Robert L. Nebeling, 77, retired product business manager at Bobst Group and a member of TAPPI since 1970, died on May 29. Nebeling's professional career was spent in the corrugated paper packaging industry, in which he held a range of positions, from manufacturing, to production and machinery design, and finally machinery sales.
In 1999, Nebeling received the TAPPI Corrugated Containers Division Technical Award and the Harry J. Bettendort Prize in recognition of outstanding contributions that have advanced the industry's technology. He served on the TAPPI Engineering Committee from January 1995 to June 2007, and was a career-long member of the TAPPI Chicago (Corrugated) Committee. He participated in many TAPPI Corrugated Conferences, including presentations of technical papers and serving on various panels and roundtable groups.
Beginning his career at Continental Can Co., Corrugated Div., Nebeling advanced to general plant manager, and then manager of production engineering at the company's national headquarters. He worked as GM for new product development at Simon Container Machinery Inc. and later as manager for General Corrugated Machinery Co. in New Jersey. More recently, he worked for Bobst Group of New Jersey and Switzerland as manager of corrugator equipment. His career evolved from manufacturing corrugated packaging products to the design and sales of corrugator machinery on an international scale.
During his career, Nebeling was affiliated with international corrugated packaging companies in England, Germany, Switzerland and Japan. He was granted three patents and was a published author in the trade journals. He is survived by his wife Barbara (nee Armstrong) Nebeling, his two daughters Dr. Linda Nebeling of Germantown, Md., and Wendy Simon and her husband James of Wayne, N.J., two grandchildren Nathaniel and Janine Simon of Wayne, and his sister Evelyn Bible of Oakland, Calif.
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