Fred Carl Senftleber Obituary (2022)

At his core, Fred was a New Yorker, born November 19, 1948, in Roslyn, NY, together with his twin, Albert Fred Senftleber. Their father, Albert F. Senftleber, was a New York Metropolis detective and their mom, Ruth M. (Monkemeyer) Senftleber, was a homemaker and later a church secretary. Fred performed stickball and handball close to his residence on 266th Avenue in New Hyde Park, Queens and was educated at P.S. 115, Hillside Junior Excessive, and Martin Van Buren Excessive College. He was a clarinet participant and a gymnast (pommel horse) and tried out for “Ted Mack’s Newbie Hour” together with his brother and pals because the Tumbling Tumbleweeds. Early years discovered Fred and his brother wearing related long-sleeved Oxford shirts and chinos, each habitually whistling or buzzing and harmonizing “Moon River” in mattress most nights. Fred favored these Oxford shirts, often in blue, for the remainder of his life and by no means misplaced his enjoyment of whistling.

Fred found his educational future in chemistry, a topic he loved in junior and senior highschool. His twelfth-grade science undertaking, “Fallacy within the Periodic Desk,” obtained an award on the twenty eighth College Science Honest of the American Institute of New York. He earned his bachelor’s diploma from the College of Tampa, the place he performed clarinet within the band and was a cheerleader and member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He earned a PhD in chemistry from Southern Illinois College in Carbondale and did publish doctorate work at Bucknell College in Lewisburg, PA. Selecting to show on the faculty stage, he nurtured future chemists at Windfall Faculty in Rhode Island, Murray State College in Kentucky, and Jacksonville College in Florida.

A professor and typically division head at JU from 1983 by means of 2016, he taught basic chemistry, analytical chemistry, instrumental evaluation, forensic science, and scientific glass working. In 2001 he pursued a sabbatical learning cell separation on the College of Medication and Pharmacy, College of Limoges, France. In 2010 he investigated algal blooms and their management in North Carolina. His creative thoughts earned him three U.S. patents for apparatuses and strategies for sedimentation field-flow fractionation, a separation method utilized in analytical chemistry. Whereas at JU, he was awarded three Nationwide Science Basis grants for science instructor training in addition to a number of grants for instrumentation for the JU chemistry division.

Although he by no means once more lived in New York after leaving for faculty in 1966, he returned to NYC as soon as yearly or two, a pilgrimage to reinvigorate the inside tradition that outlined him. He beloved foldable, cheese-dripping New York pizza. He beloved navigating the town by subway and strolling briskly with the expectation that others maintain tempo with him. He beloved the American Museum of Pure Historical past, the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork, Central Park, Broadway performs, and retailer window Christmas shows. He delighted in telling how he taught prosperous Dalton College college students the best way to make shoeshine bins in a summer time faculty woodworking class he led. He needed to instill his love of New York Metropolis in his grandchildren, vowing to take every one there once they turned 12. The journey with the primary grandchild in January 2018 was memorable for a lot of causes, together with the extreme snowstorm that hit NYC that month.

Fred’s household was at all times a supply of satisfaction for him, and he confirmed his love for them by means of his actions. He had three kids, David, Michael, and Amy, from his first marriage to Janice Wells, and a stepson, Niel, and stepdaughter, Maria, from his second marriage to Ruth Stuver. He constructed a yard skateboard park for his sons and a two-story playhouse for his daughter. He screened in porches and helped renovate bogs, often planning the undertaking with a design software program. He deliberate and constructed two properties, getting electrical and plumbing licenses so he had whole management over the development. He put in brick or stone fireplaces in 4 properties over time, as soon as even touring from Florida to Michigan to get the fitting stones. A perfectionist by nature and thrifty to a excessive diploma, he preferred to go to a number of shops to search out the most effective value for the best high quality supplies or instruments for his tasks.

