Seymour Robert Kotler's Obituary
Seymour (Sy) Robert Kotler born June 24th 1939 in the Bronx, NY, and died November 23rd 2016 in Annapolis MD. He had been diagnosed with Primary Progressive Aphasia in 2010.
The son of Joseph Kotler and Doris (Teibal) nee Efron Kotler, he grew up in the Bronx, NY. He attended Virginia Tech, graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering. He then served as a Commissioned Officer in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) where he took part in oceanographic surveys in such diverse areas as the Indian Ocean and the Bering Sea. During his time with NOAA, he attended Miami University, FL earning a Master’s Degree in Ocean Engineering. His last assignment with NOAA was to lead a unique scientific program in which shipboard gravity meters were used to define gravitational fields and their effect on survey and navigational instruments. In 1968 he was honorably discharged from NOAA and eventually settled in the Annapolis area where he began work as an engineer with the Chesapeake Instrument Corporation, (CIC) in Shady Side, MD. Sy was instrumental in analyzing data and recommending future designs for towed arrays. In 1970 he was assigned to Naples, Italy where he met his future wife and lifelong partner Ms. Wendy Hope in 1971. They returned to Annapolis, MD in 1972 where he personally built an addition on their house to create a warm and unique home in Cape St. Clair. He continued working at CIC then Gould and eventually was employed by Martin Marietta. During this period he also attended night school at Columbus School of Law, Catholic University, Washington DC and graduated with a Juris Doctorate.
After years in the corporate world he started his own Consultant Company and worked on a variety of projects including: zebra mussel eradication in the Great Lakes, chemical remediation in the Philadelphia sewer system and at ARD helping design robots to clean the inside of oil tanks. While consulting with Universal Studios, he helped develop the Spiderman rides in Orlando, Florida and Osaka, Japan. He also served as an expert witness in several trials and taught several acquisition law courses to various government agencies throughout the country.
Sy will always be remembered as a humorous, friendly, well read, generous individual who enjoyed a lively and substantive discussion. He liked sailing, skiing, hunting and jazz. Since retiring he created stunning artworks out of wood, paint and recycled objects.
Sy was a loving husband, a proud father of Gabrielle Kotler Davis and Robert Kotler, and the happy grandfather of Reagan McBride.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may made to aid Research on Primary Progressive Aphasia. Checks can be made out to Johns Hopkins- Fund to benefit Dr Argye Hillers- research. On memo line of the check Honoree Seymour (Sy) Kotler. Sent to Johns Hopkins Department of Neurology, 550, N. Broadway, 7th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21205.
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