Emmet earned his B.S. in Business Administration from St. Louis University, Missouri in 1955. He was proud of his Jesuit education and often remarked that it trained him to approach life with reasoning, truth, and faith. Emmet served four years in the U.S. Air Force as a pilot, first at Warner Robins AFB, Georgia where he met Glenda. They were married September 1957, then transferred to Langley AFB, living in Newport News, Virginia. His pilot expertise inspired his interest in astronomy, and led to a long career in the aerospace industry.

After returning to St. Louis, he worked at McDonnell Aircraft Corporation as an engineering planner on the NASA Gemini Mission Simulator. In 1965 he began working at Emerson Electric in the Electronics & Space Division, where he developed his career-long expertise in international marketing. In the 1970s, as the assistant to the division president, he was offered the opportunity to open an international office as Executive Director of Operations in Tehran, Iran, where he and his family moved in 1975. He traveled professionally throughout the Middle East, and enjoyed world travel with family. After three years Emmet returned to St. Louis as Director of Contracts Administration Department. His international focus led him and Glenda to London, England in 1981, where he was Executive Vice President of ESL (Emerson Services Limited). There they developed a love of dining, fine wines, theater, art, history, travel, and enjoyed their vacation home in Singer Island, Florida. Emmet retired in 1999. He and Glenda moved to Washington D.C. briefly, then to Florida, first Singer Island, then Jupiter at the Loxahatchee Club, where they enjoyed beaches, bike rides, and golfing. In 2014 they returned to St. Louis, settling in Chesterfield, Missouri.

Emmet was notably kind, patient, thoughtful, diplomatic, and lived a life of integrity. He was broadly skilled, creating a variety of household and garden projects, particularly cultivating roses, orchids, and trees. He took great joy in any type of dessert, liked a good mystery novel, and adored children and pets. He was intelligent, analytic, keenly observant, with a joyful dry wit. He had a lovely mix of humility and sincerity that made him extremely likeable. His friends, colleagues, and those he mentored often spoke of their great respect for him. He was a devoted husband and father whose love was evident and dependable. He will be deeply missed by family, friends, and all who knew him.