1920s
1922 | Dr. William S. Jones GM’22, Menominee, Mich., a retired physician; Aug. 12.
1926 | Myron V. Harrison C’26, Philadelphia, Dec. 19.
1927 | Dr. James A. Paradisi D’27, Boynton Beach, Fla., a retired dentist who had practiced in Wilmington, Del., for 50 years; Dec. 11.
1928 | William D. Huyler W’28, Chapel Hill, N.C., March 25, 2005.
Evelyn Brod Savran FA’28, Boulder City, Nev., Dec. 28. Her sister is Leanore Brod Hirsch Ed’39.
Catherine R. Valgenti Ed’28, New Vernon, N.J., Dec. 31, 2004.
1929 | Gladys I. Tantaquidgeon CCT’29, Uncasville, Conn., a medicine woman of the Mohegan tribe and its oldest living member; Nov. 1. Born in 1899, she was a 10th-generation descendant of Uncas, the famed Mohegan chief. In 1919 she began studying anthropology at the University with Dr. Frank Speck, who in the early 1900s spent summers researching the Native American tribes and dialects of Connecticut. She lived with his family while taking classes at Penn. In 1934 she was hired by the U.S. government to administer new educational privileges under the Wheeler-Howard Act. A year later she became a social worker on the Yankton Sioux reservation in South Dakota. She then worked as an arts specialist for the Federal Indian Arts and Crafts Board, and did research on and preservation of ancient artistic techniques in the Dakotas, Montana, and Wyoming. By 1940 she was the librarian at the state women’s prison in Niantic, Conn.: She felt that her work with families on reservations had sensitized her to the needs of women in difficult situations. She left government service in 1947 to work full-time as a curator in the Tantaquidgeon Indian Museum in Uncasville, which she and her brother Harold (the tribe’s former chief) had founded in 1931. One of the oldest museums owned and operated by Native Americans, it emphasizes the tribe’s philosophy that “you can’t hate someone that you know a lot about.” She continued to work at there full time until 1998. Knowledgeable in Native American herbal-medicine practices and folklore, Gladys Tantaquidgeon wrote four books, including Folk Medicine of the Delaware and Related Algonkian Indians (1942, last reprinted in 1995). Although she disapproved of games of chance, she quelled her misgivings for the financial good of her people, and in 1996 gave permission for the Mohegans to build the Mohegan Sun casino. The tribe benefits with college scholarships, a home for the elderly, and other projects. A life-size (4’ 11”) statue of her stands inside the casino’s doorway. She received honorary doctorates from Yale University and the University of Connecticut.
Cornelia P. Weirick Ed’29, Northumberland, Pa., Oct. 10.
1930s
1930 | Dr. William C. Heugh W’30 GEd’35, Stuart, Fla., a retired educator and administrator; Nov. 2. At Penn he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. After spending several years on Wall Street during the Depression, he taught high school in Penns Grove and Bernardsville, N.J.; later he served as a guidance counselor and vice principal of Montclair High School and supervising principal of Essex Fells Schools in New Jersey and the Edgemont Schools in Scarsdale, N.Y. He was superintendent of schools in Roselle, N.J., and Port Jefferson, N.Y., before retiring in 1973. He remained an avid investor throughout his life. During World War II he was an officer in the U.S. Naval Air Combat Intelligence and served aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S.Independence in the Pacific. During the Korean War he was a lieutenant commander and air intelligence instructor for the U.S. Naval Reserves.
1931 | C. Edwin Ireland W’31, Lancaster, Pa., Nov. 22.
Verna Fleming Marvin Ed’31, Gladwyne, Pa., May 12, 2005.
1932 | Frank William Carr C’32 L’35, Palm Beach, Fla., a retired attorney for the DuPont Co., specializing on oil and gas exploration in Texas and in France; Dec. 15. He served in the U.S. Navy, 1943-45, and remained in the Naval Reserves until 1949. A Naval aviator, he taught French pupils how to fly; one of his students was Phillipe de Gaulle, the son of General Charles de Gaulle.
1933 | Mary Hulton Armour Ed’33, Greensboro, N.C., June 19, 2005.
Leonard N. Block W’33, New York, the retired chair and chief executive of the Block Drug Company, and a former treasurer of Lincoln Center; Nov. 9. After college he joined his family’s pharmaceutical business, which had been started by his immigrant father with a single drugstore in Brooklyn in 1907. He eventually rose to chair the company, helping to build into an international business that made well-known products such as Sensodyne toothpaste, Poli-Grip denture adhesive, and Nytol sleeping tablets. In 2001 the family sold the company to GlaxoSmithKline. A board member of Lincoln Center, he served as its treasurer for many years, into the 1980s. He served on the board of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York, and chaired its distribution committee. He was a founder of the Jewish Association for Services for the Aged. During the Rockefeller administration, he served as a supervisory board member of the New York State Division of Social Welfare. His wife is Adele Goldberg Block CW’38.
Marjorie Stryke Howe Ed’33, Centennial, Colo., November.
Edward S. Landreth C’33, New York, the retired executive vice president of Sterling Products International; Sept. 26.
Leo G. Lenhoff WEv’33, Wilmington, Del., Sept. 11.
Dr. O. Norris Smith M’33 GM’37, Greensboro, N.C., a retired physician; Oct. 25, 2004.
Ralph Williams C’33, Santa Fe, N.M., Nov. 21.
Herman Wolf W’33, Shelton, Conn., a nartioal public relations figure who was also prominent in Connecticut politics for decades; Oct. 6. At Penn he was an active member of the Socialist party. From 1933 to 1941 he was a labor newspaper editor and publicity agent, writing articles, speeches, press releases, and the like for such organizations as the Textile Workers Union, the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, and the American Labor Party. He also edited weekly newspapers, including the New York Journal of Commerce, and wrote articles for Time and The Nation. He operated his own public relations firm in New York, 1937-41. During World War II he directed labor-public relations for the British Management-Labor Commission, wrote a war handbook entitled Labor Defends America, promoted U.S. War Bonds for the Treasury Department, and directed the staff of the War Production Board. He then spent two years as a staff director for the Fuller Houses, Inc., in Wichita, Kan., a corporation created to promote the building of R. Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion Dwelling Machine (the Fuller House), thus beginning a long association with Fuller. In 1946 he moved to Connecticut and began a public-relations firm, Herman Wolf Associates, which served more than 100 clients ranging from prominent labor unions to big businesses and nonprofits. His clients included United Technologies, Guinness Stout, the Ford Foundation, the NAACP, and the American Shakespeare Festival. From 1947 to 1950 he was editor of several of the supplements for the Sunday edition of The Bridgeport Herald, which spurred his involvement in democratic politics in the state. He was a chief campaign aide in the successful gubernatorial campaigns of Abe Ribicoff in 1954 and 1958, John Dempsey in 1966, and Ella Grasso in 1974. He was an executive aide to Governor Ribicoff, 1955-58, and participated in his successful campaigns for U.S. Senate in 1962 and 1968. He actively participated in numerous campaigns for Senate, Congress, state legislature, and municipal office for more than 30 years, and met seven U.S. presidents. In 1972 he briefly closed his public relations firm in order to become executive vice president of the Design Science Institute of Washington, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the philosophy and works of Buckminster Fuller. He had been working on a book about Fuller, whom he had known for 40 years.
