Robert Sutro; Co-Owner of Mortgage Firm

Robert Sutro, 86, co-owner and former top executive of the mortgage banking firm Ralph C. Sutro Co. Educated at Stanford University, Sutro became an executive in the firm he shared with his brother after returning from service in both theaters of World War II with the rank of Army colonel. He was credited with pioneering the packaging of mortgage investments for insurance companies and pension funds, advancing the application of real estate investment trusts and enhancing California mortgage investment opportunities for out-of-state institutions. Sutro served as a governor of the national Mortgage Bankers Assn. and was Los Angeles president and 1978 man of the year of Lambda Alpha, an honorary land economics society. Always interested in promoting education, Sutro served as a trustee of Pomona College and the Westlake School and chaired the board of trustees of Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore. On Wednesday in San Pedro.