Roland Schmitt

Roland Schmitt, a General Electric physicist who helped the company dominate the MRI market and later became president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, died Friday March 31 2017afternoon in Scotia at the age of 93. A native of Seguin, Texas, Schmitt graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in physics and mathematics and received his master's degree in physics in 1948, also from the University of Texas. After earning his doctorate in physics at Rice University in 1951, he joined General Electric as a research associate and became Chief Technology Officer at what is now GE Global Research, a role he held from 1978-86. After moving to the Schenectady area, Schmitt lived on Cedar Lane in Glenville and then on Riverview Road in Rexford. He had most recently been living at Coburg Village in Rexford with his wife, Claire. His oldest son, Larry, who lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said he and his three siblings have many happy memories of hiking in the Adirondacks and boating on Lake George with their father. Along with his oldest son and wife, Schmitt is survived by sons Bryan (Colorado Springs) and Henry (Pittsburgh), and a daughter, Alice Burnham (Salem, Oregon).