College of Sciences Newsletter Edition 13 June 1, 2002 
Gene W. Hirschfeld Dies
Gene W. Hirschfeld, founder of the Dental Hygiene School at Old Dominion University, died on March 26, 2002 at age 84. Hirschfeld joined the faculty in 1966 when the College of Sciences was the College of Sciences and Health Professions. He became the first director of the dental hygiene department and served in that role for 14 years. In 1979, he was named eminent professor and retired in 1982.
Recognizing the relationship between faculty excellence being directly responsible for University excellence, he established an endowment that provides one award, in alternate years, to a faculty member from either the College of Sciences or the College of Health Sciences. The recipient must have excelled in teaching and some combination of research and/or professional service and receives $1,000 from this endowment.
Hirschfeld, a native of New York, he earned his undergraduate and dental school degrees from New York University and completed his residency in oral surgery at Cumberland Hospital in Brooklyn. He was a captain in the U. S. Army during World War II and practiced dentistry in Norfolk for 27 years before joining the Old Dominion University faculty.
Award recipients from the College of Sciences are:
Virginia S. Bagley Biology 1982 Thomas H. Dunham Geology 1983 Raymond H. Kirby Psychology 1984 Charles E. Bell, Jr. Chemistry 1985 Valerian J. Derlega Psychology 1986 Robert Lee Kernell Physics 1988 John A. Adam Math/Stat 1990 Mark D. Havey Physics 1992 John P. Morgan Math/Stat 1994 Kneeland Nesius Biology 1996 Robert L. Ake Chemistry 1998 Stanley E. Weinstein Math/Stat 2000 Alan H. Savitzky Biology 2002
