Scott R. Sharer

Scott R. Sharer, age 69, passed away on March 5 th, 2025. A native of Vestal, New York, he was the son of Richard W. Sharer and Doris A. Umbower Sharer.
Scott married his wife Sandra in 1984 in St. Louis, MO. Scott earned a BA from Mary Washington College and an MFA from Texas Christian University. He was an Associate Professor at TCU, Cornell University and the University of Missouri – St. Louis. Scott's unquenchable thirst for knowledge and intellectual challenge led him away from academia into the private sector where he blended his knowledge of lighting, audio engineering, construction and creative design work into the world of audio-visual presentation systems. While working in St. Louis for Communitronics on a project for McDonnell Douglas, Scott implemented a paradoxical shift in the laser fabrication process for cutting composite wing material, thereby streamlining the manufacturing process of the F-15E Strike Eagle and the T-45 Goshawk
airplanes. This process revolutionized the aviation industry and is still in use today.
Scott and Sandie moved to Tybee Island, Georgia in 1990 and he became a partner in Stage Front Presentation Systems. While there, he designed the first Videoconferencing system that incorporated picture-in-picture video so the person speaking could be seen on the same outbound video screen as the PowerPoint presentation or other video source being delivered. He designed a dental lab camera display system for Medical College of Georgia School of Dentistry that changed how professors demonstrated dental procedures performed in the very tight space of a patient's mouth, now a standard in dental schools across the country. In 1995,
Scott formed Communication Design Group and his clients included the FBI, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, FLETC, World Bank, NASA, Flowers Foods, Polycom, Tandberg, AMX and Cisco to name a few. Scott had a high level security clearance with the Department of Defense and was contracted to design secure communication systems in the Middle East, Mexico and South America.
Scott's passion for education and sharing knowledge never faltered and he volunteered his time serving as faculty for industry associations ICIA InfoComm (now AVIXA), the NSCA (National Systems Contractor Association) and CEDIA (Custom Electronic Design Installation Association), earning Educator of the Year awards from all three organizations. In 2018, his service was recognized by AVIXA with the Fred Dixon Service in Education Award. "A past Educator of the Year, Sharer has been a pioneering, influential and popular instructor at InfoComm shows and other industry events around the world. Sharer created some of the industry's first videoconferencing training, made engaging through his use of digital technologies so that students could experience as they learned. Sharer pioneered many of the best practices that define modern unified communications and collaboration. The author of hundreds of articles and books, he is recognized worldwide as an expert in videoconference system and network Design."
To unwind, Scott rode a variety of custom choppers, including an American Ironhorse Texas Chopper, a Martin Brothers award winning chopper and a Bourget chopper. Sandie wasn't comfortable riding on the back of a chopper, so she rode alongside on her own Kawasaki Mean Street. Scott started www.ChopperDetailing.com where he cleaned motorcycles at Low Country Customs as a method for hanging out with really cool bikers and to decompress. On one of his many trips up and down the I-95 corridor to Washington DC, Scott stumbled across two young men living in a van with two tigers. They had been part of a research project at Cornell University which was cross breeding tigers with lions to create a calmer, less
aggressive species. Scott donated funds to build denning cages and an arena for the tigers and provided cameras and video equipment so they could create an educational web site as a source of revenue generation. In exchange, Scott asked them to teach him everything they knew about tigers which inspired yet another passion. Scott spent hundreds of hours with Fyre and Kali until an unrelated injury prevented his interaction with these apex predators. Scott truly had no fear and lived his life sharing the philosophy of the stoics Memento Mori.
Scott was preceded in death by his father, Richard W. Sharer and his mother Doris A. Sharer.
Survivors include wife Sandra Carroll Sharer and sister Lesley Giancola (Stephen) of Acworth,
GA.
Scott's life will be celebrated by close friends and family in a private gathering. In lieu of flowers, please make a charitable donation to Savannah Hospice or another organization of your choosing.