Martin William Moakler, Jr.

SLINGERLANDS - Dr. Martin William Moakler, Jr., Colonel, US Army (retired) passed away peacefully on Friday, November 8, 2024. Marty was born in 1951 in Troy, NY, to Martin and Lillian (Mott) Moakler. He grew up in Loudonville, where he lived the typical life of a suburban boy in the 1950s. He attended Christian Brothers Academy (CBA) where he made lifelong friends and excelled in both academics (finishing 3rd in his class) and in sports, lettering in football and track, and making the All Albany football teams in 1967 and 1968.

Marty was appointed to the US Military Academy at West Point, NY where he excelled in academics, especially in Physics and Computer Science and played B Squad football. He graduated in 1973 and commissioned as an officer in the Corps of Engineers. He proudly served in several Engineer units in Europe and the US, culminating in commanding the 169th Engineer Battalion at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He was also stationed at NORAD in Colorado Springs, CO as a computer programmer in the early 1980s and taught Physics at West Point. He retired in 2001 as a Colonel for the US Army Nuclear and Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction Agency (USANCA) in Alexandria, VA after 28 years of active-duty service and continued to serve as a civilian working Nuclear issues for the Army until 2018.

A true philomath, Marty earned Masters degrees from the University of Missouri at Rolla, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Virginia Commonweath University, and a Doctorate in Education from George Washington University. He spent his evenings helping countless college students achieve their goals, making statistics and computer science fun and understandable at education centers across military posts in the US and Korea. When not teaching, Marty served as a leader in community activities from scouts to sports, improving the lives of Families and Soldiers at every post he was stationed. 

Marty married Kathy Walsh, the love of his life, in 1973 just 10 days after graduating from West Point. They started their amazing 51-year journey stationed from Europe to Missouri to Colorado Springs to Watervliet Arsenal to Korea (alone) to Alexandria, Virginia and then, when the military adventure was over, they returned to the Albany area where they reconnected with old friends and their expanding families. They made an army of friends along the way and had many adventures. They were a team in everything they did.

Marty leaves behind his loving family: wife Kathleen Walsh Moakler, sons Martin W. Moakler III of Los Angeles, CA and Colonel Matthew J. Moakler and his wife Colleen, and daughter Maeve, of Alexandria, VA; daughter Colonel Megan Moakler and her wife Kirsten Stoddard and their children Jack and Maggie, of Alexandria, VA; Marty’s brother Timothy Moakler and his wife Beth of Cooperstown, NY. He was a beloved brother in law to the Walsh family and cherished uncle to many nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the VA Saratoga National Veterans Cemetery Support Committee (for beautification projects of the cemetery), 200 Duell Rd., Schuylerville NY 12871 or the American Heart Association www.heart.org.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Thursday, November 14th, at 9:30 a.m. in All Saints Catholic Church, 16 Homestead St, Albany (behind CVS). Relatives and friends are invited, and may call at the Hans Funeral Home, 1088 Western Ave., Albany on Wednesday from 4-7 p.m. Committal services with military honors will be in the Gerald B. H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery, Schuylerville, at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday. To leave a message of condolence for the family or obtain directions to the funeral home, please visit www.HansFuneralHome.com.