Robert Doty

Robert Lee "Bob" Doty, Jr. (Professor emeritus of English literature at Campbellsville University, Kentucky)
Born	May 19, 1935 Garrard County, Kentucky Long-term resident of Campbellsville, Taylor County, Kentucky
Died	January 8, 2020 (aged 84) Campbellsville, Kentucky
Political Party	Democrat
Spouse	Never married Parents: Robert, Sr., and Eddie Broaddus Doty
Religion	Southern Baptist clergyman

Robert Lee Doty, Jr., known as Bob Doty (May 19, 1935 – January 8, 2020), was professor emeritus of English literature at the Southern Baptist-affiliated Campbellsville University, formerly Campbellsville College, located in Campbellsville in Taylor County in central Kentucky. He was also a nature enthusiast and a bird photographer. He participated in many evangelical and medical mission trips to various countries, and he was a significant contributor to a church in Bolivia.

A native of the Appalachian Mountains country, Doty was born to Robert Doty, Sr. and the former Eddie Broaddus in Garrard County, Kentucky. He graduated in 1953 from Estill County High School in Irvine, Kentucky. He received an Associate of Science degree from Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn, Michigan, and a Bachelor of Arts from the Baptist-affiliated Georgetown College in Scott County, Kentucky, of which he was later a member of the board trustees. Doty was also a Southern Baptist clergyman, having received a bachelor of divinity from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. From the University of Kentucky at Lexington, he received a Master of Arts and his Ph.D. in Victorian studies.

Doty participated in post-doctoral programs at the University of London in England and an archeological study program in Jerusalem, Israel. He retired in 2006 from Campbellsville University and remains professor emeritus at the institution. He was twice the director of a London Summer School for a consortium of thirty-nine universities and colleges.  Doty served on regional accreditation/reaffirmation teams for various colleges and universities. He was the chairman of those committees for five of his sixteen years of involvement. He has also been affiliated with the Kentucky Humanities Council, the Elderhostel educational society, and various historical associations. He was a member of the editorial board of The Campbellsville Review and the chaplain at Camp Roy C. Manchester for the Lincoln Heritage Council of the Boy Scouts, based in Benton in Marshall County in western Kentucky. Doty himself was an Eagle Scout in his youth. He was a member of the board of the Clay Hill Memorial Forest, a 305-acre educational and research woodland established in 1996 and managed by Campbellsville University to promote environmental education and research on eastern deciduous forests.

In March 2012, CU displayed a collection of Doty's bird photographs in the university arts gallery. Doty was first introduced to photography by his high school principal. His first camera was a used Ricoh twin lens reflex. He has recorded sixty thousand photographic images using slides, negatives and digital technology. "Photographing birds presents distinctive challenges because sometimes they won't stay still or tolerate humans in their space. Good photographs are the result of skill, patience, access and luck. ... There are few human endeavors that call forth such a range of effort like photography ... because it can be creative, technical, scientific, propagandistic, inspirational. Design, form, color, physics, chemistry, art, history, nature and imagination are all elements to be explored with photography," Doty said in a 2012 interview.

Doty died in Campbellsville early in 2020 at the age of eighty-four. He was preceded in death by siblings Charles Doty, James Doty, and Margaret D. West. He was survived by a sister, Jewell D. Newton, who resides in Irvine, Kentucky, where Doty is interred.