Bob Norton, interim Head Softball Coach at Suffolk University in the Spring of 2000, passed away on Thursday, February 4 after a long illness with cancer.  Coach Norton in that Spring of 2000 accepted the one year interim appointment with great enthusiasm as it allowed for him to coach his daughter Kate in what was to be an all star season for her.  Kate led the nation in NCAA Division-III batting that spring with a .606 average.  Mr. Norton also coached his daughter in high school at Fontbonne Academy where she was a Boston Globe and Boston Herald all scholastic selection. 

Mr. Norton was well known and respected throughout the Massachusetts Athletic Community. He also coached youth and high school programs in baseball and volleyball. 

Athletic Director, Jim Nelson said of Coach Norton "Bob Norton in addition to providing a successful and memorable softball season for all of his players at Suffolk University in the Spring of 2000 also became a good friend and inspirational person in my life and that of others as he defied his physicians diagnosis. This spirit gave us all an additional ten years to enjoy his humor, advice and friendship so readily symbolized at the end of his conversations as he would say "don"t be afraid to be good".  Advice worth emulating.

Norton's daughter Kate was inducted into the Suffolk University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009.