Robert O. Lankenau was born in 1919 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He became deaf at age 11 due to spinal meningitis, and in 1932 transferred to the Indiana School for the Deaf, where he completed his education. He attended Gallaudet College afterward, graduating in 1942 with a BS in chemistry and mathematics.

Mr. Lankenau settled in Akron, Ohio, and began working for the Firestone-Bridgestone Tire and Rubber Company as a junior chemist. Over the course of 43 years of employment with them, he eventually advanced to senior chemist, overseeing their industrial hygiene department. He married Betty Jean Martens, a classmate from the Indiana School, and they had two daughters together.

He was very active in local and national deaf organizations, including the National Association for the Deaf. He was a board member of the NAD and held several different officer positions within the organization, including serving as president from 1968 to 1972. It was under his presidency that the NAD purchased its long-time headquarters at Halex House in Maryland. Mr. Lankenau also helped found the Ohio Association of the Deaf and was at different times a board member, president, and secretary.

Other groups Mr. Lankenau participated in included the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (he helped found the RID chapter in Ohio), the National Fraternal Society of the Deaf, ODARA, and National Telecommunications of the Deaf, also known as Tele-Deaf Inc. (TDI). He was also well known in the Ohio state government, where he served on or testified before many committees on deafness and disability services. While a member of Ohio’s Public Utilities Commission, he helped to create a statewide telephone relay system.

In 1991, after the death of his wife, Mr. Lankenau remarried to Marlene Ronchen and had a daughter with her. The last five years of his life were spent assisting with research projects for various departments and faculty members at Gallaudet.

Mr. Lankenau passed away in 2000.