Fred at all times volunteered to assist his kids transfer for faculty, work, or a brand new home. Distance was irrelevant, whether or not it was inside a metropolis or to Boston, Philadelphia, Houston, or Palatka, or throughout the nation to California. His organizational abilities have been evident within the carefully packed transferring vans and trailers. Fred provided the last word present to his brother, sharing his stem cells with Al, who had a number of myeloma, to assist his twin have a further six months of life.

After retiring from JU, he and Ruth moved to Texas to be nearer to his grandchildren. He designed a treehouse for 3 of them and constructed it with the assistance of son Michael and the boys. He was a critical board recreation participant, having fun with many hours of Monopoly and Clue together with his grandchildren. One summer time, all 5 grandchildren attended a week-long Grandpa Camp, full with hands-on chemistry, tie-dyed T-shirts, and swimming.

Fred was keen about his household’s historical past. In NYC and Germany, he researched census recordsdata, ordered start, demise, and marriage certificates, and visited outdated household addresses to think about the lives of the Senftlebers and Monkemeyers, who got here to New York from Germany within the late 1800s. He traveled twice to Germany, in 2007 and 2019, each instances to the Senftleber household city, Neckargerach, that 11-year-old Albert Senftleber left in 1881 for NYC. On the 2019 journey together with his spouse and sister, he discovered church data in Neckargerach that added to the household historical past. Preserving household connections alive over time, he stayed in contact with cousins in Vermont, upstate New York, and California.

Fred and Ruth shared a love of science, training, journey, and pals. They supplied science workshops for academics in Jacksonville, FL, and at state and nationwide science conferences. They drove throughout the nation, Fred within the driver’s seat, a observe developed in his youth from many NYC-Florida journeys. Typically they joined household or pals on cruises to the Caribbean or in Europe. They loved gatherings of a long-standing wine group in Jacksonville and sometimes met pals on Friday afternoons at JU for wine and discussions on wide-ranging matters. At residence, Fred preferred to organize one in all his specialties, beef bourguignon, jambalaya, or French onion soup, for household and pals, at all times paired with an appropriate wine.

Fred finally died from HLH (hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis), a uncommon inflammatory situation within the blood ensuing from therapy for metastatic and aggressive small cell prostate most cancers. His closing purpose was to get residence after months of therapies at M.D. Anderson Most cancers Middle in Houston. Fred was grateful he lived lengthy sufficient for his daughter Amy and her husband Pete to share a sonogram of their first baby, his sixth grandchild.

He’s survived by his spouse, Ruth Senftleber; two sons, David W. Senftleber (Jennifer Davis) of Houston and Michael J. Senftleber (Katherine Senftleber) of Driftwood, TX; a daughter, Amy Ok. Senftleber-Makopoulos (Pete Makopoulos-Senftleber) of Houston; a stepson, Niel Stuver of San Marcos, TX; a stepdaughter, Maria Vaughn of Florida; 7 grandchildren – Colin and Claire Senftleber of Houston; twins Isaac and Aaron Senftleber and Thomas Ephraim Senftleber of Driftwood, TX; Olive and Emily Vaughn of Gainesville, FL; a sister, Barbara Senftleber (Sue Cleere) of Atlanta; ex-wife, Janice Wells of Houston; sister-in-laws, Jana Ahlers (Wealthy Ahlers) of Chappell Hill, TX; and Pat Farrell of Houston, nephews Travis A. Van Meter of Dallas, Michael DeChellis (Michal Leah DeChellis) of Livingston, MT, and Matthew DeChellis (Annamaria DeChellis) of Houston; and nieces Michelle Miller (Ken Miller) of Spring Department, TX, Maria Senftleber of Austin, and Callan B. Wells (Nick Stephens) of Atlanta.

A household celebration of Fred’s life might be held over Memorial Day weekend in Texas. Burial of his cremains might be within the Monkemeyer-Senftleber plot at All-Faiths Cemetery in Center Village, Queens, NY, at a time but to be decided.

In lieu of flowers, the household suggests a donation in Fred’s title to Hospice Austin, Austin, TX, or a blood donation to any native blood financial institution.