Mr. Robert L. Gentsch

Mr. Robert Gentsch graduated from Belleville Township High School and Belleville Junior College.  He earned a B.A. and an M.A. in History from Washington University in St. Louis where his Master’s thesis was titled, “The Early History of Belleville, Illinois to 1850.”  The information gleaned from this research makes Bob one of the foremost local historians.  A copy of this thesis is on file at the Belleville Public Library and is available for use by researchers.

During the Korean War, Mr. Gentsch served two years on active duty in the Navy.  He served sixteen years in the Naval reserves.

Mr. Gentsch is proudest of the thirty-four years he spent in the classroom as a teacher.  He taught one year in Columbia, Illinois, three years in Freeburg, six years at Belleville Township High School and twenty-three years at Belleville East.  He was Chairman of the Social Studies Department during the years at East.  In addition he sponsored the Model United Nations delegation to the McKendree College Model United Nations annually.  Twice Bob served as Student Council sponsor, once for six years and again for two additional years.

The destruction of the St. Clair County Courthouse in the early 1970s heightened his interest in local government, causing him to get involved in the political arena.  In 1973 he ran for and was elected to the Belleville City Council, where he served eight years and was the first chairman of the Parks Committee, which added Laderman Park, North End Park, and Hoeffken Park to the city park system during his tenure.

In 1982 Mr. Gentsch was elected to the St. Clair County Board, where he has served until the present time.  He has been a member of the Environment committee since 1982 and is proud of the way the committee has closed and then cleaned up a number of landfills in the county.  In addition he is proud of MetroLink and the ability to get the tracks to come through Belleville.  Mr. Gentsch is Chairman of the 911 Board on which he had held a seat since its inception.  Also, Mr. Gentsch is chairman of the Property and Recreation Committee.  This committee had added over 200 acres of land for greenspace so that the entire county is not covered with asphalt and concrete.

Mr. Gentsch has been an active member of St. Mark Lutheran Church since the church was formed in 1976.  He was the first chairman of the congregation and has held various offices; presently he serves as chairman of the ushers.  He served eighteen years on the St. Clair County Historical Society Board, several times as vice-president .  He was the editor of the Historical Society journal for eight years and gave talks on the history of the region to literally hundreds of area organizations.  Mr. Gentsch served as the Chairman of the St. Clair County Bicentennial Commission in 1990 and compiled and edited the book Tapestry of Time, a pictorial history of the county.  In addition Mr. Gentsch has been a member of the Memorial Hospital Auxiliary for the last ten years.

Bob has been married to Lois (Jones) for over 54 years.  They have two sons, Craig who graduated from East in 1971 and who lives with his wife, Michelle, in Haynesville, Virginia, and Bryan a member of the class of 1975 at East.  Bryan and his wife Denise live in Austin, Texas.