Joseph Stampfer

Ted Stampfer, who was born Joseph Frederick Stampfer, passed away at his home in Santa Fe on September 20th at the age of 89. He was born in Dubuque Iowa and moved to Santa Fe in the late 1930s. Ted received a Bachelors degree from Dartmouth College and a Doctorate in Chemistry from UNM. During the summers heworked in Los Alamos at the National lab and was hired full time after graduation. He was at Enewetok Atoll for the atomic bomb tests. He left the Lab in the late 60s and took a job with the University of Missouri at Rolla were he taught and did research in the Cloud Physics department. He came back to Santa Fe in the late 70's and again worked at the Lab until he retired in 1991. One of Teds greatest pleasures was flying. He became a pilot in his early 20s and spent many years flying with his family around the country. He was an avid mushroom hunter and spent hours looking through a microscope identifying slime molds (Myxomycetes). Ted and his wife Anne had a great love for travel: together they visited dozens of countries. Whether it was volunteering on a research ship digging through biological samples, packing horses in the Rockies, learning to climb trees to look for slime molds or splitting wood at the cabin in Colorado he was always looking for a new challenge. He was a bone cancer survivor. To get an understanding who Ted was, here is an excerpt from what he wrote in his Dartmouth College 50 Year Book. "I have heard two dissimilar viewpoints espoused about how one should approach advancing age. One says that it is inevitable, so accept it gracefully. But I will be damned if I will accept anything as undesirable as old age gracefully. The other camp suggests fighting it all the way and I say to them Right On!" Anyone who knew Ted, knew he did exactly that. He had a true love for life and knowledge to the end. Ted was preceded in death by his wife Anne who was 85 years old. Ted is survived by son Jeff (Leah George) and daughter Becky Cole (Daren Cole), Granddaughter Madelyn, nephews Bill (Melody) and David (Terri) Wallis. The family would like to thank: Amber Care, Care Source, Giving Home Care and all individuals for all their love and care

The family of Joseph Frederick Stampfer has entrusted the care of their beloved to Avista Cremation & Burial Funeral home.