Alfred Kern
Alfred Kern (born Alfred Cohen, August 8, 1924 – June 2, 2009) was an American novelist and professor. Born in Alliance, Ohio, he served in the U.S. Army Air Forces from 1942 to 1946 during World War II. He legally changed his name to Alfred Kern in 1946. Kern graduated from Allegheny College in 1948 and New York University in 1954. He served as the Frederick F. Seely Professor of English at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, from the 1950s until his retirement in the mid-1980s. During the 1979–1980 academic year, Kern was distinguished visiting professor of English at  the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which inspired several articles relating the arts to the military. These were published in the USAF journals. During the 1980s, he experimented with writing poetry using computers with an Allegheny College colleague, James Sheridan. According to a family member, he lived in Pittsburgh after retiring from Allegheny for about 10 years (approximately 1987 to 1996), where he is still remembered. He died on June 2, 2009, in Wilmington, North Carolina.