Obituaries

Alfred Erwin "Al" Einert

Photo of Alfred Erwin "Al" Einert
Alfred Erwin "Al" Einert died peacefully and surrounded by people who loved him at 5:35 p.m., Wednesday, August 22, at Avenir Memory Care in Fayetteville, after a long fight with dementia. Al was born on February 6, 1939 in Norwood, New Jersey to two recent German immigrants, Paul Martin Einert and Linda Ebert Einert. He grew up loving nature, farming and art, and later found a way to combine these passions in a professional capacity as a landscape architect. Al graduated from Tri-Valley High School in Grahamsville, N.Y. After a stint in the Air Force, he attended Arkansas State (BA), Mississippi State (MA and Ph.D), and Michigan State (post-doc). Al spent the rest of his life in his adopted state of Arkansas, where he taught Ornamental Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Arkansas for over three decades. He was proud of being the first licensed landscape architect in Arkansas (License No. 1) and for training and licensing several generations of landscape architects in the state. The many former students and colleagues who visited Al after he became ill is a testament to the important role he played in many lives. He loved to drive, and he loved old Chevy pickups and fancy German sports cars, and was also an excellent driving teacher to his two daughters, maintaining a steely, white-knuckled composure as we chauffeured him over the Pig-Trail on dark, rainy nights as teenagers. He taught both of us to love licorice, White Russians, banjo music, trees, and corny jokes. He will be dearly missed by his two daughters, LeeAnn Einert Deemer, of Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Kathryn Michaels Shaffer of Bentonville, Ark.; his five grandchildren, Felix Deemer, Eleanora Deemer, Louisa Deemer, Holden Shaffer, and Skylar Shaffer; and his three siblings, Martin Einert of Boulder City, Colorado, Roslind Stone of Woodland, Calif., and Richard Einert of Bentonville, Ark. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Alfred Einert's honor to the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks or to the Cure Alzheimer's Fund. Details to follow regarding a memorial service to be planned for the autumn. Please visit Al's memorial page at www.WestfieldChapel.com.

Published August 26, 2018

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