Lee Adler'75 perished in the World Trade Center
Lee Adler, a resident of Springfield, New Jersey, and a systems programmer with the eSpeed division of Cantor Fitzgerald, was last seen in his office on the one hundred third floor of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. He was forty-eight.A chemistry major at Kenyon, Lee was a member of Psi Upsilon, he served as chapter president in his senior year. His family recalls the joy in the household the day he received his acceptance letter from Kenyon, and how genuinely happy he was during his years at the College.
"I remember how beautiful the campus was as he showed me around," says his younger sister, Randi Adler, reminiscing about a visit to see her brother at Kenyon. "I thought that this was exactly how a college should be, with ivy growing on the buildings and beautiful trees everywhere. And I remember how my brother looked when I went to visit. He looked so happy. He really loved it there! We all remember it was a great time for him."
No college career would be complete or quite real without its wrinkles, though. Lee's mother remembers the term in which Lee was underperforming in his economics class. (To be perfectly accurate, he was failing.) His father paid him a visit to look into the matter. He and Lee met with Dean of Student Thomas J. Edwards, who took out Lee's record and reviewed it. As Adler's sister retells the story, "A smile came across the dean's face when he saw Lee's other grades. He had straight A's in everything else, including Quantum Physics. The dean told my dad not to worry, and he advised Lee to work a little harder in his economics class. It seemed that Lee spent all of his time on the classes he loved--in math and science--and economics fell by the wayside because it interested him less than Quantitative Analysis and such."
Although Lee wrote the summer before entering Kenyon that he planned to go into medicine, he went on to earn a doctorate in nuclear chemistry in 1984 from Texas A&M University, where he met his wife, Alice. For the next four years he was employed as a research scientist and computer systems manager at the chemistry department of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. From 1988 to 2000, he held various positions in the computer industry in the greater New York area, including two years as president of Contingency Planning Research, a consulting company, in Livingston, New Jersey. Lee joined eSpeed in 2000.
A memorial service, held on September 20, was attended by eleven hundred people ("a number that would have surprised even Lee," according to his sister). He had recently attended his thirty-year high-school reunion, where he revived many old friend-ships. In addition, Lee, who was deeply involved in his community, served as a trustee of his synagogue. He had moved back to his hometown, residing within blocks of his parents, his two younger brothers, and the best friend who'd been considered practically a fourth Adler son, having spent so much time at their home during high-school years. An animal lover, Lee was also active in coaching the basketball, soccer, and softball teams of his twelve-year-old daughter, Lauren.
"Having come from a long line of procrastinators, Lee turned procrastination into an art form," said Randi Adler in a sketch of her brother that she read at the memorial service. "But he was also level-headed, and you could count on him to be there if you needed help. He liked 'Dilbert' and 'The Far Side.' He hated to wear a tie, and he always wore short sleeves, even in the winter. He wasn't a big talker, and you could usually read his mood by the look on his face. He could cook and bake. Lee enjoyed a good meal, and he knew every fine restaurant from New Jersey to Texas. He loved classic rock, and he probably saw the Moody Blues in concert more times than you can count. He loved the Giants, even when they played lousy. He loved to watch sports, but even more, he loved to coach his daughter, Lauren, through all of her sports."
Lee is survived by his wife, Alice Doerge Adler; his daughter, Lauren; his mother, Isabell; a sister, Randi Adler; two brothers, Jay and Aaron Adler; and three nephews and three nieces. He was preceded in death by his father, David, in 1994. The family requests that contributions be sent to the Lee Adler Memorial Fund, c/o Howard Alexander, 128 Briar Hills Circle, Springfield, New Jersey 07081. They plan to build a small memorial park in Springfield in his name with flowers, trees, benches, and a gazebo.
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