Sylvia Barzak Gunderson

Gunderson, Sylvia Barzak RENSSELAER Sylvia Barzak Gunderson died on January 16, 2014. She was the beloved wife of Robert Gunderson, mother of Erik (Sarah Brooks) Gunderson, M.D. of Charlottesville, Va. and Kurt (Anne-Marie Scheidegger) Gunderson, Ph.D. of Bern, Switzerland, and grandmother of Max, Ben, Alex, and Nina Gunderson. Other survivors include sister, Leah Cionek; nephews, Fred, Christopher, and Peter Cionek; and a niece, Debi Cionek. Sylvia was born in Amsterdam and graduated from Wilber Lynch High School. She studied at the College of New Rochelle, obtaining a bachelor's degree in art and English, and also at the College of St. Rose, obtaining a master's degree in education. She initially taught art in Amsterdam, and then at the USAF H.H. Arnold High School in Wiesbaden, Germany. After returning to the United States to raise her children, she later worked at RCG BOCES where she developed and taught the elementary and middle school gifted and talented programs until her retirement in 1996. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Oxfam America, 226 Causeway St., 5th Floor, Boston MA 02114 (oxfamamerica.org). Family and friends are invited to an open house on Saturday, January 25, 2014 from 1 to 4 p.m., at 22 Patroon Pointe Drive, Rensselaer. Condolence page at wjlyonsfuneralhome.com.