Paul Andre Albert

1926 - 2019

Paul Andre Albert
Apr. 14, 1926 - October 26, 2019
San Jose
At 4:14 am on October 26, Dr. Paul André Albert passed away peacefully at his home. He was 93 years old. At his side were Jeanne, his wife of 64 years; John, his eldest son; and Tevita Loni Malafu Jr., the angel disguised as a hospice care-giver. Paul was a beloved husband, father of eight, grandfather of twenty, great-grandfather of two, and "Uncle Andy" to nieces and nephews across the United States and Canada.
He was the second son of Dr. Armand Albert and Marie Lussier Albert of Van Buren, Maine. By the time he joined the Army during WWII, his childhood on the rural border of Canada had fused his love for the French language with his passion for the Great Outdoors. After the War, he earned his BS in Physics at the University of Maine in Orono, and his Sc.D in Metallurgy at NYU.
Jeanne saw him across the room at a cocktail party in Manhattan in 1954. "I don't want to meet that man," she told her friend. "He looks exactly like the kind of man I will marry, and I'm not ready to get married!" She couldn't resist his Gallic charm, though, and on June 27, 1955, they were married at St. Francis de Sales Church on E. 96th Street.
They moved with his job at Westinghouse to Pittsburgh, PA, where John, Madeleine, Peter, Charley and Tony were born. Paul accepted an offer at IBM in 1964 and moved the family to Westchester County NY, where Angeline was born. IBM moved his family again to Vermont in 1968 and finally to San Jose, CA in 1971, where David and Larry were born.
He "retired" in 1982 to take all he'd learned, invented and pioneered and ply it into a business of his own. ACI Alloys was established in 1985 and is helmed today by his sons Charles and Larry and a dedicated staff of twelve.
Paul was an unflagging cheerleader for science, an enthusiastic francophone and fisherman, golfer and Gibson ("martini") drinker, a lover of classical music, science fiction, modern art, good food, good wine, word-games and clomping through the woods.
His greatest love by far was his family. We loved him back with such devotion that it breaks our heart to try to summarize him in words. Know then that however insistent he was that we not only do our math homework but that we master it, he was eager to be disarmed by answering our questions about the time a bear raided his fishing camp, by our any attempt at a pun, or by our wondering aloud how we were related to Pierre Boucher, Sieur de Boucherville.
He adored his daughters-in-law and sons-in-law, in no small part because they helped bring him grandchildren. No knees were better built for bouncing babies than his. He was so strong that he seemed immortal. He got his first hole-in-one at the San Jose Country Club, and survived the hole made by one reckless hunting partner in the mountains of Utah. He had to bring his malfunctioning boat back to the coast of Mexico by chugging hundreds of miles in reverse. At age 84, he reeled in Alaska's halibut limit earlier than anyone else on the boat. He stood 5'-10" but loomed as tall as that other legendary French-Canadian, Paul Bunyan.
He insisted on fairness and decency and earning one's way through life by smarts and hard work. He reveled in every one of our accomplishments, though he may have esteemed the arts most of all. He had a hohoho that Santa envied, and a gorgeous baritone that made us hush when he sang "A La Claire Fontaine." None of us were surprised that "Mary Poppins" was one of his favorite movies.
He never needed a compass. Jeanne was his true North. We are all supposed to be grateful we had him for so long, and that his life was exemplary, but all we can admit to right now is that he is incalculable, as our inspiration and our loss. Private services will be held for the family.


View the online memorial for Paul Andre Albert