Jose Rene Gonzales, 74, died on Wednesday, Oct. 21, at the Ft. Hudson Health Care Center in Ft. Edward after a long struggle with Alzheimers disease. Born on the King Ranch in (Kingsville) Texas, Renes poet-painter artistic spirit touched lives of many along his lifes journey. He grew up in Austin near the state capitol, served in the National Guard and the Army (1957-59) including duty in Korea. He attended the University of Texas at Austin and later took art courses at Cornell University while living in Ithaca. He was involved in off-Broadway productions in New York City for a time and also in high rise construction. He worked with the Whitney Museum and moved in circles that included Andy Warhol, Louise Nevelson, Morgan Freeman and others. Technical summer theater opportunities took him to Stowe, Vt., in 1967. Relocating to Schenectady in 1968, he helped assemble Spanish off-road motorcycles and, in partnership with the late Bill Kane, ran a small racing-related auto/bike business. In subsequent years, mtiers included glass-cutting and specialty window/door installation, general carpentry and electronics, picture-framing, creating auto rollbars, quality control in manufacturing, and making sculpture from found objects. With his wife of 41 years, Coral Crosman, who survives him, they formed Porphyrion Press in 1974 to print limited editions of her poetry. They moved to Clifton Park in 1970, settling in Middle Grove in 1976. Other survivors include their daughter, Heather Hochberg of Clifton Park (and partner, Ernest Ryan) and daughter Erica; Heathers son Alexander and daughter Sarah (and father, former spouse Jeffrey Hochberg of Waterford). Coral and Renes son Christopher Gonzales (and wife Jennifer Jolly) of Ithaca have two sons, Mateo and Joseph. Rene is survived by three sisters, Margaret Jeanne Martinez of San Antonio and Mary Wiley and Grace Guerra, both of Austin. He was predeceased by three younger brothers, Gus, Alex and Jaime, all of Austin. He is also survived by two daughters (Renee and Andrea) and a son (Mark Hougham), all of Texas, from his first marriage and a daughter, Olivia Bour Gonzales of St Louis and her mother, his second wife Angela Gonzales of Chicago. Rene has 12 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. Two older half-sisters, Yolanda and Dolores, Texas residents, also survive him. His first wife, Leila Smith, formerly of El Paso, predeceased him as did his parents, Manuela Villafuerte Gonzales and Jose Andres Gonzales of Austin. Rene remembered faces, names and people and they remembered him. Throughout the early course of the disease for which he was given a diagnosis (after a summer of testing) in 1991, he continued for some time with his daily New York Times crossword puzzle (in ink), only asking of his wife the French words. Those who cared for him over the 18-year course of his illness including his devoted aides who came into his home, his daycare program staff (under the auspices of Wesley Health Care Center) in Ballston Spa and later in Saratoga Springs as well as all those at Fort Hudson where he had much family from November 1997 until he reluctantly gave up the good fight that marked his character to the coreas he finally passed with slow, easeful breaths, his wife at his side, offspring, attendant Fort Hudson care-givers too numerous to name and all those whose presence guides the great junctures of biography. Relatives and friends may call from 1-2PM Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at the William J. Burke & Sons/Bussing & Cunniff Funeral Homes, 628 North Broadway, Saratoga Springs(584-5373). Burial will be in the Gerald B. H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery (Duell Road, Schuylerville). In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Renes memory may be directed to the Ft. Hudson Foundation, Ft. Edward, the Wesley Foundation in Saratoga Springs, or a regional Alzheimers Association chapter.