1934 | Irving Slosberg Castle W’34, Palm Beach, Fla., former co-owner and operator of Lehigh Oil Company, the largest oil, gasoline, and propane distributor in eastern Connecticut; Oct. 29. He and a brother operated the company, which later included the Chucky’s Convenience Store chain, from the 1930s until his retirement. The business was partially sold in the 1950s, with a final sale in 1982.
Eugene C. Devol W’34, Newtown Square, Pa., Dec. 10. His son is Eugene C. Devol Jr. WG’64.
Dr. Albert H. Rudner D’34, New York, a retired dentist; Dec. 10.
E. Stewart Williams GAr’34, Palm Springs, Calif., an architect whose 50-year career influenced the style, Desert Modern; Sept. 10. He taught at Bard College for several years before traveling to Scandinavia, where he was influenced by the architects Gunnar Asplund and Alvar Alto. He began his professional career in the office of famed designer Raymond Loewy, who assigned him to work on the 1939 New York World’s Fair. By 1943 he was designing ships for the U.S. Navy; after World War II he joined his father’s architectural firm in Palm Springs. On May 1, 1947, he received a commission (his first) from Frank Sinatra to design and build a Georgian-style mansion in time for Sinatra’s Christmas party. Williams presented the singer with two drawings: One in the Georgian style, the other a single-story structure of glass, wood, and stone that harmonized with its desert setting and offered panoramic views of the surrounding mountains. Sinatra selected the modern design; the house, which became known as Twin Palms, featured a swimming pool shaped like a grand piano. Williams went on to design numerous structures in the region, including the Temple Isaiah, which won an award from the American Institute of Architects in 1949. In the 1950s and 1960s he completed several commissions for local banks and designed the mountain station for the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. His largest project was the campus for Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa, where he transformed a hilly site into a flowing series of terraces. His most famous work, as well as his personal favorite, was the Palm Springs Desert Museum, which opened in 1976; in 1993 he came out of retirement to design a new wing for the building. His residential work, some of which has been demolished, includes the Edris House, which was designated a historic building by the Palm Springs City Council in 2004. He also designed a vacation home in Rancho Mirage for Ralph Kiner, a Hall of Fame baseball player and longtime New York Mets announcer. Known for his meticulous attention to all aspects of a project, he “was concerned with integrating his homes into the building site,” said Michael J. Stern, author of a book on Williams. “He was an artist, a skilled watercolorist, and was able to work various textures against one another—wood, stone, concrete—to create a harmonious whole.”
1935 | Theodore S. Fetter CE’35, Haverford, Pa., a retired executive of the Philadelphia Electric Co. (now Peco); Sept. 30. Following his retirement he served as a consultant to the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies, the University’s placement services, and the Committee to Support the Philadelphia Public Schools. A civic leader and active community volunteer, he was a member of the executive committee of the University City Science Center and chaired the Philadelphia Foundation’s board of managers, among many other efforts. He was former vice president of the Citizens’ Crime Commission of the Delaware Valley. He was a volunteer with Penn’s University Camps and Jefferson Hospice. And he served as an elder at the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church. He received the Alumni Award Merit in 1978. A lifelong athlete, he was a champion tennis player and avid skier. One of his sons is John B. Fetter WG’81, whose wife is Dr. Marilyn Sweeney Fetter GNu’79 GrNu’85; their children are Katherine E. Fetter C’03 W’03 and John T. Fetter C’08.
Edward L. Foley Ed’35 GEd’62, Frederica, Del., April 30, 2005.
Michael J. Franco WEv’35, Miami, a retired certified public accountant; May 1, 2004.
Theodore H. Friedenberg C’35 W’39, Clifton Heights, Pa., May 6, 2005.
Leon Greenberg CE’35, Abington, Pa., April 21, 2005.
Isabella Sellers Koons CW’35, Roswell, Ga., Nov. 14, 2004.
1936 | Samuel M. Cohn C’36, Falls Church, Va., the retired assistant director of budget review for the Office of Management and Budget; Dec. 15. After attending Penn on a merit scholarship, he began his government career working at the War Production Board and the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion. He joined the then-named Bureau of the Budget in 1947 and worked his way through the ranks to be appointed assistant director of budget review in 1966. Monitoring billions of dollars in federal spending, he came to be known as “Mr. Budget,” but jokingly referred to himself as “the S.O.B. of the B.O.B.” During his tenure he won praise for his skillful touch and collaborative efforts in working with agency heads and lawmakers, including Sen. William Proxmire, with whom he shared both the same birth and death dates. After retiring in 1973 he became a senior associate and later vice president of Robert R. Nathan Associates, a Washington economic consulting firm, where he directed economic development and government budget projects as well as statistical and economic surveys. His professional honors include the Rockefeller Public Service Award and the Budget Bureau’s highest honor, the Exceptional Service Award. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army’s Finance Division in Germany.
H. Hunter Lott Jr. C’36, Bryn Mawr, Pa., the retired executive assistant to the CEO of the Philadelphia Electric Co. (now Peco) and a fundraiser for Penn’s athletic programs; Oct. 29. He worked for the electric company for 48 years, retiring in 1984. He served on the boards of the Philadelphia Crime Prevention Association, Bryn Mawr Hospital, and the Big Brothers Association. A lifelong aficionado of racquet sports, he won the 1949 National Squash Championship. Between 1938 and 1953 he won eight doubles national championships (five with Bill Slack and three with Diehl Mateer), such that he is considered by many to be the greatest right-wall doubles-squash player of the 20th century. Following his retirement he became a volunteer with the University’s racquet programs, where he worked raising money, mentoring athletes, and even taking over the women’s tennis program for a short time. Tennis courts in front of the Palestra are named in his honor. He was among the inaugural group inducted into Penn’s Tennis Hall of Fame in 1997 and its Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999. For decades he was involved with youth programs at the Merion Cricket Club, which he also served as president; in 1974 the local junior tournament was renamed in his honor. “He was not only helpful but inspiring,” said Jim Zug, a onetime squash Junior National Champion. “He was one of the greats, and he would come in and push us, make us work and make us learn.” He was president of the U.S. Squash Racquets Association, 1953-4 and was honored with its President’s Cup in 1970. He was among the first players elected to the United States Squash Hall of Fame in 2000. During World War II he served as a captain in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps and saw combat in North Africa, Sicily, and France, where he participated in the D-Day invasion. His son is H. Hunter Lott III C’65.
1937 | Helen Rachmell Bell Ed’37, Philadelphia, Nov. 6. Two of her daughters are Joan Bell Winkelman CW’64 and Emily Bell Lowe CW’73, whose husband is Dr. David A. Lowe W’71 M’75. Her sister is Louise Rachmell Weiss Ed’47 and her sister-in-law is Roslyn Bell Hauser Ed’38 GEd’39, whose son is Dr. James D. Hauser C’65 Gr’73.
Henry H. Dils Jr. W’37, Parkersburg, W.V., April 8, 2005.
George M. Harbeson ME’37, Houston, June 9, 2005.
James C. McCloskey CE’37, Princeton, N.J., an executive with McCloskey & Co., his family’s construction firm, until his retirement in 1975; Nov. 23. He worked with the company in Philadelphia, 1937-1970, and then in Florida, 1970-75. Major construction jobs he managed include the Spectrum, Veterans Stadium, the Sheraton Hotel, the U.S. Mint, and Cardinal O’Hara High School.
