Robert Lee Knous (November 1, 1917 – May 15, 2000) was an American politician who served as the 36th Lieutenant Governor of Colorado from 1959 to 1967 under Stephen McNichols and John Arthur Love.
After graduating from Montrose High School, where he was a member of the basketball and baseball teams, he worked in a mine briefly before enrolling at the University of Colorado.
He enlisted with the United States Navy in 1941, while still studying for his bachelors degree, and served concurrently in the Naval Air Corps.
Knous worked as a naval flight instructor and pilot for four and a half years during World War II, rising to the rank of lieutenant commander and logging more than 3,5000 hours, although he was never deployed overseas.
He married Elizabeth Austin in 1943, who he had met in college, and the couple had five children: Robert Jr., Kathleen, Kristine, William and Jack.