Dr. Karsten Pohl beloved husband, father, brother, son, uncle, professor, and friend to everyone he met, died suddenly on October 13, 2021. He was 59.

Karsten was born in Bielefeld, Germany on May 25,1962 to Karl-Heinz and Ingeborg Pohl. On May 19, 1991 he married JoAnn Adinolfi, the love of his life, whom he met in 1987 on the Staten Island Ferry. Karsten studied at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich and received his PhD in Physics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997.

In 2000, he joined the faculty of the University of New Hampshire Department of Physics. This accomplishment was a dream come true and Karsten treated this position with the utmost care, respect and responsibility it deserved. He took great pride in supporting and mentoring his students on their successful paths to higher education in all fields especially physics. He served as chair of the department for five years.

Karsten had a brilliant mind: give him a problem and he could solve it, give him a broken toaster, bicycle or computer and he could fix it. He took pride in renovating his family home with his late father-in-law, James Adinolfi, and treasured the carpentry skills he acquired from him.

Karsten was a man of the utmost honesty and integrity. He knew how to live well. He saw the good in all. He had a dry and quick sense of humor and exuberant love of life. He was a provider who loved his family above anything else.  If you needed Karsten, he was there.  He always was ready to hop on a plane or in a car to get to those who needed him.  Karsten always went the extra mile; no distance was too far to visit a friend or family member; no occasion was too small to celebrate. He never forgot a birthday or an anniversary and joyfully organized events for students and faculty of the physics department. He loved his job and joyfully attended each and every open house at the university to introduce new students to the wonderful world of physics, his world.

Every Sunday morning the table was set, the coffee ground, music played and the family gathered to eat. He could cook a perfect egg.  He knew how to keep families and friends together over long distances of time and space. Karsten was handsome, loved to travel, hike in the Alps, drink wine in Italy and Ouzu in Greece, smoke cigars in the Caribbean, and kayak in the Florida Everglades He was an avid fan of his beloved hometown soccer team, Arminia Bielefeld, and most of all, where there was beer, Karsten was joyfully found.  
He was good through and through and his goodness was contagious.  In the case of Karsten Pohl, the saying was indeed true that there was not a bad bone in his body. His greatest pride was being Hans and Gemma’s father.  His greatest pleasure was spending time with his family. He organized party games, hid Easter eggs, baked cakes for birthdays, and German specialties for Christmas.  He even made jam from the grapes and berries his wife grew in their backyard and lovingly presented her with a bouquet of peonies, her favorite flower, each year without fail on their wedding anniversary.

He will be profoundly missed by his wife of 30 years, JoAnn, his daughter, Gemma and son, Hans, parents Karl-Heinz and Ingeborg, sister, Sabine, and brother-in-law Gianpiero, niece and nephew, Marta and Enrico, mother-in-law, Josephine, brother and sister-in-law in law, James and Mary and niece, Gabrielle, and sister and brother-in-law Donna and Douglas. He leaves behind an international group of friends and colleagues in the thousands, who mourn the loss of the man who touched their lives with boundless generosity and good will.
The Adinolfi-Pohl family has established the Dr. Karsten Pohl Scholarship Fund at the University of New Hampshire as a memorial tribute.

Memorial gifts can be made to:
The Dr. Karsten Pohl Scholarship Fund
c/o The University of New Hampshire Foundation, Inc.
9 Edgewood Road,
Durham, NH 03824
Or  Give Online
Scroll down and click “Other” and note the Dr. Karsten Pohl Scholarship
 TID: 02-0437506

James Salvatore Adinolfi, beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, and friend to everyone he met, died peacefully on May 3, 2020 at his home on Staten Island. He was 87. 

James was born on September 25, 1932 to Annette and Amello Adinolfi.  He served his nation proudly as a member of the United States Navy during the Korean War. On May 7, 1955 he married Josephine Tallarido, whom he adored and always described as the most beautiful woman in the room. James worked as a skilled draftsman and engineer for M.H. Dietrich, Nichols Engineering and I.T. Corporation. He retired at the age of 65. 

James had a brilliant and creative mind; give him a problem and he could solve it.  He was a master carpenter who transformed all of his children’s fixer uppers into beautiful jewel boxes.  He took pride in his garden and loved his wife’s excellent Italian cooking. He declared that every meal she made was the best he had ever eaten.

James was a man of honesty and integrity.  He had a great sense of humor and love of life. He was a provider who loved his family above anything else.  He was handsome and a gifted conversationalist. His greatest pride was being Hans, Gemma and Gabrielle’s Poppy. His greatest pleasure was spending time with his grandchildren fishing, laughing, building fences for secret gardens, organizing party games or sitting together watching Jeopardy. 

He will be profoundly missed by his wife of almost 65 years, Josephine, his daughter Donna Marie and husband, Doug, daughter JoAnn and husband, Karsten, (deceased 2021), his son James and wife, Mary, his three grandchildren, brothers, Emil and Benjamin and sister, Ann, extended family and dear friends.  His sister, Rosemarie, predeceased him.