Frederick A. Van Denbergh Jr. L’37, Gwynedd, Pa., former managing partner of the Philadelphia law firm Saul Ewing; Oct. 9. Immediately after college he joined the firm, then known as Saul, Ewing, Remick & Saul. He headed the firm from 1950 to 1978, during which time it grew from 20 to 65 lawyers. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army Air Corps, where he was an officer involved in the planning and administration, including field surveys, of the aerial campaign in the India-Burma theater. He was awarded a Bronze Star. His daughter is Margaret Van Denbergh CW’61 and one of his sons is Ross Van Denbergh L’69.
1938 | C. Francis Barton Jr. W’38, Lancaster, Pa., Jan. 2005.
Henry T. Bryans ME’38, Newtown Square, Pa., July 22, 2004. His son is Henry S. Bryans L’71, whose wife is Dr. Martha Brown Bryans GEd’99 GrEd’00.
Ernest A. Cooper WEv’38, Providence, R.I., a retired executive recruiter; Oct. 20. He began his career as an advertising salesman for the N.W. Ayer agency in Philadelphia, and was later a sales representative for commercial printing companies. He was a car salesman and then a recruiter for companies hiring engineers and technicians until his retirement in 1976. A member of the Christadelphians, a pacifist religious group, he was a conscientious objector during World War II and worked in the Civilian Public Service in Virginia.
Lester W. Dunbar WEv’38, Pennsauken, N.J., a salesman for NCR Corporation for 44 years, until his retirement in 1977; Dec. 2. During World War II he served in the U.S. Navy.
Dr. Marcus D. McDivitt M’38, Tucson, Ariz., a retired physician; April 19, 2005.
Robert C. Moore WEv’38, Lancaster, Pa., March 12, 2005.
Anne Calhoun Patterson Ed’38, Philadelphia, a former teacher at Conwell Middle Magnet School and the Albert M. Greenfield School; Nov. 7.
David Perchonock G’38, Philadelphia, a former sporting-goods store owner and tennis pro; Oct. 27. An amateur tennis player, he had strung rackets in his basement as a teenager to help an older brother through medical school, according to his wife, Rosa Heskel Perchonock Ed’40 GEd’41. Although he had hoped for an academic career in world history, he instead opened a sporting goods store in West Philadelphia in 1946, which he operated for 18 years. As an amateur he went on to win the Eastern States Men’s clay court title three times, as well as the Keystone State, Delaware Valley, and Philadelphia public park’s championships. By 1964 he was the Middle States senior grass court tennis champion. That year he gave up amateur status to take over the newly opened Willow Grove Racquet Club, for which he served as managing director and tennis pro until retiring in 1984. He was past president of the former Philadelphia Tennis Patrons’ Association, now Philadelphia Youth Tennis, an organization that promotes junior tennis. During World War II he worked for a manufacturer of control panels for military aircraft. His son is Dr. Carl D. Perchonock C’67.
Hon. Edward B. Rosenberg W’38, Philadelphia, a retired senior judge who served on the Common Pleas Court for 31 years; Dec. 19. In 1941 he co-founded one of the first Neighborhood Law offices in Germantown, Pa., where he practiced for 30 years. He began serving on the court in 1971, spending most of his time in family court. In 1976 observers were stunned when he allowed Celestine Tate, a quadriplegic, to successfully dress and undress her infant daughter, Niya, on a courtroom table to prove that she could care for the baby herself. After granting Tate full custody, he told The Philadelphia Daily News that she had “demonstrated that we should not look on the body we have to use, but to the use of the body we have.” Her daughter, now 30, said, “The judge gave me the opportunity to be raised by a wonderful mother. My whole life he reached out to me.” While on the bench he chaired the domestic-relations committee of the state Supreme Court. He headed the Court Appointed Special Advocates and the Juvenile Justice Center of Philadelphia. He was special deputy attorney general for the state and supervising judge of Family Court Mediation. Named a senior judge in 1985, he retired in 2002. Judge Rosenberg was head of the Sleighton School for delinquent children and served on the board of the Community College of Philadelphia for six terms during the 1980s. He was named to the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Mental Health and received the John F. Kennedy Award for significant contributions to the mental health movement in America. Also a leader in local Jewish affairs, he taught at the Hebrew Sunday School of Philadelphia for 33 years and was the first president of the Oxford Circle Jewish Community Center. He was president of the United Synagogue of Philadelphia and national vice president of the United Synagogue of America.
Herbert A. Schwartz ChE’38 CGS’71, Jenkintown, Pa., Feb. 2005.
1939 | Marian Smith Bowden Ed’39, Wayne, Pa., Oct. 31.
Dr. John D. Burr D’39, Louisville, Ky., a retired dentist; July 31.
Gladys Shockley Day CW’39, Des Moines, Iowa, Dec. 9. She had worked as a corporate secretary for the Sharples Co. in Philadelphia.
Elizabeth T. Etris Ed’39 G’44, Havertown, Pa., a retired teacher; Dec. 5.
Phyllis Spitz OT’39, Orlando, Fla., Jan. 2005.
Dr. Emil P. Traina D’39, Tenafly, N.J., a retired dentist; July.
1940s
1940 | William H. Ashton Ch’40, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Nov. 5.
Bertha J. Davidson DH’40, Stratford, Conn., July 25, 2004.
Dr. Marvin G. Greenwald C’40 D’42, Atlanta, a retired dentist; Oct. 10.
Dr. Franklin B. Husik M’40, Sewell, N.J., Sept. 21.
Dr. Walter F. Rohrs WG’40, Staten Island, N.Y., Sept. 28.
1941 | Montgomery Anderson C’41, Rhinebeck, N.Y., a retired administrator at the Manhattan offices of IBM; July 14. For many years he lived in his family’s historic property, the Robert Sands House, which was built in 1796. He was a board member of Wilderstein Preservation and donated family portraits, furniture, and written records to it. During World War II he served as a U.S. Army infantry officer, participating in combat at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal and in the fighting on Bougainville, where he was wounded in action. Because of his injuries he served as a training officer for the duration of the war, and was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. And he also served in active duty during the Korean War.
Robert H. Blake W’41, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, July 3.
Errol Q. Bond WEv’41, Fair Oaks Ranch, Tex., a senior financial analyst for Arco, until his retirement in 1977; Aug. 18, 2004. He worked for the company for 43 years, starting in the mail room. He was active in the POW/MIA cause because one of his sons remains missing from from the Vietnam War.
George E. Burket W’41, Hertford, N.C., Aug. 2003.
Iredell Eachus Jr. EE’41 GEE’43, Clearwater, Fla., an electrical engineer and member of the team that developed and built ENIAC (the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) at Penn; Dec. 13. “He cherished his time at Penn,” said his daughter Alison. According to his family, J. Presper Eckert EE’41 GEE’43 Hon’64 was his best friend in college. As a U.S. Naval ensign during World War II, he received a direct commission from President Franklin D. Roosevelt assigning him to naval-research work in Washington, where he was involved in developing technology for weapons systems, radar targeting systems, and communications devices. He then became a member of the ENIAC team at Penn. According to the Main Line Times, he felt that the logic circuits of the machine were more discovered than invented. During the Cold War he established the consulting firm Eachus Associates, where he helped build controls that allowed ground stations to track and communicate with satellites and space vehicles. In 1959 he succeeded his father as president of a family business in Philadelphia, the Macbeth Arc Lamp Co., a manufacturer of process lighting in the graphic-arts industry; he expanded the company by developing the lighting for the plastics industry before retiring in 1986. One of his daughters is Meredith Eachus Armstrong CW’72, whose husband is Christopher F. Armstrong Gr’74.
Louis Goldstein L’41, Wilmington, Del., a retired attorney; March 31, 2004.
