Dr. William Howard (Bill) Pittman of Niskayuna, a 32-year resident of the Capital District, died peacefully on

October 15, 2025 after an illness.

Dr. Pittman was born in Moscow, Idaho (that’s right, Moscow, Idaho!) in 1935, to William Henry Pittman and

Elsie W. Pittman. In his first ten years, his parents were constantly “movin’ on” from Idaho to Massachusetts,

Kentucky, Missouri and Maryland. While living in Lexington, KY, as a boy 3 years old, Bill was twice afflicted:

by the abandonment of the Lexington trolley cars and by Type 1 diabetes. He received medals in 2013 from Eli

Lilly Co. and in 2018 from the Joslin Institute for living successfully for 75 and then 80 years with diabetes.

The lack of trolleys proved to be a more serious trauma.

Bill was educated in chemistry at the University of Missouri and the University of Illinois (Ph.D. 1960), and in

law at Cleveland-Marshall Law School and Georgetown University (J.D. 1964).

Bill was employed as a patent practitioner in Painesville, OH, Washington, DC and the Cleveland area by

Diamond Alkali Co. and The Lubrizol Corporation of Wickliffe, OH. He joined GE Global Research in

Niskayuna in 1982, retiring in 1998 as Intellectual Property Counsel—Chemical & Materials Technology. He

considered his employment to be a series of excellent positions in declining “rust belt” cities and their suburbs.

Dr. Pittman was a retired member of the New York Bar and the US patent bar. He served as a president of the

Eastern New York Intellectual Property Law Association and was a member of the American Chemical Society,

American Intellectual Property Law Association and American Bar Association. Following up the passion for

trolleys that had begun in Lexington, upon retirement he became a member and volunteer motorman at the

Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven, Connecticut.

Bill was also a musician, having played violin and viola starting at the age of 9. He attended the Interlochen

(MI) Summer Arts Camp; played with the University of Illinois Orchestra and the Cleveland Philharmonic

Orchestra; and sang in the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and the Albany Pro Musica.

He is survived by his beloved wife, with whom he recently celebrated 50 years of loving marriage, Meme

Gibson Pittman; three children, Alan Pittman of Middle Island, NY; Erica Pittman of Amherst, MA; and James

Pittman of Mora, NM; a brother, Robert F. Pittman (Dorothy) of Columbia, MO; and countless cousins, mostly

in the states of Washington and Minnesota. He was predeceased by his parents, numerous aunts and uncles and

his ex-wife.

Memorial contributions may be made to the William H. Pittman endowed law professorship at the University of

Missouri—Columbia (established in memory of Dr. Pittman’s father); the Schenectady Symphony Orchestra;

the Cleveland Orchestra; the Joslin Diabetes Center; and liberal organizations such as the American Civil

Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood Mohawk-Hudson, NARAL, and the Southern Poverty Law Center