Robert Leahy Fair (May 18, 1923 – September 14, 1983) was a United States Army lieutenant general and a field commander in Germany during the Cold War.

He also attended the University of Michigan, where he studied the Japanese language in preparation for an assignment on General MacArthur's Staff.

Novelist Josiah Bunting (The Lionheads), an ex-major himself, praised Fair's leathery style in a Playboy article last fall, describing the general as ‘an admirable soldier’ who is ‘always in bristling motion.’ But other officers, whose palms sweat when Fair raked them over with abrasive questions, disliked him intensely.

[1][4] Fair attended the University of San Francisco before receiving an appointment to the United States Military Academy.

Following attendance at the University of Michigan for Japanese language training, First Lieutenant Fair served as an intelligence officer and interpreter on General MacArthur's Staff in Tokyo from 1946 to 1948.

[6] On November 29, 1950, Captain Fair earned the Silver Star for actions with Headquarters Company, 38th Infantry Regiment, in the vicinity of Kunu-ri.

[7] Upon returning to the United States, he served as Assistant G-3 (Operations), Sixth U.S. Army at The Presidio of San Francisco in California.

[1] After attending the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, as a captain, Fair was assigned to Headquarters, V Corps, U.S. Army Europe as the Plans Officer, G-3/5/7.

[1] In August 1964, Lieutenant Colonel Fair assumed command of the 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry (Mechanized), 1st Armored Division at Fort Hood, Texas.

[1] He was instrumental in establishing a "Holiday Inn" in the Tay Ninh province so that soldiers returning from combat missions had an opportunity to shower, do laundry, repair their gear, and get a good night's sleep, a hot meal, and a little rest and recuperation (R & R).

Fair was assigned to the Management Information Systems Directorate, Office of the Assistant Vice Chief of Staff from September 1969 to April 1970.

[8] Josiah Bunting noted in his 1975 article on the Volunteer Army: "In fiscal 1974, Fair's division reenlistment goal was 813: 1222 took their burst of six.

Colonel (later Lieutenant General) John L. Ballantyne III commanded the "Blackhorse" Regiment headquartered at Fulda.

While he was reportedly the only modern day corps commander to be relieved of duty during peacetime,[10][11] a Time magazine article noted, "Lieut.

General Robert L. Fair is headed for a more prosaic destination, however, and defenders of a tough, no nonsense, old-style Army are dismayed.

[14] Following retirement from the military, Fair worked for SRI International, formerly Stanford Research Institute, before transitioning to Lockheed Corporation.