Jerome B. Gross W’41, New York, Dec. 11. His daughter is Jill Gross-Marks CW’73.
Dr. Samuel Kassal D’41, Jamesburg, N.J., a retired dentist; Sept. 25.
Frank M. Knight Jr. W’41, Naples, Fla., Aug. 23.
Mary Grooby Kobland DH’41, Lafayette Hill, Pa., Aug. 2003.
John T. Larkin WEF’41 CCC’50, Palm City, Fla., a retired manager for Triangle Communication Inc. in New York; July 12.
Dr. James E. McMillan M’41, Scottsdale, Ariz., a retired physician; Jan. 8, 2002.
Dr. Jay H. Portner C’41 M’44 GM’45 GM’49, Wyncote, Pa., a retired physician; Oct. 18. His wife is Grace Schimmel Portner CW’41.
Edward W. Savery Ed’41 GEd’46, Kennett Square, Pa., the retired assistant headmaster at Wilmington Friends School in Delaware, where he had taught for 37 years; Dec. 18.
Eleanor Smolens Segal CW’41, Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 27. She was married to Irving R. Segal C’35 L’38, until his death on Nov. 25, 2002. One of her daughters is Betsy Ann Segal Carter CW’68. Eleanor’s brothers are Bernard J. Smolens C’38 L’41 and Arnold E. Smolens W’42.
Joseph B. Selig L’41, Narberth, Pa., a retired attorney; April 22, 2004.
1942 | Pierre R. Burke C’42, Stamford, Conn., Sept. 16. He had been an assistant manager at the Mobil Corporation. His sons are Roger W. Burke C’76 CE’76 and Ronald V. Burke CE’80 GCE’84 WG’84.
Dr. Paul N. Chiles Gr’42, Redding, Calif., Dec. 31, 2004.
Charles M. Fletcher Jr. ChE’42, Gladwyne, Pa., Oct. 7.
Gordon K. Greenfield WEv’42, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., the retired chair and president of QCo Industries (later Autocue Holdings); Jan. 7, 2005. He began his career as a journalist at The Washington Star. For 12 years he was president of City Specialty Stores in New York, which included the stores of Franklin Simon and Oppenheim Collins. He then became president of America Corporation, a diversified holding company that included Pathe Film Libraries. He went on to become president of the Franchard Corporation, a real estate and freight holding company. From 1965 to 2000 he was with QCo, a manufacturer and provider of products and services for broadcasting. An active supporter of the Manhattan School of Music for 41 years, he served as a trustee 1964-1998, and as board chair, 1981-94. One of its concert halls was renamed the Gordon K. and Harriet Greenfield Recital Hall in 2002. He was a co-founder and first director of the Harlem School of the Arts. An avid opera devotee, he served on the boards of the Opera Orchestra of New York, the Santa Fe Opera, the Little Orchestra Society, and Young Concert Artists, and was a past president of the Metropolitan Opera Club. He served on various educational and religious boards, including the National Conference of Christians and Jews. In the 1950s he was made a member of the Young Presidents Association and in 1969 received the Distinguished Service Award for his work on the board of the National Arthritis Foundation. He was board president of the Dakota Apartments, 1966-71. During World War II he was a lieutenant commander on the U.S.S Ludlow in the North Atlantic, and in 1942 survived losing a ship in battle off the coast of Dakar, Senegal. His wife, Harriet Copelin Greenfield CW’43, died on Nov. 25. (See Class of 1943.) One of his sons is Gordon K. Greenfield Jr. GAr’73. His sister, Elizabeth G. Zeidman CW’43, and brother, Albert M. Greenfield Jr. W’53, both died recently. (See “Obituaries,” July-Aug. and Jan.-Feb.) His extended Penn family includes several nieces and nephews.
Mary Roberts Griffith V’42, West Chester, Pa., Aug. 13. Her husband is Benjamin F. Griffith Jr. WG’49 and one of her daughters is Margaret Griffith Finarelli CW’67.
Dr. John S. Penny Gr’42, Chalfont, Pa., a former chair of biology at La Salle University, where he was a professor for almost 30 years; Nov. 7. He also helped manage La Salle’s pre-med program. In 1960 he planted a grove of weeping Japanese cherry trees on campus to celebrate the opening of a new science center. At his retirement in 1979 the university installed a plaque honoring him near the center. He then became director of the arboretum at the Barnes Foundation in Lower Merion for three years. During World War II he served with U.S. Army Intelligence, where he analyzed photographs of bombing in the Low Countries. For a year following the war he was assigned to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He then worked in Venezuela for the Creole Petroleum Company from 1947 to 1950 before joining La Salle.
1943 | Dr. Herman M. Crowder Jr. D’43, Memphis, Tenn., a retired dentist; June 9, 2004.
Lt. Col. Robert R. Dando W’43, Ephrata, Pa., Nov. 2.
Maria Kroft Gammage CW’43, Wynnewood, Pa., June 30, 2004.
Harriet Copelin Greenfield CW’43, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., Nov. 25. She was active in charitable causes, especially those involving children. She was founder and co-chair of the New York City chapter of the U.S. Committee for UNICEF, for which she received the Helenka Pantaleoni Award in 1995. She served on the board of the Youth Counseling League and the World Adoption International Fund (WAIF). During the 1980s she chaired the women’s division of the New York chapter of the Arthritis Foundation. In 1984 she joined the National Red Cross to develop their junior committee, for which she earned the Steuben Apple Award. And she was a key fundraiser for the Opera Orchestra Society. She served as board president of Immigration and Refugee Services of America and its subsidiary, the U.S. Committee for Refugees. She was a board member of Lebanon College in New Hampshire. Her husband, Gordon K. Greenfield WEv’42, died on Jan. 7, 2005. (See Class of 1942.) One of her sons is Gordon K. Greenfield Jr. GAr’73.
Rev. Thomas W. Kirkman Jr. C’43, Winston Salem, N.C., pastor emeritus of the Royal Poinciana Chapel in Palm Beach, Fla.; Nov. 11. He retired in 1995 after a 50-year career as a Presbyterian minister.
Dr. Jacob L. Kolodner C’43 V’44, Marlton, N.J., a retired veterinarian; Nov. 9. Two of his daughters are Deborah E. Kolodner C’79 and Dr. Barbara Kolodner Levine C’85.
Edward D. Lawler EE’43 G’49, Plymouth Meeting, Pa., Oct. 23. His brother is John Lawler EE’43. Two of his daughters are Joann A. Lawler C’77 and Marjorie Lawler Pennacchi C’83; his son is Edward D. Lawler Jr. C’80.
Dr. Samuel Younger C’43, Encino, Calif., April 15, 2005.
1944 | Dr. Henry Brown M’44 GM’48, Waban, Mass., a retired hand surgeon who was affiliated with Harvard Medical School; Oct. 15. He did clinical work in Liberia and conducted research at the University of Buenos Aires, the Sorbonne, and Cambridge University. He ran in the Boston Marathon for 25 years.
Dr. Nathan L. Comer C’44 GM’51, Narberth, Pa., a psychiatrist who was past president of the medical staff at the Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital; Nov. 21. He maintained a private practice and was a staff member and teacher at many Philadelphia-area hospitals. He was a member and past chair of the education committee at Temple Adath Israel. One of his daughters is Dr. Susan Comer Kitei C’78. His sons are Robert Comer WG’79 and Marc J. Comer W’85 WG’89, whose wife is Lori Krivins Comer CC’88 L’91.
