William "Bill" Pfeiffer Jr.

William (Bill) Frederick Pfeiffer Jr, 81, formerly of Clayville and New Hartford, New York passed away peacefully on Monday, September 19, 2022 while in residence at the Poets Walk Memory Care Community in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

He is survived by his sons, Fritz (Shana) and Paul (Katie); grandchildren, Anya, Jacob, Ben and Lincoln; his brother Eric (Diane) and sister-in-law, Ellen.

Born on February 1, 1941 in Washington, D.C. to William and Martha Pfeiffer, he was raised with his two brothers in Alexandria, Virginia with a love of learning, music, running, and service to community.

Graduating from Wittenberg College with a major in Chemistry in 1963, his formal education continued at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he received a Masters in Chemistry in 1966. Most importantly while at Wisconsin, Bill met the love of his life, Margaret Oestreich, to whom he would be married for the next 46 years.

The newly-married couple moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where Bill received a Ph.D in Chemistry from Case Western Reserve University in 1970. They then moved to Utica, New York, where Bill joined the faculty of Utica College, now Utica University, as a Chemistry Professor.

For the next 38 years, Bill dedicated himself to his students, his fellow faculty, and the college at large. While his early research as a summer fellow with NASA’s Aeronautics and Space Research Division ultimately supported Skylab missions, Bill focused his energy on teaching and mentoring generations of students, faculty, and staff members. Recognized with the University’s Distinguished Teaching Award and later as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus, he always considered his role in the growth and development of people, in the classroom and beyond, as his highest honor.

Bill was an engaged member of New Hartford Presbyterian Church and a person of deep, inquisitive, and life-long faith. Serving the Church community in so many ways over the years, he was best known as a stalwart, baritone member of the Choir with a love and capacity for song.

An avid outdoorsman, Bill could often be found, or lost, exploring the Adirondack Park with friends and family. He hunted deer in the fall and winter and searched for brook trout in the spring and summer in over 100 different lakes and streams, sometimes bushwhacking with full pack and an 18 foot aluminum canoe on his back (normally inflatable boats and later his much-loved Hornbeck). He explored the Park’s numerous trails, peaks, and watersheds while hiking, cross-country skiing, snow-shoeing, canoeing, and even with a three-speed bicycle long before the days of mountain bikes. Throughout over forty years in the woods, he never once had to be rescued … and was stopped for trespassing but once!

The energy and stamina needed for his activities were developed and sustained in early mornings on hilly Sauquoit Valley roads, where he ran upwards of 40 miles a week into his late 40’s.

Bill was also a conservationist, volunteering his time and energy over decades with many organizations dedicated to the stewardship of natural resources, including Trout Unlimited, the Adirondack Mountain Club, and the Audubon Society. He was particularly engaged in passing along his love of the outdoors and conservation to new generations in local public schools.

Bill had a life-long passion and genuine skill for organic gardening. No matter where he and Margaret lived, ever-larger areas of their yard became planting beds that produced an ever-increasing number of fruits and vegetables, feeding their family and helping to fill the freezers and pantries of others.

Retiring from teaching in 2008, Bill expanded his work on the garden and dove further into his volunteer work with numerous organizations and groups. In particular, he and Margaret became deeply involved with Seeds of Hope Food Pantry.

Following Margaret’s death in 2013, Bill redoubled his efforts at Seeds of Hope, eventually helping to direct much of its efforts. He continued to travel to see his children & grandchildren as they grew, and no prouder father or grandfather has there ever been. He also continued to visit friends and extended family, and to make as many trips to the Salmon River each fall as he could manage.

But dementia began to take more and more of him, cruelly and inevitably. When he could no longer garden at his home, Bill moved closer to his children, taking up residence at the Poets Walk Memory Care Community in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Here his personality and strength continued to shine brightly through the disease. Listening in on morning nurse meetings, singing and clapping with music, and even demonstrating the considerable number of bird calls he so often employed when in the woods, he continued to bring smiles to the faces of his fellow residents and those caring for him.

When Bill could no longer walk, he sat and talked; when he could no longer find the words to talk, he clapped. And when he could no longer clap, he squeezed the hands of those he loved, gave thanks for his life and family, and smiled until his journey’s end.

Services will be held on Saturday, October 1 at the Mullins & Thompson Funeral Home, 186 Shelton Shop Road, Stafford Virginia 22554. Visitation will begin at 12pm with a Memorial Service at 1pm.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a gift in memory of Bill to the Margaret M. Pfeiffer Memorial 89 Scholarship at Utica University.

The family would also like to recognize and thank the entire staff of Poets Walk, who cared for Bill with compassion, respect, and love.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.mullinsthompsonstafford.com for the Pfeiffer family.