Necrology

George Coffin Towe '43

Nov. 28, 1921-May. 17, 2007

George Coffin Towe ’43, professor of physics emeritus at Alfred University and former head of its physics department, was born on November 28, 1921, in Passaic, NJ. The son of Walter A., a marine surveyor, and Frances Coffin Towe, he moved with his family at the age of 6 to the Buffalo, NY, area and grew up in suburban Kenmore. George Towe came to College Hill in 1939 as a graduate of Kenmore High School and joined the Emerson Literary Society. He fenced and played soccer, in which he lettered, for most of his years on the Hill, and was also a member of the College Band. Seldom very talkative, he reputedly “never said anything unless he was sure he was right.” With thoughts of a future career as a chemical engineer, he majored in chemistry and earned his B.S. degree in 1943.

Following his graduation, George Towe spent the last two years of the Second World War as a physicist at the U.S. Naval Ordnance Laboratory in Washington, DC, initially as a civilian and during the second year as an officer on active duty with the Naval Reserve. After the war he embarked on graduate study at the University of Michigan, where he acquired his M.S. degree in chemistry in 1947 and his Ph.D. in 1954. During those years he also worked as a research engineer for the Ford Motor Co.’s scientific laboratory in Dearborn and did research for the University of Michigan’s Engineering Research Institute. In 1955, with his Ph.D. in hand, George Towe began his long academic career as an assistant professor of physics at Montana State College in Bozeman. Promoted to associate professor, he returned east to Ohio in 1961 to become a professor of physics and chairman of the natural sciences division at Findlay College. A year later, he came back to New York State to join the faculty of Alfred University as an associate professor of physics. Named a full professor and department chairman in 1965, he continued in that post until 1972 and subsequently chaired the university’s division of special programs from 1974 to 1977.

Dr. Towe, whose research focused on radioactivity and radiation, as well as solid-state diffusion and nuclear activation analysis, was for several years a consultant to the Oak Ridge Institute for Nuclear Studies. During sabbaticals he was a visiting scientist at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in England (1967-68) and an educational consultant to Australian universities (1977-78). At Alfred, until his retirement after 22 years as a member of its faculty in 1984, he was actively involved in programs designed to improve classroom teaching effectiveness.

George Towe, who moved to Eugene, OR, after his retirement, enjoyed fishing and gardening, and had considerable interest in astronomy and photography. A private pilot who flew a small airplane in his younger days, he also had an amateur radio license and once operated his own ham radio station. In retirement, he became a docent at the University of Oregon Museum of Art and also served as a volunteer tutor in English, primarily for Asian students.

George C. Towe, a loyal and supportive alumnus much interested in the College, and especially in its science curriculum, was still residing in Eugene when he died on May 17, 2007. Predeceased in 2001 by his wife, the former Dorothy May Etris, whom he had married on April 5, 1947, in Ridgewood, NJ, he is survived by a son. Robert D. Towe, and four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

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