Roy Clifford Herndon, 86, passed away on August 1, 2021, at Westminster Oaks in Tallahassee, Florida. He was born on September 25, 1934, in Washington, DC to Floyd and Lillian Herndon. Roy grew up in Washington, DC where he attended Calvin Coolidge High School, graduating in 1952, and then went on to earn his B.S. in Physics from Washington and Lee University in 1955.
After graduating from college, Roy completed a M.S. in Physics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and then his Ph.D. in Physics from Florida State University. After completing his degrees, he moved to San Francisco, California where he worked for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. During his time in California, he met Laura Lee Potter whom he married in 1967 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Laura Lee and Roy were married for 46 years (until she died in 2013), spending most of their life together in Tallahassee. Roy worked for Florida State University, first in the Physics Department, but later as Director of both the Institute for Cooperative Environmental Research (ICER) and also the Center for Biochemical and Toxicological Research (CBTR). He founded a symposium series on environmental contamination in Eastern and Central Europe where he coordinated and hosted numerous conferences in Prague, Budapest and Warsaw. Roy was passionate about his work and did not retire until the age of 85. He loved to spend time with family and friends playing games, listening to music and discussing and debating a multitude of topics, especially scientific and philosophical questions. In recent years, his favorite times were spent in the company of his children and grandchildren whom he loved to entertain with poems, stories and puns.
Roy was preceded in death by his wife Laura Lee and brothers Donald and William. He is survived by his children Laura Alice Herndon (Tom Strasser) of Warren, NJ and Donald Clifford Herndon (Julie) of Tampa, FL; grandchildren Alex, Ben, Ethan, Jace and Janie; sister Barbara Welch of Virginia, brother David Herndon of Maryland and many nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations be made to St. Francis Wildlife Association. There will be no funeral or memorial service.
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