Obituary of Albert Warren Starkweather Jr

Albert “Al” Starkweather, Jr., 81, died on November 14 in Tampa Bay, Florida, after an illness of several months. Mr. Starkweather was born in Watertown, New York. He was the son of the late Albert Starkweather, Sr., and the late Elizabeth Parker Starkweather of Brownville, NY. He was educated at Alexandria Bay (NY) High School and attended Saint Lawrence University and the University of Wisconsin before earning a B.A. in English and psychology from the State University of New York at Potsdam. He also did graduate work in communication and photography at Syracuse (NY) University, and in business at the University of Connecticut. Mr. Starkweather began his journalism career at the Watertown (NY) Daily Times. He later worked at The Hartford (CT) Courant and as an executive editor for Thomson Newspapers, where he was responsible for the award-winning restructuring and redesign of several of their newspapers. A skilled photographer, Mr. Starkweather often contributed pictures as well as articles to the newspapers for which he worked. Mr. Starkweather became a project editor with CRC Press, where he worked on technical publications such as the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. After his retirement, Mr. Starkweather started his own business, Design on Demand, a print and online communications company specializing in web, print, and graphics design, publishing, advertising, photography, editing, and proofreading. His clients included Dow Corning, General Electric Company, Houghton Mifflin, the New York City Transit Authority, and St. Regis Paper Company, among many others. Music and philately were two of Mr. Starkweather’s many interests. As a musician, Mr. Starkweather played the soprano and alto saxophones. During his time at the University of Wisconsin, he played in the UW summer band under the noted Director of Bands, Raymond Dvorak. His lifelong passion for stamps led Mr. Starkweather to belong to the American Airmail Society and to serve as editor of the American Philatelic Society’s The Philatelic Communicator, the American Ceremony Program Society’s journal, The Ceremonial, and the Federation of New York Philatelic Societies’ The Insider. Mr. Starkweather is survived by his former wife, Mrs. Linda Souliere, by his two daughters, Lisa Starkweather and Karin Santamaria, and by a brother, John Starkweather. A son, Jeffrey, predeceased Mr. Starkweather. A memorial service will be held later. Mr. Starkweather was Vice-President of the SNUC Foundation, Inc, which supports the fight against head and neck cancer. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made on his behalf to the SNUC Foundation, Inc., 14485 Tamarind Loop, Brooksville, FL. 34609.