Thursday, March 28, 2024

Obituary of Louis Hass , 88

Name of Deceased Louis Hass
Age 88
Date of Death 11/26/2014
Date of Birth 08/23/1926
Funeral Home Mark D. Heintzelman Funeral & Cremation Services

Louis Frederick Hass of Centre Hall, Pennsylvania died peacefully in his sleep at Centre Crest Nursing Home in Bellfonte on Wednesday, November 26, 2014. He was 88 years old.

The son of Louis Bernard and Estelle (née Lasky) Hass, “Lou,” as he preferred to be called, was born on August 23, 1926 in Scranton Pennsylvania. He attended Scranton Central High School, where he excelled on both the football and baseball teams. In addition to his love for athletic competition, as a young man, Lou cultivated a lifelong love of the natural world, and, as a Boy Scout, enjoyed hiking and camping in the woods around Scranton. He attained the rank of Eagle at age 14 and spent his summers working on his Great Uncle’s farm and serving as an Aquatics Director for local Boy Scout and YMCA camps in the Pocono Mountains.
He graduated from Scranton Central in 1944 and, declining a football scholarship to Colgate University, enlisted in the United States Naval Air Corps. He served as a radio gunner during World War II and was honorably discharged as Seaman First Class in August, 1946. Taking advantage of the G. I. Bill, he enrolled at the University of Scranton and earned a B. S. in biology in 1950. He then enrolled at Bucknell University, where he received a M. S. in chemistry in 1954. While writing his master’s thesis, Lou worked as a research chemist for the Armstrong Cork Company in Lancaster, PA, where, under the tutelage of his friend, Al Poshkus, he developed a refined knowledge of organic chemistry.
Always innately curious about the wonders of nature, Lou decided to leave private industry to pursue a Ph.D in biochemistry at Duke University. While earning his Ph.D., Lou excelled in his studies and was inducted into the Phi Lambda Upsilon honorary chemical society. He completed his dissertation, “The Enzymatic Dephosphorylation of Glucose-6-Phosphate and Fructose-1, 6-Diphosphate,” under the direction of his advisor, William L. Byrne, and graduated in 1959. While earning his degree at Duke, Lou met Rosayln Ann Gasqué, an alumna from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, whom he married in January, 1960.
After graduating from Duke, Lou entered the laboratory of eventual Nobel Laureate Paul D. Boyer as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota. In the autumn of 1961, Lou served as a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD., and in November 1963, commenced an academic career when he accepted a faculty position as Assistant Professor of biochemistry at SUNY Buffalo. In 1968, he joined the faculty of Penn State’s newly-opened medical school in Hershey, PA, where he taught biochemistry to the first medical school class in Penn State history and conducted research in his own laboratory.

An expert in enzyme kinetics and a meticulous researcher, Lou authored many scientific papers and collaborated with some of the most distinguished scientists in his discipline, co-authoring several papers with Nobel Laureates Severo Ochoa and Paul D. Boyer. After a long career as a research scientist and professor of biochemistry, Lou retired from the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in 1988.

In addition to a successful professional career, Lou was also an extremely active person throughout his life. He hiked the entire Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania and Maryland, climbed Mt. Katahdin in Maine, Mt. Mansfield in Vermont, Mt. Lassen in California, and several of the High Peaks in New York’s Adirondack Mountains. His love of science and nature easily translated into a life of staunch environmental activism and, hoping to leave the world better than he found it, he fought tirelessly to protect natural resources from industrial and suburban development.
In retirement Lou remained extremely active. He hiked and biked around Centre County, cultivated a deep interest in photography, and regularly wrote newspaper editorials on a wide variety of environmental issues. He also recently completed a book manuscript entitled Sweetmeadow: A View of the Past, Present and Future of Pennsylvania’s Hill and Valley Region, a 200-page pictorial essay that celebrates the natural beauty of the Centre Region and argues vociferously for its protection.

Those who knew Lou well recognized him as a champion of moral and intellectual integrity who sought to instill those values in his family, which he cherished. He had a deep understanding that the most important purpose of one’s intellectual gifts was to use them in the service of others. His knowledge of science reinforced, rather than diminished, his deep religious faith.

He is survived by his wife, Rosalyn G. Hass, to whom he was married for 54 years; his son, Stephen Frederick Hass, Operations Manager of Woodward Camp in Woodward, PA; his son Robert Bernard Hass, Professor of English at Edinboro University in Edinboro, PA; his daughter, Emily Elizabeth Hass, Interventional Cardiologist at the University of Colorado in Denver, CO; his son-in-law, Hermen Daalder, an IT Specialist for IBM Corporation in Denver, CO; and his grandson, Matthew Joseph Hass, of Lewistown, PA. He was preceded in death by his sister, Maria T. Schmitt, of Hollywood, FL.

In lieu of gifts or flowers, memorial contributions should be sent to the Penns Valley Conservation Association, P.O. Box 165, Aaronsburg, PA 16820.

An online guest book can be signed or condolences sent to the family at www.Heintzelmanfuneralhome.com