ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
Israeli Engineer Traces Career to RCC Education
D
avid Alexander ’77 remembers
getting sage advice from his
math professor at RCC, Robert
Burghardt, that echoed across later
chapters in his life as a master sergeant
in the Israeli Armed Forces and senior
engineer for a Jerusalem-based optics
production company of global stature.
When Burghardt’s students were stumped
by a problem he posted on the blackboard,
he would tell them, “Let’s pretend we don’t
know anything.” That philosophy, Alexander
says, has been quite useful in treating any
problem in life. “If you get lost, go back to
where you are sure of yourself.”
Certain that engineering was his
forte, Alexander used his AAS degree in
Engineering Science from RCC to propel
him toward a long and successful career
with Ophir Optics, specializing in the
production of complex optical systems for
infrared thermal lenses and ultra-precise
mirrors. Ophir’s advanced products are used
worldwide, perhaps most prominently for
the Patriot missile air and defense system.
After graduating from RCC in 1977,
Alexander immigrated to Israel and
served for two and a half years as a tank
commander for the Merkava Main Battle
Tank Squadron, a select group of fewer than
100 tanks, and saw action in the Peace for
the Galilee War, now referred to as the First
Lebanon War. He earned a BS in Physics/
Electro Optics Engineering in 1987 from
the Jerusalem College of Technology (now
known as Lev Academic Center), which
accepted all of his degree-related RCC
credits.
Alexander and his wife are the proud
parents of five daughters and two sons, and
take great delight in a “growing brood” of
grandchildren.
Of his educatio n at RCC, Spring Valley
native Alexander says simply, “My tenure at
RCC prepared me well for life.”
Trail-Blazing Alumna Keeps Returning to RCC
Willie R. Thompson ‘87, of Spring Valley,
always seems to find a good reason to return
to Rockland Community College, and this
petite outspoken alumna is a true trail-
blazer.
As one of the few women to earn an
AAS in Electrical Technology she was
immediately recruited by IBM to work as
a Customer Engineer, where she worked
for several years before moving on to
the Edwin Gould Academy (formerly
Lakeside) for 13 years. Thompson smiles
and laughs while reminiscing about her
glory days playing softball for RCC and
being the only woman in her electrical
engineering classes. She says the students
really bonded and offers praise to their
instructor, Morton Leifer, who was “the best
teacher I ever had… I aced his classes out!”
Through the years, Thompson returned
for additional classes several times and
since 2009 has been on the RCC campus
as a volunteer with the Retired Senior
Volunteer Program (RSVP). Thompson
recently volunteered for several weeks
as an administrative assistant for the
College’s office of Institutional Research
and Effectiveness. Her commitment to
illness.
If you are lucky enough to meet her, ask
this gifted and engaging story-teller about
her early days at RCC and IBM or even
about the hassles each September when
teachers questioned her real name being
Willie. Named in honor of her father, who
encouraged and pushed her to continue her
education, she remembers him saying she
had to “get the ring,” meaning the one you
get when you graduate, something he had
not had the opportunity to do.
Another generation of Thompson’s family
is now woven into the fabric at Rockland
Community College as her grandson began
his studies in Fall 2017.
community service has also drawn her to
volunteer at United Hospice of Rockland
County ever since she saw the wonderful
care they provided during her father’s final
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