Obituary of Albert F. Kupferer

Albert F. Kupferer,82 - Albert F. "Bert" Kupferer, 82, of West Orange, passed away on July 17, 2013. Funeral services will be held on Friday July 26, 2013 at The Dangler Funeral Home of West Orange, 340 Main Street, West Orange at 8:30 AM, then to Our Lady of Lourdes Church, 1 Eagle Rock Ave. in West Orange for the Funeral Mass at 9:30 AM. Interment will follow at Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Montclair. Visiting will be on Thursday, July 25th from 4 to 8 PM. In lieu of flowers donations in Albert's name are requested to: Saint Barnabas Hospice and Palliative Care Center 95 Old Short Hills Road, 1st Fl West Orange, NJ 07052. Born in Montclair, Mr. Kupferer moved to West Orange as a toddler and remained in his family home for his entire life. As youngsters, he and his twin brother were featured in several different Newark-area newspaper articles as one of six sets of twins all living within a single block. He was a 1949 graduate of West Orange High School. He received his B.A. at Montclair State in 1953 and his M.A. from Columbia University in 1957 with additional studies at Northwestern University. Mr. Kupferer began his teaching career in Summit Junior High School from 1953 to 1954 then he moved on to Belleville High School from 1954 until 1956. In 1956, he became Director of the Speech Program in the West Orange School system having been hired specifically to create that department. Besides his position as a speech therapist for the West Orange schools, Mr. Kupferer also taught classes in public speaking and dramatics (writing and/or directing more than fifty student plays throughout his career). He retired in 1987. During retirement, he was an adjunct professor of speech and public speaking at both William Patterson and Montclair State. He served on the West Orange Public Library Board of Trustees for more than thirty years. He also served as the N.J.E.A.'s General Coordinator for the New Jersey Tercentenary Pageant in 1963 and as a committee member for the West Orange Bicentennial Celebration in 1976. He was named Man of the Year by The Holy Name Society in 2009. Mr. Kupferer is remembered as a lector at Our Lady of Lourdes Church and as the perennial toastmaster for West Orange School banquets and retirement dinners. He was also a frequent speaker at Speech Association conventions not only for the New Jersey chapter but also at Speech Association conventions across the nation. He was active as an actor and director in community theatres throughout New Jersey; a judge for the New Jersey Theatre League Play Tournaments; and an actor in the independent films, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Where You Belong. He was pre-deceased by his twin brother, Bruce, and is survived by his sister-in-law Anna Mae Kupferer of Millerton, N.Y.; his nephews, Christopher Kupferer of Philadelphia, Keith Kupferer and Kurt Kupferer both of Chicago; John and Patricia Dandola of West Orange; and cousin Mary Lou Rowe of Essex Fells.