Andrea T. Horner DH’44, Lebanon, Pa., Nov. 19, 2004.
Dr. Herbert Pinsley D’44, Boca Raton, Fla., a retired dentist; Aug. 6, 2002.
Anthony J. Smith L’44, Fort Pierce, Fla., a retired Philadelphia attorney; Oct. 7.
Dr. Francis deSales Tucker D’44, San Jose, Calif., a retired dentist; June 12, 2005.
1945 | Dr. Charles W. Bast C’45 D’46, Sea Island, Ga., a retired dentist; Aug. 8.
Eugene S. Beckman Jr. EE’45, Longport, N.J., Aug. 6.
Dr. Robert M. Bernhardt D’45, Wilmington, Del., a retired dentist; June 10, 2005.
Dr. Patrick B. Coleman V’45, Lawton, Pa., a retired veterinarian; Aug. 8. His brother is Dr. Hugh J. Coleman V’53.
Dr. Aaron M. Litwak D’45, Easton, Pa., a retired dentist; Oct. 5.
Dr. Sidney L. Mellman C’45 V’49, Ardmore, Pa., a veterinarian who had maintained a practice in Broomall for more than 40 years, until his retirement in 1994; Oct. 31. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army; he was awarded the Purple Heart after being wounded in the Battle of the Bulge.
Dr. Joseph A. Sciuto GM’45, North Dartmouth, Mass., a retired physician; July 20, 2004.
1946 | Morton Abrams W’46 L’50, Boca Raton, Fla., a retired attorney who practiced law in Philadelphia and Fort Lauderdale; Dec. 12. His studies at the University were interrupted by World War II, during which he piloted a B-17 in the 8th U.S. Air Force in Europe. Two words, said his navigator, best described Mort as a 21-year-old aircraft commander, true blue. With his lifelong devotion to Penn, his family noted he could also be deemed true red and blue. He served as a board member of Penn Alumni and as alumni class president for his 25th Reunion. He was an alumni adviser to his fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi, and president of the Gold Coast alumni club. A 1990 recipient of the Alumni Award of Merit, he encouraged all three of his children to attend Penn. One of his daughters, Dr. Beryl Abrams Jupiter CW’72, wrote, “As a B-17 pilot, you proved yourself a mensch,/ And still proceeded post-war to ascend the legal bench./ Of course you needed to complete your undergrad degree,/ Having started class of ’44 but finished ’46, U. of P./ Your academic roots were U.Penn all the way,/ Undergrad followed by law school, courtesy of the V.A./ As Penn’s ivy reputation grew steadily through the years,/ You got all of your kids to shout Quaker cheers.” Another daughter, Carol Abrams Gart CW’74 (whose husband is David A. Gart C’74), said she was inspired to the bar by her father, “Dad was the consummate honest, ethical, and compassionate lawyer, seemingly a cross between Abe Lincoln and Atticus Finch.” Mort’s son, David S. Abrams W’80, described him as “a passionate husband, loving parent and grandparent, generous citizen, devout friend, and a man of tremendous and unwavering character.”
Gyla S. Fairchild OT’46, Iowa City, Oct. 26.
Seymour Finkelstein W’46, New York, president and director of the Seymour Finkelstein Family Foundation and former chair and president of Glemby International; Jan. 2. Known as Sy, at Penn he was a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, freshman crew, and Hillel. The foundation, established in 1990, supports higher education, hospitals, health organizations, Jewish agencies and temples, and museums. Glemby International, a beauty-salon and hair-goods business owned and managed by his family since the 1920s, leased salon space at Neiman-Marcus, Dillard’s, and Bloomingdale’s, among other department stores worldwide. He sold the business in 1991. A generous and active supporter of the University, he served as a board member of Penn Alumni, and an overseer of the Institute of Contemporary Art (1988-94 and 1996-2005). He was a member of the local Wharton Club, the Penn Alumni Clubs of Westchester and Rockland Counties, and was a former member of the development and fundraising committees of the New York club. He had been an honorary member of the Friars Senior Society since 1984. Sy was co-president of the Class of 1946 and had served as chair of the Class of 1946 Reunion committee in 1991. He was a member of the planning committee for the “War Years Reunion,” an event that reconnected more than 300 Penn alumni who graduated between 1942 and 1949, which was held during Alumni Weekend in May 2001. A former alumni trustee, he had served on the committees for resources, student life, and external affairs (1980-85). Dennis Disbrow, director of the Old Guard program of The Penn Fund, and who had worked with him on his 50th, 55th, and 60th reunions, said, “He gave tirelessly to the University … his dedication to Penn was truly unique and, to use a better descriptive word, tremendous.” In 1991 Sy received the Alumni Award of Merit, which cited his alumni service and leadership as well as his “reputation for able, thoughtful, and concerned representation of metropolitan New York alumni.” The citation called him “Gentle and genteel, admired and respected in the alumni family. His gracious smile, his charm, and his humor have made him one of the most popular of alumni leaders … He is the epitome of what alumni regard as a University of Pennsylvania gentleman.” An avid collector of Penn memorabilia, he presented several pieces from his collection to the University. Along with his allegiance to Penn, he served on the boards of numerous organizations, including the American Crafts Museum, Temple Kol Ami, and the Jewish Community Center of White Plains. He was a supporter of the Scarsdale Community Fund, the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, the United Jewish Appeal, and the National Jewish Hospital at Denver. He was a life member of the American Numismatic Association. During World War II he served as a navigator in the U.S. Army Air Corps. His extensive Penn family includes his sons, Andrew R. Finkelstein W’70 and Charles D. Finkelstein C’73; and his brother, Emanuel M. Finkelstein W’39. Another brother, Nathan G. Finkelstein W’34, is deceased.
Dr. Charles H. Hammil D’46, Livingston, N.J., a retired dentist; Feb. 15, 2005.
Gregory C. Nicholson W’46, Moorestown, N.J., Oct. 9, 2002.
Howard A. Sadler WG’46, Birmingham, Ala., Aug. 13, 2003.
Marguerite C. Wiegand Ed’46, Ocean City, N.J., Nov. 26.
Jane Kuhlmann Wister DH’46, Wyndmoor, Pa., Jan. 9, 2005.
1947 | Wallace A. Bilodeau W’47, Skowhegan, Maine, a retired attorney; March 29, 2005.
Dr. Gilbert H. Blum D’47, Scottsdale, Ariz., a retired dentist; Oct. 22.
David L. Farley Jr. C’47 L’50, Charles City, Va., a retired attorney who practiced in New York, Connecticut, and Virginia; May 12, 2005. He worked with the firms of David, Polk, Wardwell, Sunderland & Kendl; Pemme and Edmonds; and Peyton, Beverly, Scott and Randolph. He was corporate counsel to the C&O Railway Co. and Amax, Inc., and was involved in the purchase and sale of businesses in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. He had served as vestryman of Westover Episcopal Church.
Albert Friedman W’47, King of Prussia, Pa., a retired financial adviser; Nov. 10.
Kenneth J. Garrity C’47, Havertown, Pa., Dec. 14.
John M. Karnick L’47, Rydal, Pa., a retired attorney; Oct. 18.
Dr. Norbert R. McManus V’47, Carlisle, Pa., a veterinarian who owned and operated his own veterinary clinic for 45 years; Nov. 30. He also served with the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a year in Mexico to prevent the spread of hoof and mouth disease into the U.S. Chair of the Carlisle Suburban Authority for 10 years, he was instrumental in getting public water and sewer to North Middleton. In 1997 the Veterinary School awarded him its Bellwether Medal for distinguished leadership. During the Korean War he served active duty in the U.S. Army and continued his service in the Army Reserves for 30 years, retiring as a colonel.
