Jay Alden
August 12, 1936 ~ June 18, 2018
Jay Alden passed away peacefully at his home in Reston, Virginia. Jay is survived by his wife of 24 years, Judith Kirkhorn, his sister, Arlene Beberman, his children Lori (Mike) Treadway, Bret (Marilyn) Alden, his stepsons Erik (Anne Stuart) Kirkhorn and Nicholas (Elisa) Kirkhorn, 11 grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his mother and father, Sylvia and Henry Asowsky, his first wife, Barbara Marcus, and his brother, Gene Alden.
A proud native of the Bronx, New York, Jay served in the Air Force for four years based in Biloxi, Mississippi. There he discovered a passion for technology and liked teaching others about it. He earned his master’s degree and Ph.D. from Hofstra University, and held training and executive positions at various corporations, including Sperry on Long Island, Xerox in Virginia, and ARINC in Annapolis. Later in his career Jay received recognition and awards as a skilled and highly-regarded professor at the University of Maryland University College Graduate School and the Information Resources Management College of the National Defense University. For decades he was an active member of the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI), chairing committees related to evaluation and emerging technology and serving on the organiation’s executive board. In addition, he authored several articles and books dealing with technology, distance education research, and decision making.
Jay was a loving, generous, and devoted husband, father, and grandfather. He traveled widely, was an avid reader of nonfiction, an unwavering fan of the New York Yankees and D.C. sports teams, and an enthusiastic boater while living near Annapolis for over 30 years. With Judith he enjoyed attending cultural events, such as performances at Arena Stage and the Kennedy Center. He was not only an award-winning photographer, he also created and led two successful digital photography clubs, one in Annapolis and the other in Reston.
A Celebration of Life gathering will be held on July 3, 2018, from 2:30-4:00 pm at the Stratford Court Clubhouse, 1854 Stratford Park Place, Reston, Virginia.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to the American Red Cross or the American Civil Liberties Union.
A proud native of the Bronx, New York, Jay served in the Air Force for four years based in Biloxi, Mississippi. There he discovered a passion for technology and liked teaching others about it. He earned his master’s degree and Ph.D. from Hofstra University, and held training and executive positions at various corporations, including Sperry on Long Island, Xerox in Virginia, and ARINC in Annapolis. Later in his career Jay received recognition and awards as a skilled and highly-regarded professor at the University of Maryland University College Graduate School and the Information Resources Management College of the National Defense University. For decades he was an active member of the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI), chairing committees related to evaluation and emerging technology and serving on the organiation’s executive board. In addition, he authored several articles and books dealing with technology, distance education research, and decision making.
Jay was a loving, generous, and devoted husband, father, and grandfather. He traveled widely, was an avid reader of nonfiction, an unwavering fan of the New York Yankees and D.C. sports teams, and an enthusiastic boater while living near Annapolis for over 30 years. With Judith he enjoyed attending cultural events, such as performances at Arena Stage and the Kennedy Center. He was not only an award-winning photographer, he also created and led two successful digital photography clubs, one in Annapolis and the other in Reston.
A Celebration of Life gathering will be held on July 3, 2018, from 2:30-4:00 pm at the Stratford Court Clubhouse, 1854 Stratford Park Place, Reston, Virginia.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to the American Red Cross or the American Civil Liberties Union.
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Jay Memories Jay and I worked at Xerox Training Center in Leesburg, Va from the middle 70’s until he left a few years later. He was an Evaluation Manager and I was a curriculum writer; he recommended me for the Xerox job after some acquaintance at local and national NSPI meetings. He had a sense of humor! That was rare then and there. I encouraged him to join the local NSPI Chapter, I think he did a couple years later. I used his book on Backward Chaining as a basis for a presentation at the chapter. I attended a party at his house back in the Xerox days, and tried to impress him by parking outside his house and calling him from my ham radio “car phone” to announce my arrival. I think he was slightly impressed as practically no one had phones in their cars back then! When Xerox came out with a CPM personal computer around 1981 (before IBM did), Jay took it upon himself to produce…a Federal Tax Program! Which worked! You could fill in your 1040 on Jay’s program and it would calculate and print out accurate tax results. I teased him for updates in the following decades, but never received one. It may have been the first one ever. At an SF NSPI convention, he and his boss invited me on a trip to see the redwoods, but I would have had to take time out of the convention and did not accept; should have. Jay and I were the first to take NSPI convention photos and produce them for the attendees the same day! We did that for two national conferences. Nobody had thought to do that back then, and people loved seeing themselves! We saw each other at NSPI/ISPI things a few times over the 80’s and 90’s, then got back in touch via email sometime around 2000. I have one of his Peru pictures on my wall. He was more advanced in photography than I, and taught me a few things. We exchanged photos via email now and then. It was great he got into micro/macro-photography and I was surprised a bit that he carried his excellent photo eye into that level, but he sure did. One thing I tried to teach him–placement of 35mm slides in a Kodak Carousel. He would always get them in backwards! We met a few times for lunch over the years and emailed quite a bit (for me)–I will miss him a lot, he was 20% of my social life for the last few years! The current political situation caused him a lot of pain. He was a funny, inquisitive, and scientific person. Mike Rutkaus
Jay was a wonderful photographer and also a great leader and inspiration to those of us who joined his Photo Forum at Stratford. He was generous with his praise and encouragement and also gave us a structure for the meetings that allowed each of us to “shine” a little. We also had the chance to learn new skills from each other and the guest presenters he scheduled. He was taken from us much too early, but he has made his mark here at Stratford. Gloria Michau, Stratford Photo Forum member http://m.moneyandking.com/Content/Themes/Shared/Symbols/butterfly.png
I had the honor of working and occasionally socializing with Jay for 30 years. I never knew him to be other than upbeat. I suspect that as a native New Yorker it was in his character to constantly challenge human thought processes. And likely that is what made him an outstanding scholar and teacher in the area of decision making. Over his career he reached the minds of thousands of leaders in the private and public sectors and certainly the world is now a better place because of it. John Saunders
Jay and I (Don Dement) were co-founders of the Digital Photography Club of Annapolis. Jay was a student in my Photoshop class in 2004, but more importantly, he was the guy with the initial dream of having a photography club in Annapolis. We teamed up on the many tasks but he was the driver in the Club’s founding. Jay’s initiative to organize and grow the club created enjoyment, learning, and inspiration for hundreds of eventual members over the years. The club has regularly had about 130 members – the largest in the county. The Club provides access to its work, which includes some of Jay’s entries in its Showcases, here: http://digitalphotoclub.net/ as well as a short history of its founding years. From another active member of the club: “Jay was a wonderful photographer and person. He brought a keen artistic sensibility to his photographs, particularly the ones he shot while traveling. He took a striking image of an Indian woman that rivals anything I’ve seen in Nat Geo. Even when he became wheelchair-bound, he continued to develop his craft by exploring macro photography with joy and enthusiasm. I was so sad to hear of his passing.” Indeed, we all are. Glad he lent his decision-making skills to form yet another photo club. May he rest in peace. DKD
Dear Judith. I am sorry to hear about the passing of your husband, Jay. I remember so well working with you a number of years ago when I was at the US Chamber of Commerce. Please know that my thoughts are with you. Take care. Maggie Elgin
I will forever miss you, hopefully my memories stay with me for years to come. Thank you Pop-pop. I’ll miss you.