Obituary for Samuel L. Boothroyd, in The Ithaca Journal, Apr 05 1965

"Samuel L. Boothroyd of 311 Roat St., professor emeritus of astronomy at Cornell University, died at his home Sunday morning, April 4, 1965. He was 90 years old. He had been in good health all his life, and attended a meeting of Senior Citizens Saturday afternoon.

A member of the Cornell faculty since 1921, he retired and received the emeritus title in 1942. In his long and varied career, he had taught mathematics, civil engineering, astronomy and navigation, and he led several scientific expeditions.

Professor Boothroyd was active in many community groups and was a leader in the early years of the Cooperative Consumers Society which operates the Co-op Food Store. He also was active in Senior Citizens, First Congregational Church and the Reconstruction Home.

He was born in Larimer County, Colo., the son of the late Edith and Philip H. Boothroyd. He was graduated from Colorado Agricultural College in 1893, with a degree in irrigation engineering.

He met Alice Bell, formerly of Dover, N.H., while she was a schoolteacher in Loveland, Colo., and they were married on Jan. 12, 1898. They celebrated their 65th anniversary in 1963.

For short periods Professor Boothroyd was a professor of mathematics, assistant at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz., and worked on his father's ranch. After graduate work at the University of Colorado and Chicago and at Colorado Agricultural, he received a master's degree from the latter institution in 1904. He then became a professor of physics at Colorado A&M College, Fort Collins.

He came to Cornell in 1904 as an instructor in civil engineering and later was named assistant professor.

The Boothroyds left Ithaca for Seattle in 1912, when he was named professor of mathematics and astronomy at the University of Washington. He became head of the Astronomy Department in 1912. They returned to Ithaca when Cornell named him professor of astronomy in 1921.

During summers and sabbatic leaves, Professor Boothroyd surveyed and mapped a portion of Southeast Alaska, directed field work for the Harvard-Cornell Meteor Expedition to Flagstaff in 1931-32, directed the 1933 Cornell expedition to secure ultraviolet spectra of typical stars, and made early observations on the velocities of telescopic meteors.

He also has worked on aurora research with Carl W. Gartlein of the Cornell physics faculty, and taught navigation in naval training schools at Washington and Cornell during World Wars I and II.
...
He is survived by his wife, Alice B. Boothroyd; a brother, Arnold Boothroyd of Loveland, Col.; two sons, Robert S. Boothroyd of Ithaca and Philip D. Boothroyd of Sparta, N.J.; two daughters, Mrs. Lucy B. Abbe of St. Paul, Minn., and Mrs. Mary Alice Hemstreet of Baton Rouge, La.; 12 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren.

A Memorial Service will be held at the Forest Home Chapel at a date to be announced later."