will soon have a place of honor at the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity house at Mizzou.
Two years after his death, Banning was finally laid to rest, receiving the honors he had earned.
Helping honor Banning was a privilege, Richards said. “Mizzou was extraordinarily important to him,” he said. “It was humbling for me to play a small role in helping get him to his final resting place at Arlington National Cemetery, often considered to be America's most hallowed ground. Col. Banning was a true American hero.”
For Morgan and Gordon, the project embodies what it means to honor our veterans and to take care of our fellow Tigers. It shows the power of what we can achieve when we come together as a community, and why Mizzou is such a special place to those who call it their home.
Above all, it’s about a man who wholeheartedly supported the university he loved and dedicated his life to his country.
“A lot about the way Col. Banning lived his life speaks to the best of us,” Morgan said. “A life of service, a life of community, of helping where you can help, of being involved, of showing up and doing what you can to leave the world a better place.”
Learn more from Mizzou Advancement's Office of Planned Giving
