Alan Cassell, Professor Emeritus of Water Resources at the University of Vermont, passed away peacefully on March 21, 2019 after a brave battle with cancer, at the age of 84.
Alan was born in Quarryville, Pennsylvania and grew up in a farmhouse surrounded by rolling hills and cornfields. He started his higher education at Penn State University and then went on to earn his MS in Civil Engineering from MIT. Alan ultimately received his PhD from the University of North Carolina in 1964.
While working in Albany, New York in 1961, he married Helen Mafilios. They moved to Potsdam, New York where Alan was a professor of civil engineering at Clarkson University for ten years.
In 1974, Alan took a position at the University of Vermont as a tenured professor of civil engineering and natural resources. He served as Director of the Water Resources Research Center in the then School of Natural Resources. He led a research project that included 10-year studies on Lake Champlain’s St. Albans Bay and the LaPlatte River to investigate links between implementation of agricultural land management practices and water quality. More generally, his scientific work focused on the conservation of natural resources and watershed management, and he authored and co-authored numerous publications in the field of water quality.
In addition to his research and teaching duties, Alan served for a period of time as Associate Dean of the School under Dean Larry Forcier.
"Al Cassell had a wide ranging, yet wonderfully focused, intellect to complement his physical strength, loyalty, integrity, and courage," said former Dean Larry Forcier, who, with his wife Anne Forcier, maintained a long lasting friendship with Alan and Helen. "His kindness, work ethic, and great caring and respect for student, staff, and faculty learning were unmatched. The importance of Al's ability to both dissect and aggregate ecosystem components and functions cannot be underestimated in the positive development of our School and relationships well beyond its boundaries."
Alan absolutely loved teaching. He taught courses in civil engineering, water resources, pollutant movement, and computer modeling and maintained a secondary appointment in the UVM geology department. His mentoring and guidance created countless student relationships, and many students remained in contact with him throughout his life. He retired from UVM in 2001.
Current Associate Dean Allan Strong ’83, a Wildlife and Fisheries Biology graduate in the School, took Alan’s upper level water resources course as a junior. “Nearly all the students in Alan’s class were graduate students, and I was in way over my head,” Allan recalls. “Alan quickly realized I was struggling and reached out to help me get through the class (with a B- as a final grade!). His mentoring kept me from floundering for the entire semester.”
The most important part of Alan's life was his wife Helen of 58 years and his family, including three children and five grandchildren. He especially loved spending time with his grandchildren at his home in Shelburne, Vermont, whether it was harvesting veggies in his beautiful garden, sharing special woodworking projects, or building a "living machine." His zest for life and learning was always shared with each of them.
Al has been described as the "very best of friends and the kindest of souls." A celebration of Alan's life will be held at the Methodist Church in Shelburne, Vermont on Saturday, May 18, 2019 at 11:00am. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Respite House or UVM Network Home Health and Hospice.
Adapted from The Burlington Free Press, March 27, 2019