Longtime NY State Math Professor Dies In Climbing Accident

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Students and staff at the University at Albany are mourning the death of a longtime math professor who died in a climbing accident in upstate New York.

The Times Union of Albany reports (http://bit.ly/2em4gKc ) 78-year-old Edward S. Thomas Jr. went climbing in the Shawangunk Mountains near New Paltz on Nov. 1. His wife told the newspaper he was climbing the face of a cliff when he fell and suffered fatal injuries.

Thomas began teaching at the Albany college in 1969 and still taught there three days a week at the time of his death.

Thomas, who lived in the Albany suburb of Delmar, had been promoted to Distinguished Teaching Professorship, a rank above professor.

A memorial service is scheduled for Dec. 10 in the University at Albany's mathematics department.

[STORY BY: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS]