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MEMORIAL ARTICLE
Published Assembly Jul '94
Gerald Samuel Epstein No. 15504 Class of 1946
Died 6 August 1993 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, aged 68 years.
Interment: Sunset Memorial Park, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
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Gerald Samuel Epstein was born 22 May 1925 in the
Bronx, New York. An excellent student with many talents, Gerald
started high school at the Bronx High School of Science, then
a new, competitive high school for science and math students.
Concurrently, he studied classical piano and was musically advanced
for his age. He was active in Scouting and became an Eagle Scout.
In 1940, Gerald won a prize at the National Science Fair for
building a "Wilson Cloud Chamber." He graduated from
Tarrytown, New York High School and attended Cornell University
for one year before joining the Class of 1946 on 1 July 1943.
Cadet life posed no major problems for Gerald.
His innate intelligence and mental quickness enabled him to easily
survive the problems of Plebe Year. One of his roommates, Robert
H. Bryan, recalled: "Gerald was my roommate from our first
day until the last at West Point. He was the best friend I had
at the Academy. His moral character and his loyalty to his family
and friends, alike, are qualities that I have reminisced about
many times. Gerald's presence brought constant examples of tolerance,
compassion and an innate sense of duty and honor. He was pleasant
in every circumstance, which was no mean achievement for a cadet.
He was talented but modest. He enjoyed playing the piano, which
he did very well. His musical ability plus his desire to evade
a little bit of the Sunday morning regimen led him to play the
chimes at the Cadet Chapel. It always made the bells sound especially
sweet when I knew Gerald was there making them ring."
One of Gerald's closest friends and classmates,
COL John H. (Jack) Grady (Ret), recalls their early days in the
Signal Corps: "At Fort Monmouth, we did a lot of partying
and dating, and looked forward to going to Europe after completion
of the basic course. A representative of Signal Corps career
management told us he had developed a unique formula for assignment,
bachelors to the Far East and married to Europe. Our troop ship
to Japan had dependents en route to Hawaii. In Honolulu, to our
great joy, it was announced the ship had engine problems and
it would take three days to fix them. Gerald and I rented a convertible,
dated nurses from Tripler Army Medical Center, and saw Hawaii.
Over the years, we never ceased to remind each other of the storybook
time we had. For the next two years with the 25th Signal Company
in Osaka, Japan, we were roommates and inseparable friends.
"I developed a tremendous respect for him
and his intelligence, determination and integrity. He was especially
solicitous of his men. This was best exemplified when he tried
to save the life of one of his troops. He received word that
this man had been in a serious truck accident southeast of Osaka
and was in a Japanese hospital. When Gerald arrived, the Japanese
doctor told him the man needed a blood transfusion. Gerald rolled
up his sleeve and provided a live transfusion. Unfortunately,
the young soldier died, but Gerald never hesitated to provide
a transfusion in a crude (by today's standards) Japanese hospital."
Gerald met Mary Holt Griffin in Osaka and married
her in May 1949. That same year, he began to lose weight and
went from 160 to l20 pounds. The medics were at a loss to diagnose
his malady, which was to plague him for the next 14 years.
From Japan, Gerald attended the University of Illinois,
where he received a master's in Electrical Engineering in 1951.
From there, he was assigned to the Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories.
The labs had done little to take advantage of the transistor
invented in 1948. Gerald received a US patent for the first transistor
activated electronic equipment for the Armed Forces. His lingering
illness became worse, and he was medically retired in 1954.
For the next seven years, Gerald worked for his
father building houses in Dayton, Ohio and White Plains, New
York. He then moved to Washington, D.C. where he joined forces
with a classmate, Saul Horowitz Jr., as president of HRH Washington,
a commercial building venture. His lingering malady was finally
diagnosed as colitis and an operation in 1963 corrected the problem.
He and Mary were divorced in October 1963.
Gerald married Linda Lovelady in 1964 in Washington,
D.C. In 1974, Gerald and Linda moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Three years later, he formed New Mexico Capital Management, Inc.
In addition to his business interest, he raised prize chickens
and horses. On 5 April 1982, Gerald was appointed civilian aide
to the Secretary of the Army for New Mexico, a position he kept
until his death.
Gerald S. Epstein died 6 August 1993 from cancer.
He is survived by his wife Linda; daughter Elizabeth; sons Jonathan,
Andrew and Ethan (USMA'95); and two grandchildren.
At the memorial service Colin McMillan, remembered:
"Gerald and I were best friends. Gerald loved his family.
He was a brilliant businessman. His judgment was always good.
His success was a function of the faith his clients placed in
him. Gerald's politics were simple: he loved America, he loved
the Army, and he loved West Point and had little patience with
those who would do them harm.
Major General Niles J. Fulwyler (USA Ret) provided
the following tribute: "We gather this day to honor someone
who has been amongst us, a great human being, a patriot of the
highest order, a loving husband, a devoted father, a dear and
cherished friend Gerald Samuel Epstein. My memory lingers today
on Gerald Epstein as a great patriot. He was a great American
whose life was governed by three simple but profound words: Duty,
Honor, Country. No one ever carne into contact with Gerald for
long without being struck by the special patriotism and dedication
he had for his country. He also had a special loyalty and devotion
to his Army. From his West Point days on, that loyalty and devotion
never wavered. In recent years as the civilian aide to the Secretary
of the Army, he worked tirelessly on key issues for the Army,
the National Guard and the Army Reserves. The truth of the matter
is that Gerald was a soldier at heart until the last moment of
his life. Even now, he soldiers on as a part of the Long Gray
Line."
His beloved Linda reflected: "His salient
character trait, for me, was his integrity. Everyone who knew
him realized that he was a man of character of the kind that
one doesn't often encounter. While he was a person of few words,
he spoke with the utmost authority on most subjects he chose
to discuss. His habit of voracious reading enabled him to expand
his knowledge, wisdom and sophistication until the last weeks
of his life. Gerald's love of family was another of his distinctive
personal qualities. His love of country was well known among
those with whom he associated. West Point was Gerald's Mecca.
He truly reveled and found comfort in being part of the Long
Gray Line."
Two of Gerald's friends and classmates summed up
the feelings of all who knew him. Jack Grady said, "In two
words I could describe Gerald, he was MY FRIEND!" Marvin
S. Weinstein remarked, "We lost a good man. We'll all miss
him." The Class of 1946 joins the family and friends of
Gerald S. Epstein in proudly proclaiming, "Well Done, Gerald;
Be Thou At Peace!"
'46 Memorial Article Project and his wife, Linda
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