Dr. Alan S. Meltzer passed away peacefully with his sons by his side on December 12, 2016. He was pre-deceased by his wife of 59 years Gladys (deceased April 2016) and is survived by his two sons Daniel of Saratoga Springs and Jonathan (Jessica) of Berlin MA, grandchildren Dan, Stephany, Avery, Ellie, great granddaughter Rochelle and his sister Anne Meltzer of Syracuse.

Born in the Bronx in 1932, he spent his childhood in Syracuse. He attended Syracuse University, received his PhD in Astro-Physics from Princeton in 1956 and did post graduate work at Cal Tech and Harvard. He and his wife Gladys moved to the capital district in 1957, living for over 45 years in Latham, then Schaghticoke and recently at Atria Shaker Assisted Living in Albany.

A beloved Professor of Physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute from 1957-1996, he was a passionate educator who focused his career on bettering the undergraduate educational experience. In 1979 he founded the Learning Center, a campus-wide tutoring and counseling center and served as its director for 17 years until his retirement. For decades he worked with the Office of Minority Student Affairs counseling students and coordinating the Higher Educational Opportunity Program (HEOP) summer programs for incoming freshmen. He served as Rensselaer's first Ombudsman for academic affairs. He won numerous teaching awards including the Darrin Counseling Award, Rensselaer Alumni Association Outstanding Teaching Award, Hersburgh Award for Innovation in Undergraduate Education, School of Science Professor of the Year as well as honors from the Naval and Air Force ROTC programs. A skilled orator, most students who attended RPI between 1970 - 1996 will remember him for his freshman physics magic show in which he performed exciting demonstrations during lectures to 500+ students.

A life-long member of the American Astronomical Society he travelled annually giving guest lectures on Astronomy at over 50 different colleges during his career. He appeared many times as a guest on WGY radio speaking about space exploration and astronomy.

He was an avid reader of science fiction, mysteries and naval history and enjoyed classical music, puzzles and watching sports, especially NY Rangers and RPI hockey.

A private celebration of his life will be held at a future date.

The family is requesting memorial donations be made to the SUNY Poly Children's Museum of Science and Technology, Science for Every Child Program, 250 Jordan Road, Troy, NY 12180 or on-line at:

www.cmost.org/page/science-for-every-child-36.html