George L. Kramer

George LeRoy Kramer, Jr., 82, of Idaho Falls, passed away May 26, 2026, at Fairwinds-Sand Creek Retirement Community.

George was born an only child on May 18, 1944, in Greenfield, Missouri, to George L. Kramer Sr. and Mary Zumwalt Kramer. Fortunately, George Sr. was one of eight siblings so George grew up with a huge and loving set of uncles, aunts, and cousins. He attended school in Greenfield and graduated from Washington University with a B.A. in Chemistry in 1966. It was at Washington University that he met and married his first wife, Susan Lamkin. They had a son, Tim Kramer, born in 1964.

After graduating from WU, he attended Purdue University where he received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry. He then went on to Vanderbilt University where he was a Research Assistant Professor at the Department of Pharmacology, University School of Medicine then Adjunct Assistant Professor. His tenure at Vanderbilt spanned from 1974 to 1982. In 1976, George and Susan divorced.

It was in the Department of Pharmacology that he met Susie Vance and they began their relationship. Originally, they planned to simply entertain their children, but the relationship quickly became romantic. Susie and George dated for seven years before deciding to tie the knot. On January 1, 1984, he married Susie in Nashville, Tennessee, at the Second Presbyterian Church, much to the relief of their children.

George went on to work as a consultant, an Adjunct Instructor at FEMA, Emergency Management Institute, and Director of the Hazardous Materials Training Institute at the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, Hazardous Materials Specialist, all in Nashville.

In 1991, he and Susie moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where he began work as a Staff Scientist at Analysas, where he was a Hazardous and Radioactive Materials Emergency Response Consultant for the Department of Energy.

In 1997, George and Susie moved to Idaho Falls where George worked as an Adjunct Assistant Professor for the University of Idaho, Hazardous Materials Program where he provided technical support to the INEEL Transportation Planning and Integration program.

He held multiple consulting positions and provided design and presentation of radiological emergency response training for trainers and responders. His favorite training partner and co-conspirator was Phil Rieke. They were very similar in their mindsets and ability to teach which made their classes considerably less dull than one would expect when dealing with radioactive materials and the logistics of transport.

All of this is interesting factually, but it doesn't really express the true brilliance of who George was. He had been a basketball star at Washington University and continued to love the game. He particularly enjoyed watching women's basketball as multiple members of the Kramer clan had or were coaches for the Columbus Quest and others. He had an excellent and goofy sense of humor, loved puns, and was whip smart (please see above). He was a devoted family man. He loved to golf and really enjoyed the physics of the sport as well as the opportunity to walk in the park, as he said. He was competitive, but not to the detriment of other players.

He had a series of cats: Bean in Oak Ridge, Gigi (for George's Girl) and Bebe, who all loved to sit on his head and to whom he was devoted. Susie also came with a variety of dogs to whom he was equally devoted - most recently Duke and Zoey.

George was an exceptional man; a loving father, generous, kind, incredibly intelligent, a ringer at Jeopardy and poker. He was a man of integrity and compassion. We will miss him terribly.

George is survived by his daughter, Cynthia (Mark Pichel) Snow of Palo Alto, CA; son, Tim J. Kramer of Santa Rosa Beach, FL; his grandchildren, Heather and Alex Pichel of Portland, OR; and Theo and Eleanor, his great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Susie Kramer; parents, George and Mary Mildred Kramer; and son, Rod G. Snow, Jr.

Private family services will be held at a later date in Greenfield, Missouri.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Dade County Public Library in Greenfield, Missouri.