Robert Lee Vanarsdall, Jr., 76, loving father and grandfather, pioneer and innovator in orthodontics, passionate teacher, loyal friend, world traveler, Navy man, fantastic storyteller, and all around great person, passed away on January 1, 2017.

Born in Crewe, Va.—and known by most as "Slick," as much for his engaging personality as for his winning style—he received his undergraduate degree from William and Mary, where he met the love of his life, his wife Sandra Hoffman, whom he married in 1962. He served in the U.S. Navy as a line officer beginning in 1962. In the late 1960s, he moved from service to his country to service of patients, receiving his dental degree from the Medical College of Virginia ('70) and his post-doctoral specialty training in both Orthodontics and Periodontics at the University of Pennsylvania ('72, '73). At Penn, he served as Chairman of the Department of Periodontics, Department of Pediatric Dentistry and directed Orthodontics for more than 25 years, all while serving as a professor and maintaining a private practice for more than four decades, continuing to teach and practice until his death.

He is survived by his son, Lee Vanarsdall (wife Rachel, of Silver Spring, Md.); daughters Lesley Vanarsdall (of Narberth, Pa.) and Ashley Vanarsdall Burke (husband Brendan, Washington, D.C.); five grandchildren, Jeff and Becky Vanarsdall, Grayson and Crosby Joson, and Emerson Lee Burke; his brother Joseph E. Vanarsdall (Chesterfield, Va.); and his sister Barbara V. Ragland (Crewe, Va.).

He is preceded in death by his beloved wife of nearly 50 years, Sandra Hoffman Vanarsdall; parents, Robert Lee and Margie Jenkins Vanarsdall; and grandson Christopher Jackson Burke.

His Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Thursday January 5, 10 AM at St. Thomas of Villanova Church on the Villanova University campus, 800 Lancaster Ave., Villanova, PA. Friends and relatives may visit with the family at the Church starting at 9 AM. Interment will be private for the family.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Dr. Robert Vanarsdall Fellowship Fund at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine Department of Orthodontics through the following link: https://giving.apps.upenn.edu/giving/jsp/fast.do .