Remembering Alan Lizotte
** Please see the Sansone Funeral Home website for Professor Lizotte's official obituary and to leave a note of condolence or share a memory.
With deep sadness, we share news of Distinguished Professor Emeritus Alan Lizotte’s passing. Alan died suddenly on Monday, January 24 while doing what he loved most: teaching.
Alan joined the School of Criminal Justice in 1985. During his career in SCJ, he secured over $25 million in research funding, chaired more than 40 Ph.D. student committees, and served six years as Dean of the School. He retired in August 2021.
Shortly after his arrival at UAlbany, Alan collaborated with Terry Thornberry and Marv Krohn to found the Rochester Youth Development Study, which continues its important work to this day. His research on delinquency in the life course and firearms has had a tremendous influence in the discipline and on policy nationwide. In 2003, he and his co-authors won the American Society of Criminology’s Michael J. Hindelang Outstanding Book Award for Gangs and Delinquency in Developmental Perspective. The University recognized his exceptional research career with the 2009 President’s Award for Excellence in Research. He was named a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology in 2014 and promoted to Distinguished Professor in 2016.
Alan was extraordinarily dedicated to his students, advising them long after they had productive careers of their own. In 2014, he received the Bread and Roses Award for Excellence in Promoting Gender Equality, recognizing his mentorship of generations of women entering the field of criminology.
Alan served as Dean of the School between 2009 and 2015. While Dean, he navigated the School through the economic challenges posed by the Great Recession, all the while building a stronger relationship with University leadership and growing our endowment.
Alan’s passing will be felt profoundly by colleagues and students around the world. We will miss his dry wit and his entertaining tales of life, love, and the pursuit of scientific rigor.
Information regarding a memorial service will be shared in the coming days.