Community remembers longtime IUS professor Gerald Ruth

Nov. 22—NEW ALBANY — The community is remembering the legacy of an Indiana University Southeast professor who shared his love and knowledge of astronomy with students for many decades.

Gerald D. Ruth, a professor who taught for 50 years at IUS, died Nov. 15 at age 86. He began teaching in the early days of IUS in Jeffersonville before it moved to the campus in New Albany.

He taught classes on topics ranging from geography to astronomy, and he worked to establish the geosciences department at IUS. He was instrumental in the formation of the observatory at IUS, which is named in his honor as the Gerald D. Ruth Observatory.

Gary Flispart, Ruth's longtime friend, describes the professor as a "child of the universe" who was "interested in everything."

"He taught geography, and geography is the study of everything in the world, and he taught astronomy, and that's pretty much everything else," he said.

Ruth was originally from Buffalo, New York, and as a graduate student he departed Buffalo to attend Indiana University, where he received a doctorate. He began teaching at IUS in 1965 and retired in 2015.

The professor received numerous awards for his contributions, including the Distinguished Research and Creativity Award from IUS and the Sagamore of the Wabash award from the state of Indiana.

For Flispart, Ruth served as a mentor for 40 years. He met the professor as an IUS student in the 1970s, although he did not take his classes. He notes that when he took his astronomy courses at IUS, Ruth was not yet teaching the subject.

"Back in 1972, the first time that I ran into Dr. Ruth was because my wife was looking for a class that he had," Flispart said. "She was trying to find out where the building was in Jeffersonville, and I showed her where it was. That's when my wife and I started seriously dating, so he did have a role in setting that up, although he didn't know he did."

Flispart said he and the professor connected through their love of astronomy. They were separately planning viewings for Comet Kohoutek in 1973, and they eventually coordinated their efforts.

In the late 1970s, Ruth started pulling telescopes "out of mothballs" at the IUS campus, and Flispart helped him set them up. In 1982, Flispart was among the group of "fellow enthusiasts" who joined the IUS Astronomical Society, which was sponsored by Ruth.

"Gerry was kind of our mentor and ringleader, and we established an observatory on the campus," he said. "It was largely hand-built at first, and it got improved a little over the years with some help from the campus."

For Flispart, one of the most memorable viewings with Ruth was seeing the effects of Comet Shoemaker — Levy 9's collision with Jupiter in 1994. Through the telescope, they saw "smudges" on the planet's surface after the comet hit, he said.

As more development and light pollution came into the area, it became necessary to find a darker spot for viewings, and another observatory was eventually built on the north side of campus.

Ruth secured a grant to built the new domed observatory, which opened in 2004. Over the years, the professor has personally contributed telescopes and equipment to the IUS campus.

"He went through two or three telescopes out there that he personally donated to the campus — large telescopes," Flispart said. "We're talking tens of thousands of dollars, so it's expensive equipment."

State Rep. Ed Clere describes Ruth's passing as a "tremendous loss" to the community. He has known Ruth for almost his entire life, and he nominated the professor for the Sagamore of the Wabash award in 2015.

"Dr. Ruth was a great example of what makes IUS such a special place and such as valuable asset to our community," he said. "He was passionate about teaching — not just about teaching students, but also sharing his knowledge and the opportunity to view the planets and the stars with the public."

The professor was one of his father's "oldest and dearest friends," Clere said. His father, David Russell Clere, also taught at IUS in the 1970s and 1980s.

Ruth was not only a family friend — Clere was also one of the professor's students in the late 1990s. He said "you couldn't ask for a better professor," and he recalled his experiences learning from Ruth at the observatory.

"Students would roast hot dogs over a fire that he built while learning about astronomy and viewing whatever planets or stars he could find on that particular night, and it was such a magical experience," he said.

Clere said Ruth's "generosity brought people together and gave people unique and special opportunities."

Ruth "made friends with everybody, and he would talk to everybody," Flispart said. He said students thought highly of him, and he "bent over backwards trying to help kids pass if they were having problems."

Debbie Logsdon Haeberlin is a science teacher at New Albany High School who took three of Ruth's classes at IUS.

He was a "really friendly man" who was "easy to talk to and fun to be around," she said.

Haeberlin teaches earth and space science at NAHS, and although her specialty is geology, Ruth was influential in helping her understand astronomy. She still has her notes from his classes.

A few months ago, NAHS science teachers organized a visit to the Gerald D. Ruth Observatory at IUS, which allowed kids to see Jupiter and Saturn from the telescope.

They visited with Ruth during the event, and Haeberlin told her 7-year-old son, "you're going to meet a very special person." The retired professor was excited to see her son's interest in astronomy and answer his questions about the North Star, she said.

She thinks of Ruth each time she teaches lessons on astronomy, she said.

"He was so passionate about his love of astronomy," Haeberlin said. "His message, I think, would just have people look into space, look into the stars and just get yourself exposed to it."

Peter Galvin, geosciences professor at IUS, worked with Ruth for 25 years, and the professor was both his mentor and friend. Their offices were located next to each other, and they had a rivalry over who had the messiest office, he said.

He describes Ruth as a "modern Renaissance man" who was an "expert in many fields," including cartography. However, Ruth was always modest about his accomplishments, he said.

He helped measure the planetoid Vesta, earning him an invitation to a summer institute for astronomy research at the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics at Harvard University in 1992.

Ruth was also a talented organist and photographer, according to Galvin. He coached tennis at IUS in the 1970s, and in 1974, he led the tennis team in an undefeated season.

The professor also authored several books, including "Earth Verses Space," a volume of poetry inspired by science.

According to Galvin, Ruth was "very welcoming and generous with his time."

"The observatory was open to the public, and there were lots and lots of people who would come at 2 [a.m.] to see the telescopes that he set up," he said. "I think he was really a fixture in the community in that way."

Funeral services for Ruth took place Monday. According to his obituary, donations in his memory may be given to the IU School of Optometry.