Schmittlein

Albert “Doc” Schmittlein, a lifelong educator, avid outdoorsman and passionate Pittsburgh sports fan, passed away Thursday of congestive heart failure at the Gulf Coast Village in Cape Coral, Fla. He was 85.

Born March 25, 1926, in Spring Hill on the North Side of Pittsburgh, he graduated in 1944 from Allegheny High School where he was senior class president.

Like many men of his generation, he enlisted in the Navy at 17 and served in World War II.

Following the war, he attended the University of Pittsburgh on the GI Bill, graduating in 1950 with a degree in English.

In 1951, a group of proactive neighbors gathered to incorporate as the Spring Hill Civic League. Albert Schmittlein initially led the league as its first president and was a contributing writer in his later years to the Spring Hill Community Newsletter.

He began a career in public education starting in the Butler school system teaching junior and senior high school English.

As an active reservist, he was recalled into the Korean War in 1952, where he served as a Navy journalist with the Mediterranean Amphibious Force.

Upon his return from the war, he attended graduate school of Columbia University, earning a master's degree in comparative literature while studying under Mark Van Duren, the Pulitzer winning poet. His area of research was local color American writers. His thesis was on Stephen Crane. This academic work was extended to his doctorate, earned in 1962 from the University of Pittsburgh, with his dissertation on Willa Cather.

In 1955, he married Deretha Exley, an elementary school teacher he met at Butler. They moved to Slippery Rock in 1957, where Albert joined the faculty in the English department of Slippery Rock State Teachers College. Their marriage would last 49 years until Deretha's death in 2005.

Albert's career at Slippery Rock spanned five decades. He received several honors at the college including Professor Laureate, Outstanding Professor of English and Who's Who of American Educators. In addition, he held a number of positions including English department chair, director of public affairs and served as the first dean of arts and sciences, where he recruited many of the faculty who formed the foundation for the schools transformation from a teachers' college to the university it is today.

However, his real passion was teaching and in particular his freshman English students where his classes became an in situation for several generations of educators that continue to work with our young students today.

During his time at Slippery Rock, he collaborated with his academic colleagues in the school newspaper, numerous theater productions and even helped draft the school fight song.

But it was in his role as golf coach that Doc found a role that combined his love for the game with an opportunity to mentor young men. Doc served as the Rock's head golf coach from 1979 to 1992. Doc guided the Rock to three Pennsylvania State Athletic Championships and NCAA Division II postseason competition eight consecutive years as well as producing several All-American players. He was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005. A 1976 graduate of the Professional Golf Association's School for Teaching Golf, Doc served several seasons as the NCAA Division II ranking committee for the Golf Coaches Association of America. He had many fond memories playing with players, friends and family at Armco Country Club as well as at the Coral Oaks Golf Course.

Following retirement, Doc spent an increasing amount of time in Cape Coral, Fla., where he maintained his home of the past decade.

Doc, a Mason, was a member of the Center Presbyterian Church in Slippery Rock and the Faith Presbyterian Church in Cape Coral.

He is survived by his four children and six grandchildren, Michael and Mary Schmittlein and sons, Michael and Alex of Devon, Pa.; Marc and Denise Schmittlein and their children, Alexis, Jack and Cole of Avon, Conn.; and Suzi and Cindi Schmittlein and Cindi's daughter, DeDe, of Wilmington Del.

<B>SCHMITTLEIN</B> — A funeral for the family only of Albert “Doc” Schmittlein, who died Thursday, April 21, 2011, will be at the <B>Schellhaas Funeral Home</B>, West View, Wednesday with a memorial service later in Slippery Rock. The family will receive friends Tuesday from 4 to 6:30 p.m. at the funeral home.A Masonic service will follow the visitation.The family requests, in lieu of flowers, that donations to be made to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) northcentralct@jdrf.org.Please offer a personal tribute at www.schellhaasfh.com.