Edward D. Melzer W’47, Roswell, Ga., Aug. 29.
Leon Pritzker G’47, Dallas, the retired executive vice president of staff operations for Campbell Taggert, Inc.; Nov. 2. He worked as a statistician for the U.S. Census Bureau in Washington, 1947-1961, and then in the Chief Response Research branch, 1961-67. In 1967 he became the director of marketing information services for Anheuser-Busch, Inc., in St Louis. He became director of management systems for the company in 1973. In 1984 he became executive vice president of staff operations for Campbell Taggert, Inc., in Dallas, a company newly acquired by Anheuser-Busch. After retiring in 1990 he consulted for many years. He was a visiting faculty member of the Case Institute Technical College in Cleveland, 1954-55. Fluent in seven languages, he served as a consultant for the Census and Statistical Bureau of the government of Israel, Jerusalem, in 1961, and was an instructor of statistics for the Turkish government in 1967. He received a Meritorious Service Award from the U.S. Commerce Department in 1954. He was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity and Phi Beta Kappa. During World War II he served as a cryptanalyst for the U.S. Army.
William E. Sandman W’47, Boca Raton, Fla., Sept. 22.
Hon. Charles R. Weiner C’47 Gr’76, Philadelphia, a retired federal judge; Nov. 9.
Dr. Lowell C. Yund M’47 GM’59, Chestertown, Md., a retired physician; Sept. 28. His son is Dr. Alan J. Yund M’82.
1948 | Jane Walsh Flynn Ed’48, San Francisco, Dec. 3, 2000.
John J. Hegar CCC’48, Upper Darby, Pa., Sept. 25.
Ralph Martorelli WG’48, Summit, N.J., 2005.
Helen Scott Rapp NTS’48, Hatboro, Pa., Oct. 24.
Karl Seiler III W’48, Reston, Va., Nov. 8.
1949 | David V. Boney EE’49, Absecon, N.J., vice president of customer and community service at Atlantic City Electric Co., until his retirement in 1986; Nov. 13. At Penn he was captain of the baseball team; one of his most memorable games was against Yale University, whose first baseman was later President George Bush. He also played on the Morgan Warriors freshman football team and went on to play professional baseball in Canada. Additional teams for which he played through the years include the Atlantic City Kiwanis, Pleasantville A’s, Pleasantville Regulars, Absecon Indians, and Farley All-Stars. He received the Pop Higbee Award in 1993. He served on several community, educational, and professional boards, including the Atlantic City Jaycees, the Pleasantville Board of Education and Planning, and the Institution of Electrical Engineers. And he coached children’s teams in Absecon and Pleasantville. He was a former director of the trustees of the Atlantic Game Preserve. He had been an electrician’s mate in the U.S. Navy.
Edward F. Canfield L’49, Haverford, Pa., a former partner of the Washington law firm of Canfield, Smith & Martin; Oct. 31. Earlier he had worked in the government contract department of RCA in Camden, N.J., and then for Philco in Philadelphia and Washington. After returning to Philadelphia in 1993, he continued to practice in Haverford and Washington. During World War II he served in the U.S. Navy and participated in the landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day; and during the Korean War he served with Naval Intelligence in New York.
Warren Cassel Jr. WEv’49, Lansdale, Pa., Nov. 9, 2003.
Dr. Robert J. Farrell C’49 D’52, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., a retired dentist; Oct. 1.
Ivan G. Herman C’49, Cos Cob, Conn., a retired executive; Dec. 6. A past commander of the Greenwich Power Squadron, he offered weekly boating advice on WGCH radio for several years. He was a cellist with the Fairfield String Orchestra and donated his collection of antique flutes to the Yale Music Library. He was a founding member and past president of Chavurat Deevray Torah. His memoir, My Life, in Stories, was published by Cognewaugh Press in 2004. After being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, he became a spokesperson for early-stage sufferers, speaking before the 2001 National Conference about his personal experiences with the malady. During World War II he served in the U.S. Navy.
George J. Kappler G’49, Hallandale, Fla., June 26, 2003.
William E. McGowan WEv’49 W’56, Collingdale, Pa., a retired manager for General Electric in Philadelphia; Nov. 10. He worked for the company for more than 30 years, retiring in the 1980s. A borough manager of Collingdale for 13 years, he served on the borough council for 15 years and was council president when he stepped down in 1993. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army and participated in the Battle of the Bulge. Wounded in France, he was awarded a Purple Heart.
John J. McKeown WEv’49, Fairfield, N.J., June 2004.
Buckley H. Modelle C’49, Vineland, N.J., a retired educator; Oct. 23. He was principal at Fairton School and Edgarton Memorial School in Newfield. He became chief school administrator for Hopewell Township schools. As a second career, he was a staff member of Continental Title Insurance Co. for seven years.
William J. Pastuszek L’49, Swarthmore, Pa., July 14, 2004.
Dr. Wayne F. Spenader M’49, Mendota, Ill., a retired physician; Jan. 28, 2002.
Virginia Fromuth Williamson Ed’49, Ambler, Pa., Nov. 15.
Dr. Mary Henderson Wright G’49 GEd’59 GrEd’71, Fort Washington, Pa., an educator with the Philadelphia school district for 34 years; Oct. 15. She taught high school math and English in Virginia for two years before moving to Germantown, Pa. In 1944, she became a math teacher at Sulzberger Junior High School, where she remained for nine years. She was then hired as the first African American teacher in an academic subject for Roosevelt Junior High School. Nine days after starting at Roosevelt, she was appointed to teach math at William Penn High School, where she remained from 1953 to 1956. She then taught at Germantown High School for three years. During 1958-59 she was on sabbatical leave as a National Science Fellow in the Graduate School of Education at the University. In 1961 Dr. Wright became the first African American teacher at Philadelphia High School for Girls. From 1966 to 1968 she was first a graduate assistant in mathematics and then a master teacher in math at Penn. Upon returning to Girls’ High in 1968 she was appointed vice principal, a position she held until her retirement in 1978. “Dr Wright was known as a dynamic speaker,” said Constance Clayton, former superintendent of the Philadelphia School District. “She aspired to practicing excellence in teaching [and] had high hopes for herself and for others.” Active in the women’s auxiliary of the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Missions Convention, she served as a missions instructor for years and as president, 1968-70. She was treasurer of the North American Baptist Women’s Union of the Baptist World Alliance, 1972-75. And as the minister’s wife at Grace Baptist Church, she filled many roles including Sunday school teacher, choir director, and church financial secretary. In 2004 she was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Ministers’ Wives and Ministers’ Widows Association. Her daughter is Mary LaVerne Wright Miner Ed’61.
1950s
1950 | Barbara L. Brown Ed’50, Philadelphia, Nov. 5.
William R. Hackenberger W’50, Wilmington, Del., Sept. 10.
Roger S. Haddon L’50, Northumberland, Pa., a retired attorney; April 2004.
James T. Helsper GM’50, Pasadena, Calif., Sept. 24.
