Alexander A. Friedman, 81, passed away peacefully at his Fayetteville home after a brief unexpected illness, surrounded by his loving family.
Alex was born to Dorothy and Morris Friedman of Vineland, New Jersey, where he spent his childhood and high school years. As a youngster, he was an active Boy Scout, achieving Eagle Scout ranking at age 13. While at Vineland High School he was a member of the football and wrestling teams, and in later years enjoyed returning to VHS for class and team reunions.
He earned BS and MS degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Idaho. While at Idaho he met and married Judy (Frey), his wife of 56 years and “the best thing that ever happened to me.”
They moved to California where Alex worked as a hydraulic engineer and became a licensed professional civil engineer. Returning to graduate school, he earned his Doctorate in Environmental Engineering from Univ. of California at Davis in 1970. After a year as a research engineer at Montana State Univ. he spent six years with the Dept. of Civil Engineering at Tennessee Tech. Univ. in Cookeville, TN. There, Alex conducted research and taught upper division and graduate courses. In 1977 he joined the faculty as a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Syracuse University. After his retirement as Emeritus and Research Professor in 1998, he continued research and consulting activities for several years.
Dr. Friedman had more than 40 years of university, government, planning agency and industrial consulting experience related to environmental engineering, and was a Diplomate of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers. During his academic career he participated in more than 25 research projects funded by industries, federal, state and municipal organizations. He was granted, along with his graduate students, three patents and authored more than 65 peer-reviewed publications and invited presentations. He served on review panels for the EPA, National Research Council of Canada, and several state agencies. He has provided consulting services for projects in Canada, Ireland, Brazil, Mexico, Croatia, and the West Bank, as well as throughout the US. He was most proud of directing a project with a large industry that fully funded 65 engineering graduate students who earned more than 85 masters degrees over a 12-year period.
After his retirement, Alex was pleased to serve for 17 years on the Village of Fayetteville Planning Board.
He was very proud of his children and followed all of their activities. The family enjoyed tent camping for many years, then later he and Judy had wonderful trips to many parts of the world. Particularly memorable was a family trip to Norway in 2017. Alex was a philatelist, a voracious reader, enjoyed photography, fishing, and was an enthusiastic rail buff. He possessed and read hundreds of volumes of railroad history and was a longtime member of the CNY Large Scale Railway Society.
Alex nurtured his friendships, maintaining long-term relationships with former colleagues and students, rail club members, neighbors, and friends far away. He had a wicked sense of humor, and particularly enjoyed a good shaggy dog story.
He is survived by his wife, Judy; his son, Kirk (Denyse) of San Diego, California; his daughter, Jennifer of Reston, Virginia; his brother, Ron (Deana) of Cape Canaveral, Florida; and 10 nieces and nephews.
Calling hours will be from 5:00 to 8:00 pm on Tuesday, November 12 at Eaton-Tubbs Fayetteville Chapel, 7191 E Genesee St., Fayetteville, NY. A celebration of Alex's life will be held at a later date in the spring.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Food Bank of CNY, 7066 Interstate Island Rd., Syracuse, NY 13209.