Obituary of Gillray Lucian Kandel

Dr. Gillray L. Kandel, long time resident of the capital district area, died peacefully at home on April 18th, 2013. Dr. Kandel was born in New York City on June 9th, 1924. WWII interrupted his college education when he entered the US Army Signal Corps. He was involved in the development of the top secret SIGSALY project, a secure speech system used in World War II for the highest-level Allied communications. Following honorable discharge from the service, he returned to City College of NY and received his BS degree in 1950. While performing his postgraduate work he received a research fellowship from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He then received his Doctorate of Philosophy from the University of Rochester in 1958 where he studied psychology and visual psychophysics. Dr. Kandel had a long and respected career as a Professor of Psychology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute from which he retired in 2001. He was a prolific inventor and the holder of nine patents. Following retirement from RPI he began a second career as a successful inventor and entrepreneur. He was particularly proud of his accomplishment of researching and developing an ophthalmic medical device technology that has since been commercialized and approved for sale throughout the world. His wife Sheila Kandel, his sons Denis and Joel, a daughter, Janet, and various stepchildren, cousins, nephews, and nieces survive him. He will be buried Tuesday April 23rd with full military honors at the Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery in Schuylerville, NY.