Alfons Jozef Claus of Marlborough, MA passed away on March 10, 2023 at the age of 90. Al was born on
May 21, 1932 to Willem and Bertha Claus in Lauwe, Belgium. He spent his early years enjoying his studies
in mathematics and physics and playing the flute in musical ensembles in his town. Through his interest
in music, he met his future wife, Marie-Jeanne, who played the piano in these ensemble. He went on to
study electrical engineering at the University of Ghent in Belgium, and then immigrated to the United States
to attend the University of Michigan, where he earned a PhD in Engineering Mechanics in 1961.
Al then started his first assignment at Bell Laboratories where he worked on orbit determination and prediction algorithms for the Telstar Experiment, the world’s first communication satellite. Al would work for Bell Labs throughout his distinguished career, earning recognition as an AT&T Bell Laboratories Fellow in 1988 for outstanding technical leadership and innovation in the area of signal processing.
After their wedding in Belgium in 1963, Al and Marie-Jeanne enjoyed living in New Jersey and then Virginia, welcoming three daughters and six grandchildren into their lives. They loved to travel back to Europe to visit family, or around the United States to visit with friends. Al had a great sense of adventure and deeply appreciated hiking in the National Parks, with Yosemite and Yellowstone as his favorites. Al and Marie-Jeanne enjoyed 53 years of marriage until she passed away in 2016.
Al retired in 1993, and spent the next thirty years traveling with friends and family, pursuing his interest in quantum mechanics, teaching himself to write embedded software, woodworking, reading, hiking and spending time with his children and grandchildren.
Most of all, Al will be remembered by his friends and family as a kind and loving father, a lifelong learner and a humble gentleman. He is survived by his daughter Heidi and her husband Duncan of Wellesley; his daughter Gretchen and her husband Bobby of Elmhurst, IL; his daughter Karen and her husband Brad of Miami, FL, and his grandchildren, Alex, Marijke, Annelise, Cole, Kyra and Maddie. He will be missed by all who knew him.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held May 20 th at 10am in St. John the Evangelist Church, 9 Glen
Road, Wellesley, MA, followed by a private interment in Woodlawn Cemetery.