Daniel Rubinstein

Dr. Daniel Rubinstein of Bowie, Maryland, formerly of Athens, West Virginia, died on August 24, 2015 at Elsie’s Place assisted living facility. He was 86. He is survived by: wife Virginia Rubinstein of Bowie, MD; sister Trudy Rubinstein and brother-in-law Leonard Fellman of Berkeley, CA; children, Diane Rubinstein and David Anderson of Bowie, MD, Amy Rubinstein and Aaron Lion of Bethesda, MD, Wendy and Rafael Cordero of Bedford, MA, Douglas and Gail Rubinstein of Saratoga Springs, NY, Michael and Valda Rubinstein of Ashburn, VA; 13 grandchildren, Andrea and Emily Anderson, Madeline Lion, Alexander, Justin, Melanie and Brandon Cordero, Jack, Harry, Benjamin, and Lucy Rubinstein, and Kevin and Nicholas Rubinstein Dr. Rubinstein was born in New York, New York on January 15, 1929 to the late Sarah and Jacob Rubinstein. He served in the United States Navy for two years and was honorably discharged in 1948. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in 1958 where he met his wife. He went on to complete his Ph.D. in biophysics at Illinois in 1964. His thesis involved the study of photosynthesis in algae. Dr. Rubinstein worked as a research scientist in the field of aging at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland for three years before taking a job as an Assistant Professor of Biology at Concord College in Athens, West Virginia in 1969. He later taught biology, chemistry and physics at Bluefield High School in Bluefield, West Virginia from 1983-1991. Throughout his life, Dr. Rubinstein enjoyed teaching and learning new things. He taught all of his children how to read, taught himself to build one of the first personal computers in the 1970’s, and explored economics and software development. He started running long distance during the 1980’s and competed in the Pumpkin Run 10K at Pipestem State Park for many years. Services were held at Mishkan Torah synagogue in Greenbelt, Maryland on Sunday, August 30.