White House Historical Association

Robert H. Suter

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"Robert H. Suter," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/656.
Position
Gardener
Years in President's House
circa 1913 – 1942
Legal Status
Free Person
Gender
Male
Race/Ethnicity
White
Presidencies
William Howard Taft
Woodrow Wilson
Warren G. Harding
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Biography
Robert H. Suter was born in Switzerland in 1876 and immigrated to the United States in 1907. He later became a naturalized citizen.1 Around 1913, he joined the White House staff and is sometimes listed as a gardener, laborer, or yardman.2 Newspaper articles provide insight into some of his duties, including shoveling, planting flowers, and caring for President Woodrow Wilson’s flock of sheep.3 Suter retired from the White House in January 1942.4 He later moved to Sarasota, Florida with his wife, Louise, and died in California in 1962. He was buried at Joshua Memorial Park in Los Angeles.5
  1. Census data differs on birthdate from year to year, but his grave reads 1876. See “Robert H. Suter,” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/156173018/robert-henry-suter; Robert Sutter in the 1940 United States Federal Census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia; Roll: m-t0627-00553; Page: 61A; Enumeration District: 1-8, Ancestry.com; Robert H Suter in the 1930 United States Federal Census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Election District 4, Anne Arundel, Maryland; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 0019; FHL microfilm: 2340579, Ancestry.com.
  2. Employees on Duty at the Executive Office, 1929, Lou Henry Hoover Papers, Subject Files, White House Christmas 1929, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library; “He’s in a Quandary," Daily News, March 25, 1934, pg. 52.
  3. “Shepherds and Flocks,” The Field Illustrated (May 1920), pg. 440; “He’s in a Quandary," Daily News, March 25, 1934, pg. 52; “Park Service Maintains Grounds At White House,” Washington Post, May 5, 1940, pg. OT7.
  4. “Retirements,” Times Herald, January 22, 1942, pg. 17.
  5. Robert H Suter in the 1950 United States Federal Census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Sarasota, Sarasota, Florida; Roll: 5854; Page: 19; Enumeration District: 58-18A, Ancestry.com; “Robert H. Suter,” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/156173018/robert-henry-suter.
Birthplace
Switzerland
Joshua Memorial Park