Professor Adolph A. Neidermeyer graduated from his earthly education on May 18, 2023. He and the love of his life, Ellen, shared 59 wedded years together after meeting the first day of their freshman year in high school, when he missed an errant basketball pass and the ball grazed Ellen instead. A lifelong teacher, he gifted his students with wisdom and knowledge, and the example of what excellence should look like. Ade’s passion for applying numbers for the improvement of people’s lives guided how and what he taught. His mastery of his discipline was externally recognized with many significant awards and, more importantly to him, emails and thank you’s from his former students. He always enjoyed the countless chance encounters with former students and others he knew while essentially anywhere in the world, such as talking to a former student who was in the elevator with him to the top of the Eiffel Tower. With his meticulous memory, Ade never forgot a student’s name, and he easily addressed any former student he met by name years after they had graduated. These encounters brought him such joy.
Ade was raised near Benwood, on his family farm as the only child of Opal and Alvin Neidermeyer. He was a lifelong Mountaineer and fan of all West Virginia University sports, and held season tickets to football, basketball, and baseball. Many looked for his gold-and-blue striped sweater at the Mountaineer games, particularly behind the home team’s basket in the Coliseum. Singing Take Me Home, Country Roads after his alma mater’s victories was special to Ade and his family over his fifty years of attending events. A shared love of sport and travel guided many of his recreational pursuits with Ellen and his family, including a special trip to the Cancun Challenge in 2019 to support the WVU men’s and women’s basketball teams.
Ade was devoted to his wife and their daughters and sons-in-law; Presha and Davide, and Mandy and Jay; and to his grandchildren, Eliza Grace and Jack August. He shared many adventures with his family, from car trips spent listening to John Denver on an 8-track tape, to visiting various places in the world. A special trip was one to the castles of Ireland. Never, though, did he venture willingly for long from his home among the hills. He and Ellen were engaged in providing care to their aging parents until their ultimate passing.
Christmas was a treasured time for him through the years. Every December 24, he read “The Night Before Christmas” to the family. His love for sweets was also a constant. He loved his chocolate chip cookies and had a running joke with Eliza and Jack about the maximum cookies allowed to be consumed in a day. Three was the cap, any more than that would turn someone into a “wackadoo.” Because of this, many laughs were shared in the family when “wackadoo” entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 2014.
In addition to the thousands of students he educated while teaching at WVU for 42 years, Ade served his community as a board member for First Exchange Bank and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and on various committees for Wesley United Methodist Church. He was widely sought after for his cogent and insightful financial advice.
A proud Mountaineer undergraduate, he completed his graduate education at Ohio State University and the University of Iowa. He served his country in the transportation core of the US Army actively during the years 1969–71, and was deployed to Vietnam, later serving in the reserves.
Ade spent much of his retirement traveling, tending to flowers, and listening to music, along with reading tons of mystery-suspense novels on the back porch while the birds sang around him. Another of his favorite pastimes, home improvement projects, was a full-time hobby. He also enjoyed lively games of dominoes, Scrabble, and Clue with the whole family. In addition to games, Ade loved to chat with everyone over Sunday lunches and big family meals.
His family gratefully requests that memorial gifts be made in his memory to encourage students in excellence in accounting through the WVU Foundation to the Professor Adolph A. Neidermeyer Scholarship or the Adolph Neidermeyer Honorary Travel Fund account, 1 Waterfront Pl 7th floor, Morgantown, WV 26501. Ade appreciated all of the donations that were made to these charities during his lifetime.
Forever a Mountaineer…
A celebration-of-life service will be held at the WVU Erickson Alumni Centeron at 2 p.m. Wednesday, June 14. Following the memorial service, friends will be received at the WVU Erickson Alumni Center, 1 Alumni Drive, Morgantown.
He will be laid to rest at the National Cemetery in Grafton with full military honors at a later date.
Hastings Funeral Home has been entrusted with services.
Condolences:
www.hastingsfuneralhome.com
