Robert Gaylor, the fifth chief master sergeant of the Air Force, poses with his Mustang in 2013. (Jonathan Snyder/U.S. Air Force)

The fifth chief master sergeant of the Air Force, who advocated for airmen’s welfare and witnessed racial integration of the service, died Wednesday at age 93.

Robert Gaylor, who served in the role from 1977 to 1979, died at his home in San Antonio, according to a Facebook post from his children.

“He was a pillar of our Air Force … A leader among leaders … a national treasure and a patriot of unparalleled honor and dignity,” Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force JoAnne Bass said on her Facebook page Wednesday. “He devoted more than 75 years of his life, both in uniform and out, to actively serving our Airmen and their families.”

As the senior noncommissioned officer in the Air Force and senior enlisted adviser to the Air Force chief of staff, Gaylor pressed for measures to improve service members’ morale and their quality of life.

“He played a significant role in the creation of the Air Force’s new maternity uniform and pushed for a policy change allowing junior enlisted Airmen undergoing a permanent change of station to transport their families at the government’s expense,” a statement posted online from the secretary of the Air Force said Wednesday.

Robert Gaylor, fifth chief master sergeant of the Air Force from 1977 to 1979, died Jan. 17, 2024 at age 93. (U.S. Air Force)

Gaylor also pressed for better leadership training and served as an instructor at the Second Air Force Noncommissioned Officer Academy at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., according to the Air Force. He helped reopen the NCO academy for Strategic Air Command and established the U.S. Air Forces in Europe Command Management and Leadership Center. The NCO academy at Joint Base San Antonio is named for him.

Gaylor joined the military in September 1948, inspired by the sight of World War II veterans returning to his hometown of Mulberry, Ind. The second of eight children, he wanted to get out on his own, travel and learn a skill after high school, according to an Air Force Historical Support Division publication in 2016.

During basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, Gaylor witnessed some of the last of the segregated U.S. military, according to his Department of Defense biography.

“During that summer, word came to his base that the Air Force would soon integrate. Gaylor recalled receiving the news with some measure of confusion. He did not understand why it had not happened earlier,” according to his biography.

A rumor spread that service members who did not accept integration could ask for a discharge, according to DOD.

“Gaylor and his fellow airmen soon heard the truth. The commander addressed them, essentially telling them that they would accept integration or suffer the consequences of undue interference,” his biography states.

In 1957, Gaylor began his career as a military training instructor at Lackland, according to an Air Force news release in 2013.

He returned to the security police in 1962 until 1965, when he was selected to attend the Noncommissioned Officer Academy at Barksdale. He became an instructor after graduation, and in 1971 he was assigned to Air Force headquarters in Europe at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

From there, he traveled throughout the command teaching leadership skills, and the following year started the Command Management and Leadership Center, according to the release.

Gaylor, with help from his children, started a weekly Facebook video series in April 2020 called “Wednesday with the Chief,” Bass said, “selflessly dedicating his time to the institution he loved so dearly.”

On Gaylor’s Facebook page Wednesday, his audience found a post from his family instead of the usual message from the former chief. He is survived by his children Carol Nuccio, Elaine Sweidel and Kenny Gaylor.

“We thank you, his loyal and faithful audience, for watching, for commenting, and for ENERGIZING Chief Bob Gaylor. He loved each and every one of you,” read the post signed by his children.

The post drew drew more than 1,200 comments and more than 440 shares as of Thursday.

“I will miss our chats, his mentorship … and his friendship,” Bass said.