ELMSFORD, N.Y. (December 1, 2011) - New Jersey PGA Hall of Famer and two-time Met Open runner-up Stan Mosel passed away on Thanksgiving Day at his residence in Myrtle Beach, S.C. He was 79.

Mosel was a fixture on the Met Area golf scene for more than half a century, first as a player and then as a long-tenured head professional at two prominent area clubs. Some of his earliest golf accomplishments, however, came in Texas. He was a member of the legendary North Texas State College golf team, which won four straight NCAA championships from 1949 through 1952. In the 1952 U.S. Open at Northwood Club in Dallas, Stan set what was then the all-time back nine championship scoring record by firing a 31 while still a member of his college team.

After college, Mosel played on the PGA Tour in the 1950s and '60s and went on to qualify for eight more U.S. Opens and four PGA Championships. After winning the 1955 New Jersey Open, he began a 20-year tenure as the head professional at Essex Fells Country Club in Essex Fells, N.J., in 1976. During that time, he was the New Jersey PGA champion in 1956 and 1967 and the Ballantine Open champion in 1961 and 1962. He also won the 1965 Dodge Open.

Mosel's best showings in MGA championships were his runner-up finishes at both the 1966 Met Open Championship, held at Mountain Ridge, and the 1967 Met Open at Winged Foot.

In 1977, Mosel became the head professional at Burning Tree Country Club in Greenwich, Connecticut, where he remained until his retirement in 2002. As a senior player, Mosel qualified for the 1982 and 1984 U.S. Senior Opens and was the 1982 Metropolitan Senior PGA champion. He was twice awarded the Met PGA Professional of the Year Award.

In 2000, Stan was inducted into the New Jersey PGA Hall of Fame (plaque, right). 

Much more than his accomplishments and machine-like precision on the golf course, Stan will be remembered as a loving husband, father and grandfather, patient instructor and humble gentleman to all. He will be dearly missed by his wife, Maria Palmer-Mosel; sons Billy, Richard, Tim and Jim; daughter Sally Ann; grandchildren Jim, Tracy, Ricky, Michael, James and Jennifer; and great-grandchildren Owen, Jeremy and Hannah. He is also survived by his brother Louis, sister Regina and stepsons Jason and William Lustig.

In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations in Stan Mosel's name to the New Jersey Golf Foundation, 255 Old New Brunswick Road, Suite 100 South, Piscataway, NJ 08854.