Obituary: Robert “Rob” Oklejas Owner Trinity Pumpworks

Trinity Pumpworks president Robert E. “Rob” Oklejas, 47, of Monroe, Michigan,  passed away March 25 after suffering cardiac arrest.

Born Dec. 30, 1969, in Monroe, Oklejas was the son of Robert A. and Katherine M. (Graves) Oklejas. He received his Associates Degree from Monroe County Community College.

Oklejas served his country honorably and proudly in the United States Army in Echo Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Brigade, 1st Armored Calvary out of Fort Hood, TX. Rob served in Dessert Storm, Dessert Shield and in operation Iraqi Freedom. For his heroism he received the National Defense Service Medal, the Southwest Asia Service Medal with 2 Bronze Stars as well as other meritorious honors and ribbons.

On October 28, 1994 Rob married his beloved wife, the former Laura G. Schuster.

Oklejas started his career in the pump industry over 20 years ago, with Pump Engineering, Inc. (PEI). His work with PEI primarily involved building a Swiss sales and service facility to support the European and Middle East reverse osmosis industry. Pump Engineering, Inc. focused on developing and manufacturing pumps, parts and supplying various services to the Reverse Osmosis market. He went on to be the founder and managing director of Trinity Pumpenwerk focused on providing pumps, parts and service to the European horizontal directional drilling market. This company was sold to Prime Drilling GmbH in July 2012.

Returning to the United States after the sale of Trinity Pumpenwerk, Oklejas and his wife created TRINITY Pumpworks to provide high quality, market driven pump products to select markets.

Rob always prided himself of being physically fit and was active at Light The Fire Crossfit conditioning program in Monroe and participated in the Goruck Challenge in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Having lived in and traveled extensively through Europe and the Middle East, Rob had a cursory knowledge of several languages and was especially fluent in German. When Rob was a member of the Civil Air Patrol he assisted with the efforts of the air disaster of Northwest Flight 255.

Rob is survived by his beloved wife of 22 years, Laura, three cherished children, his parents and two sisters.

Memorial contributions are suggested to St. George Serbian Orthodox Church and to Rob’s family as they will be setting up a scholarship fund in his name in the near future.