January 10, 2022 at 11:01 a.m.
Airport titan Bob Heck dies at 85
Airport titan Bob Heck dies at 85
Bob Heck, who served on the airport commission for 43 years before his retirement in 2018, and whose determined salesmanship kept the airport in business when its future was in jeopardy in the 1970s, passed away Friday morning at the age of 85, according to his family.
A partial obituary, including funeral details, is published on Page 3.
Without a doubt, the Rhinelander community would be a far different place if not for the airport and it's universally accepted that the airport would not exist without Bob Heck.
"I can't imagine what this place would look like without Bob Heck," former airport manager Joe Brauer told the River News in 2018. "The way things were going, we'd probably still be in the old terminal. I don't even know if we'd have airline service."
In 1975, the 27-year-old airport was equipped with a 3,482-square foot terminal (little more than a 10th of the size of the current terminal) and an International Harvester Cub Cadet tractor.
The airport was serviced by North Central Airlines at the time, but airline board chairman Arthur E.A. Mueller was starting to wonder whether the aging regional airport was worth it. Modern jet technology meant passenger planes had become bigger and faster. They required longer, wider runways and bigger terminals to service a growing number of customers.
Enter Bob Heck.
Heck and Mueller knew each other professionally, as Heck worked for a time at the Wausau brokerage firm The Marshal Co. which was headquartered in a building owned by Mueller.
After Heck moved his family to Rhinelander in 1962, he stayed in touch with Mueller and the two would occasionally meet to discuss business.
It was during one such meeting in 1975 that Mueller divulged to Heck that North Central Airlines was considering halting service to Rhinelander. Nothing had been done to modernize the aging airport and North Central Airlines saw the writing on the wall with jets getting faster and cheaper airfares leading to more enplanements. Airports had to modernize or risk losing service.
"I said wait a minute, wait a minute, don't do that," Heck told the River News in 2018. "I said 'why don't you give me a chance to see what could be done.'"
Mueller agreed and Heck went to work rallying government and business leaders to secure the funding that would first keep the airport running and eventually transform it into the modern hub of aviation it is today.
Upon his retirement from the airport commission, the passenger terminal was renamed in Heck's honor.
In 2018, when the River News asked former Rhinelander mayor Dick Johns to describe what Heck has meant to the airport and the community, he responded with three words.
"Oh. My. God," he said, drawing each word out. "Without Bob Heck, Rhinelander would never of had an airport the way it is today. He is such a tremendous asset to the city of Rhinelander and I don't know what we would have done without him."
Oneida County board chairman Dave Hintz echoed Johns' sentiments.
"Bob Heck literally saved the Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport from extinction," he said. "Thanks to the vision and efforts of Bob Heck our airport now encompasses 1,259 acres, includes a modern terminal and serves 23,000 departing commercial passengers annually."
Heck's influence went well beyond the airport as he and his wife, June, and extended family have generously donated to the community in multiple ways.
The Heck Family Community Pool at Rhinelander High School is named in their honor and the family also played a prominent role in the development of the crown jewel of School District of Rhinelander's facilities, the 128,000 square foot Hodag Dome and sports complex.
To learn more about Bob Heck's contributions to the community, and read the full obituary, pick up the Friday, Jan. 14 edition of the River News.
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