Roland Walter Schmitt (July 24, 1923 – March 31, 2017 ) was an American physicist, business executive and the sixteenth president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was born on July 24, 1923, in Seguin, Texas to Walter L. Schmitt and Myrtle F. (Caldwell) Schmitt. On June 2, 1951, he married Alice V. Calhoun (b. February 12, 1930) and they had two sons: Lorenz (b. 1952) and Brian (b. 1954). Alice died on July 17, 1956. He later married Claire F. Kunz (b. July 11, 1928 d. July 11, 2017) on September 19, 1957; they had two children: Alice (b. 1958) and Henry (b. 1961).