ALLEY Professor Robert Sutherland Alley, of Richmond, Va., died peacefully in the early hours of August 14 at Beth Sholom Nursing Home in Henrico County after suffering from a stroke two weeks earlier. While being treated for the stroke, he was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer. He is survived by his wife, Norma; their two sons, Bob and John and their wives, Pam and Vickie of Richmond; his brother, Reuben and his wife, Helene of Annapolis, Md.; his nephew, Bob and his wife, Zoe and their children, Cassie and Max of Barrington, R.I.; his sister-in-law, Olivia and her husband, Jim and their son, Jim, and his wife, Linda and their son, Mike of Ft. Wayne, Ind. In accordance with his wishes, his body was donated to the medical research department at VCU Medical Center. The family would like to thank Ellen Robertson and Ray McAllister of the Richmond Times -Dispatch for their kind words about him and his career in two recent articles. In addition to the highlights of his long career as a teacher, author, and political activist already described in the newspaper, we believe he would have most liked to be remembered as a loving husband and father. He was also a "champion of freedom, law, and justice", words he used to describe the great civil rights leader, Oliver Hill when he dedicated one of his many books to him. He would also want to remind us, as James Madison warned, "to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties." Gifts may be made in his memory to Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, 518 C St. NE, Washington, D.C. 20002, a cause for which he fought all his life, or the Massey Cancer Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, P.O. Box 980214, Richmond, Va. 23298-0214, in the hope of finding a cure for a disease that has affected our family so deeply. A memorial service will be held on August 31 at 4 p.m. in the University of Richmond Chapel followed by a reception at Jepson Alumni Center.
Published in Richmond Times-Dispatch on August 18, 2006