Eric G. Larson W’50, Newtown Square, Pa., retired publisher of TV Guide; Jan. 21, 2005. At Penn he played football along with Charles P. Bednarik Ed’49, and also wrestled. And he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. He began his career as a salesman in Detroit before answering an ad for a new national magazine, TV Guide, based in Philadelphia. He became advertising manager of its Detroit office before moving to the Radnor office as promotions director. He became advertising director in 1962 and publisher in 1982. At his retirement in 1987, TV Guide employed 1,400 people and had revenues of over $240 million, the highest of any magazine in the country. He remained a consultant for the magazine thereafter. A Quaker, he served on the boards of Westtown School and Friends Journal. During World War II he served stateside in the U.S. Army.
Ernest J. Lichtner CE’50, Southampton, Pa., June 24, 2005.
Dr. William K. Ovalle D’50, Bryn Mawr, Pa., a retired dentist; Nov. 15.
Alan D. Reinheimer WEv’50, Longport, N.J., Nov. 12.
Fred D. Sahagian WG’50, Burlington, Mass., June 1, 2005. His brother is Karekin D. Sahagian WG’50.
Col. Norman M. Schofield WEv’50, San Antonio, Oct. 18.
Gertrude Strick CW’50 L’53, Fairless Hills, Pa., a retired attorney; Jan. 26, 2003.
Dr. Paul F. Zito GM’50, Key West, Fla., a retired surgeon who had maintained a practice in Perth Amboy, N.J.; Feb. 18, 2005. Before entering private practice he was assistant chief of surgery at the U.S. Marine Hospital, Staten Island, N.Y. He had served as chief of surgical service and director of the department of surgery at Raritan Bay Medical Center. He was a consultant in surgery at South Amboy Memorial Hospital, Roosevelt Hospital, the former Middlesex Rehabilitation Hospital, and the New Jersey state schools. Dr. Zito was a founder, examiner, and New Jersey governor of the American Society of Abdominal Surgery. He was the author of numerous scientific articles and lectured nationally and internationally. He was a board member of the Helene Fuld Nursing Preparatory School in West Trenton, the first nursing preparatory school in the U.S. Active in community and charitable organizations, he was president of the Paul F. Zito, M.D., Educational Foundation, which has provided scholarships to schools in the U.S. and worldwide. He chaired numerous cerebral palsy drives and was co-chair for Catholic Charities benefit concerts in 1991 and 1992. In 1971 he received the Pope Paul IV Humanitarian Award. Dr. Zito served as councilman for Perth Amboy, 1982-1990. He retired from medicine in 1986. In Florida he was instrumental in launching the Key West Pops Orchestra, conducted by his son, Vincent. During World War II he was a U.S. Naval medical officer in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters; he remained in the military for more than seven years, serving as a lieutenant commander in various Navy and Marine hospitals.
1951 | John A. Accetta W’51 WG’56, Philadelphia, Oct. 26.
Dr. Cyril F. Conway Jr. C’51, Williamsport, Pa., a specialist in emergency medicine at Williamsport Hospital for 18 years; 2005. Earlier he had practiced obstetrics and gynecology in the Philadelphia area for more than a decade. He retired from medicine in 1992. During the Korean War he served in the U.S. Army.
Eugene R. Crilly G’51, Coronado, Calif., Sept. 15. His wife is Dr. Alice Roth Crilly CW’48.
Phoebe Booth Dechert G’51, Albuquerque, N.M., a retired teacher and headmistress of a coed day school; Nov. 9. She also directed plays. A long-time member of the national-conservation committee of the Garden Club of America, she served a term as president of the board of associates. Her husband is Dr. Peter Dechert C’48 G’50 Gr’55 and one of her daughters is Sandy Dechert CW’71.
Thomas A. Dowds EE’51, Ann Arbor, Mich., March 31, 2004.
Dr. Edward L. Frost GEE’51 GrEd’69, Chapel Hill, N.C., Sept. 30.
Herbert D. Gedrich WG’51, Philadelphia, a retired attorney; Dec. 18.
Dr. Leslie B. Gore D’51, Virginia Beach, Va., a retired dentist; Oct. 10.
Ruth Merrill Hallstead PT’51, Farmington, N.Y., Oct. 2004.
Robert J. Kauffman GW’51, Scottsdale, Ariz., March 12, 2005.
Leonard Maley CE’51, Hernandez, N.M., April 25, 2004.
Robert S. Martin Ar’51, Reading, Pa., July 18.
Alma Snyder Miller Nu’51, Mechanicsburg, Pa., May 22, 2004.
Richard G. Millstone W’51, Bridgeport, W.V., June 5, 2005.
Walter B. Prettyman WEv’51, Collingswood, N.J., Jan. 2004.
Dr. Vincent A. Rolleri C’51, Bernardsville, Pa., a retired professor of organic chemistry at New Jersey City University, where he had taught for 20 years; Nov. 13. Earlier he had been an industry chemist with U.S. Rubber and Texaco Corp. He had received many patents for his work. During World War II he was a staff sergeant with the U.S. Army’s 33rd Chemical Decontaminating Company in Europe.
Robert C. Sharp C’51, Vero Beach, Fla., Nov. 16.
G. Morrow Smith W’51, Berwyn, Pa., Oct. 12.
John G. Webb W’51, Hilton Head Island, S.C., Aug. 24.
1952 | Dr. Oscar L. Chavarría-Aguilar Gr’52, San Isidro de Heredia, Costa Rica, a retired linguistics professor and university administrator; Sept. 10. During the 1950s he worked at a university in Bombay, India, through a U.S. government program, taught Spanish to U.S. Air Force officers in Madrid, and taught at the American University in Cairo. From 1957 to 1967 he was a professor of linguistics at the University of Michigan, where he became known as an authority in Asian languages, particularly Sanskrit, Urdu, and Pashto. He lived in India, 1962-64, as part of a project with the U.S. Agency for International Development, to set up an English department in the India Institute of Technology. Dr. Chavarría-Aguilar became chair of linguistics at the University of Rochester in 1967. He was recruited by the City College of New York to be the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in 1971. In 1977 he returned to his native country, Costa Rica, where he worked in the linguistics department of the Universidad Nacional in Heredia, retiring in 1987. He wrote a few technical books on linguistic concepts and, in later years, two cookbooks: A Bite of Costa Rica and Cocina para Hombres. In the 1990s he wrote a column for Costa Rica’s The Tico Times, “The Poet Cornered,” which contained poems and humorous articles on language. He had served in the U.S. Army during World War II.
Jane Taylor Gant CW’52, New Vernon, N.J., March 13, 2005. She was a founding member of the New Vernon Rescue Squad and volunteered at the Harding Township Library.
Edith Borock Gold Nu’52 GEd’56, Philadelphia, Oct. 12.
Dr. Frederick F. Inners Jr. D’52, York, Pa., a retired dentist; May 22, 2005.
Dr. Thomas J. Kennedy GM’52, Meadowbrook, Pa., a retired physician; May 21, 2005.
Howard E. Lenahan Jr. W’52, Haddonfield, N.J., July 22, 2004.
Edward M. Nagel L’52, Allentown, Pa., a retired attorney; Aug. 3.
Jack E. Nidever G’52, Modesto, Calif., Oct. 11.
Robert H. Pelham Jr. W’52, Scotia, N.Y., Aug. 24. His brother is Roger Pelham W’66. Another brother, Richard H. Pelham W’53, died in 2002.
Joseph E. Wolak ME’52, Clifton, N.J., Nov. 24, 2003.
John F. Yeager C’52, Selinsgrove, Pa., May 8, 2005.
1953 | Andrew C. Flood WEv’53, Marmora, N.J., Oct. 7.
