Lasting Memories

Roland H. Alden
1913-Nov. 2, 2005
Placerville, California

Dr. Roland H. Alden, 92, a longtime former resident of Palo Alto, died Nov. 2 in Placerville.

Although he was born in Champaign, Ill., his father was a professor at Stanford and his childhood was spent in Palo Alto. He attended Palo Alto High School and Stanford before getting his doctorate in biology and zoology at Yale.

He arrived in Memphis, Tenn., in August 1942, set for a two-year appointment as instructor in basic anatomy at the University of Tennessee. Over the next 37 years he served as Dean of the College of Basic Medical Sciences; Dean of the Graduate School, Medical Sciences; President of the American Association of Anatomists; Chairman of the U.S. Public Health Service Anatomical Sciences Training Committee; and serve on the Commission on Graduate Education, National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges; and the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees' Academic Affairs Committee.

He was also active in numerous civic and charitable institutions including the Rotary Club, the Red Cross, and the Society for Crippled Children and Adults. Together with his wife of 65 years, Aimee, he helped found the Les Passees Treatment Center for Cerebral Palsied Children. In 1979 he retired from the University of Tennessee and moved back to his native California. He continued to hold the titles Dean Emeritus and Emeritus Professor of Anatomy while pursuing his longstanding interests in hunting, fishing, gardening and tending to the family vacation cabin at Fallen Leaf.

He is survived by two children, Patricia Alden of Canton, N.Y., and Roland Alden, Jr. of Palm Desert, Calif.; and one grandchild. His wife died in 2002. A son, Peter MacDonald Alden, who suffered from cerebral palsy, died in 1998.