Robert Parsons died on April 10th 2000 after a short illness. He will be remembered for his undaunted enthusiasm and sustained hard work in commencing the rehabilitation of the house and gardens at Newark Park.

Bob (as he liked to be known) had come to England as a soldier during the last war and fell in love with the English way of life. A graduate of Harvard university with a degree in Architecture, Bob set about buying and converting houses in London and Suffolk. In 1970 he was told about a very dilapidated National Trust House in Gloucestershire that was in need of a sympathetic tenant with the vision to start the task of restoring the property. Early in 1971 Bob signed a repairing lease for Newark and started work on bringing the house and it's garden back to life.

Bob's achievements at Newark are too numerous to mention, suffice to say that had Bob not come to Newark, the house and garden would have been lost for ever. Newark is his monument and he is firmly part of the history of Newark.

Click Here To View A Telegraph Article about Robert Parsons