LOUDONVILLE Russell E. Sheer Jr., 95, of Albany Shaker Rd. passed away peacefully Saturday, April 1, 2023 at Loudonville Assisted Living Residence. Born in Troy, he was the son of the late Russell E. Sheer Sr. and Genevieve Morris Sheer. He was a graduate of Lansingburgh High School and RPI in Troy.
Russell was employed for 40 years as an engineer at the General Electric Research and Development facility in Niskayuna. He retired in 1987. He held multiple patents in the Plasma Flow Field and was a part of the team that developed the heat shield that was used on the Apollo spacecrafts. He also had authored over 100 publications in various scientific journals. He was a veteran of the US Navy.
Russell was an avid outdoorsman and enjoyed trout fishing and spending time with his family at their home in North Creek.
Russell was a communicant of both St. Peter & St. Paul Ukrainian Church in Cohoes and St. Pius Church in Loudonville.
He was the husband of the late Katherine Smithrick Sheer who died in 2021 and father of the late Catherine Britton. He is survived by his son in law Lewis W. Britton III MD of Albany and by his grandson Lewis W. Britton IV MD of Fly Creek.
Funeral services will be Wednesday at 10 am at Philip J. Brendese Funeral Home, 133 Broad St (Rte. 32), Waterford. Interment will follow in St. Peter & St. Paul Cemetery, Waterford.
Those who wish may make memorial contributions to the Catherine Sheer Britton Endowed Chair, Department of Surgery at Albany Medical College, 43 New Scotland Ave., Albany, NY 12208.