Sprint Race Winner
15 June 2026
Bob Sanderson, one of the School’s longest-standing former staff members, passed away in February at the age of 82. Bob had been a resident at Kew Botanica Care Community.
A staff member at Ridgeway Campus for 37 years from 1969-2005, Bob was a highly respected science teacher and Resident Master at the Boarding House. He was also the Commanding Officer of the School Cadet Unit for many years, and was related to Colonel EG Keogh, the 1st Honorary Colonel of the IGS Cadet Unit in the late 1960’s, and after whom an annual cadet prize is awarded.
Bob had a great love of classical music, particularly JS Bach, and was heavily involved in non-professional theatre, where he directed numerous productions for The Ivanhoe Players including works by Tom Stoppard and Paddy Chayevsky. After retraining in IT, he developed an extraordinary understanding of computers and was instrumental to their introduction throughout the School.
His love of the School was probably best recognized through The Venture Splendid, a monologue written in 2001 in which Matt McFarlane (’11) voiced the thoughts of the Reverend Sydney Buckley, who, as he returned home from the Great War in 1919, resolved to leave the parish and devote himself to full time education.
A private, enigmatic person with a great sense of the absurd and a brilliant mind, Bob was a wonderful and loyal servant of Ivanhoe Grammar School.
