In Memoriam: Thomas Wesley Burrows

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Posted: January 27, 2009

Dysart Ravenhall, who joined the Applied Mathematics Department on January 31, 1955, as a technician C, rose to Science Computer Operators Manager in 1974, and retired as Assistant Manager for Scientific Computer Services on November 16, 1981, died on December 23, 2008. He was 76.

Dysart Alan Ravenhall, 76, of Oxbow Road, Lake Pleasant, died December 23rd, 2008, at home with his loving family by his side.

Born on August 5, 1932, in Hackensack, NJ, he was the son of Dysart and Mabel Borgersen Ravenhall. He was a graduate of Sayville High School and a college graduate of Adelphi and Hofstra University. Al was a United States Army Veteran serving during the Korean War from 1953 to 1954 and had attended the Coast Guard Academy. He was employed by Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, New York, as a manager of the Computer Department, from 1954 to 1979.

At Brookhaven National Laboratory he helped develop some of the first computers used in the United States. He was always on the cutting edge of computer technology. While working at the Lab he was a member of the National Atomic Energy Commission and a consultant to Princeton University.

Al has lived in Lake Pleasant for over 20 years, where he built his “golden pond” log cabin with his wife Florence on Oxbow Road. He loved surf casting, camping on the beach and traveling across the country with his wife. He was a member of the Grace United Methodist Church, Speculator. Prior to moving to Lake Pleasant, Al and Flo lived in Quogue on Long Island. While there, he was a volunteer fireman and village trustee as well as an officer and member of the Westhampton Beach Fishing Club.

Al was truly a wonderful husband, father and grandfather to his family with whom he leaves a legacy of integrity, faith, compassion, strength, and love.

Survivors include his wife; Florence Kreye Ravenhall whom he married on December 31, 1952; his children: Susan (Fred) Sumpter of Hemet, CA; Barbara (Mark) Kaczmarek of Lancaster, NY; Dysart Alan (Susan) Ravenhall Jr. of Cutchogue, NY; and Steven (Christina) Ravenhall of East Quogue, NY.

Last Modified: January 27, 2009

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE's Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by the Research Foundation for the State University of New York on behalf of Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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