Dr. John R. King D’53, Fairfield, Conn., a dentist who practiced in Bridgeport for 40 years; June 29, 2005. He taught at the Tufts School of Dental Medicine and was an associate professor at the University of Bridgeport’s Fones School of Dental Hygiene for 18 years. He enjoyed attending reunions at Penn, according to his family. During World War II he served in the U.S. Navy, earning the French-Moroccan Legion of Honor medal.
Irene A. Ladenson FA’53, New York, Jan. 15, 2005.
Leonard A. Riefberg W’53, Baldwin, N.Y., Oct. 23.
James J. Sell WEv’53, Lansdale, Pa., a former budget analyst for the Defense Supply Center in Philadelphia, where he had worked for 42 years, before retiring in 1983; Oct. 9. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army’s 80th Infantry Division, logging more than 200 days of combat in Northern France, the Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe. A recipient of the Bronze Star, he fought in the Battle of the Bulge and participated in the liberation of Buchenwald concentration camp. He served in the Army Reserve from 1949 until 1980, retiring as a command sergeant major.
Dr. Martin Sevoian V’53, Amherst, Mass., a retired professor in the department of veterinary and animal sciences at the University of Massachusetts, where he had taught for more than 40 years; Sept. 14. Earlier he had been an assistant professor of pathology at Cornell University. In 1962 he isolated the JM strain of acute leukosis virus. He was subsequently awarded a federal grant to investigate avian leukosis. During World War II he had served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force.
1954 | Samuel T. Cole W’54, Miami, 2001.
Dr. John W. Conover III D’54, Galloway, N.J., a retired dentist; May 2005.
Homer D. F. Peters GEE’54, Holland, Ohio, Jan. 14, 2005.
John D. Rogers GME’54, Bryn Mawr, Pa., Nov. 6.
Robert Montgomery Scott L’54, Villanova, Pa., longtime president of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and a former president of the Academy of Music; Oct. 13. (His mother, the legendary socialite Helen Hope Montgomery, was said to be the model for Tracy Lord, Katharine Hepburn’s character in The Philadelphia Story.) In 1955 he joined his family’s Philadelphia law firm, Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, beginning as a litigator and then shifting to corporate work, including major real estate transactions. He later became a partner. From 1969 to 1973 he was special assistant to Walter H. Annenberg W’31 Hon’66, the U.S. ambassador to Britain. Known for a sophistication coupled with an easygoing nature, he once bicycled 55 miles into the countryside there to have lunch with Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. When she asked if she might watch him pedal away, he declined because protocol requires that she be the first to leave any social occasion. Upon returning to Philadelphia, he became president of the Academy of Music, a position he held until 1980. During his tenure the academy raised $5 million and engaged in a real estate deal that provided the institution with more office space and a new rehearsal hall. Having served as a trustee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art since 1965, he became its unpaid president in 1980. In 1982, at the board’s request, he gave up his law practice and became the first full-time, paid chief executive officer. By the time he stepped down in 1996, museum attendance had climbed from 400,000 to 950,000 annually and its medieval and European galleries had undergone complete renovations. Despite annual budget cuts by the city, its endowment has exceeded $100 million. As museum head he became known for the bicycle tours that he led around Fairmount Park and for opening his family estate, Androssan, to parties for the museum and other charitable institutions. “Bob was an extraordinary ambassador for the museum everywhere,” said the museum director Anne d’Harnoncourt.
Dr. Charles C. Wolferth Jr. M’54 GM’59, Gladwyne, Pa., head of surgery at Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia, until his retirement in 1998; Nov. 15. His father, Dr. Charles C. Wolferth Sr., was a cardiologist at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. During Dr. Wolferth Jr.’s 44-year career he served as a surgeon and teacher at HUP, Hahnemann University, and Presbyterian Hospitals, and other medical centers. In 1985 he spearheaded a state law that created the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation, which monitors the quality of care in hospital trauma centers. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, his goal was to help prevent victims from dying needlessly during the “golden hour”—the first 60 minutes of care that can make a difference between life and death. The foundation became a model for other states. Dr. C. William Schwab, chief of trauma and critical-care surgery at HUP, described Dr. Wolferth as a “surgeon’s surgeon,” adding, “In the last 20 or 30 years, no person has done more to improve trauma care. There was no one better.” Having served in the U.S. Army, Dr. Wolferth believed that emergency-care methods had gained much from the military’s experience during the Vietnam War, particularly in the quick evacuation from the scene to a trauma-care unit. During his career he visited more than 75 military and civilian trauma centers. He emphasized special training for doctors and nurses to deliver immediate, sophisticated emergency treatment, including the need to have a heliport nearby and the ability to assemble a medical team within 120 seconds. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including the National Safety Council Surgeons Award for Service to Safety in 2000.
Philomena Johann Wolfington CW’54, Newtown Square, Pa., Dec. 6. For many years she volunteered as a driver for the American Cancer Society.
1955 | Dr. John J. Cebra C’55, Mount Holly, N.J., the Annenberg Professor of the Natural Sciences and professor of biology at the University; Oct. 7. Before returning to teach at Penn he was an assistant professor and then associate professor at the University of Florida, 1961-1966, and associate professor, then professor of biology at Johns Hopkins University, 1967-1979. He joined the Penn faculty as professor of biology in 1979. Two years later he was named to the Annenberg chair. He chaired the biology department, 1979-1983 and 1987-1990. His many honors include a 1968 Eli Lilly Award in Microbiology and Immunology; a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1983, and his election as a Foreign Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in 1998. In 2005 he received both the American Association of Immunologists Award for Excellence in Mentoring and the First Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Mucosal Immunology. “In some ways, more than any specific discovery, his legacy is that so many of his students have gone on to do impressive work,” said one of his sons, Jonathan D. Cebra C’84. His other sons are Dr. Christopher Keith Cebra C’86 G’86 V’91 and Dr. Daniel A. Cebra C’84, whose wife is Karen R. Cebra C’83.
Carver R. Fister WEv’55, Sunset Beach, N.C., March 31, 2005.
Dr. Howard I. Forman Gr’55, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., a deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Commerce Department from 1974 until his retirement in 1981; Dec. 5. He directed the department’s Office of Product Standards and helped seek cooperation between legislators and corporations on patent issues. On a trip to Korea in the 1970s he persuaded Korean businesspeople to stop infringing on U.S. patents, according to his son, Dr. Kenneth J. Forman C’64. From 1956 to 1974 he worked for Rohm & Haas Corp., where he was chief of the international and Asian trademarks division. A founder of the International Laboratory Accreditation Association and the National Inventors Hall of Fame, he wrote more than 200 articles about patent law and four books. He also wrote and produced a play, The Birth of the American Patent System, which was performed and filmed in Independence Hall in 1976 as part of the nation’s Bicentennial celebration. After retiring from government service, he served as a consultant and arbitrator for civil cases in Philadelphia. Dr. Forman served on several educational and medical boards, including Warminster Hospital and Hahnemann University. During World War II he helped develop weapons at the Frankford Arsenal and eventually became chief of patents there. His daughter-in-law is Dr. Barbara Rifkind Forman CW’64.
Nancy McCurdy Schnebly CW’55, Bryn Mawr, Oct. 13.
Dr. Donald R. Waugaman V’55, Yonkers, N.Y., a retired veterinarian; Sept. 3, 2003.
1956 | Ruth Kegerize Edwards Nu’56, Rockville, Md., Sept. 1.
Melvin L. Fuhrman WG’56 L’59, Bala Cynwyd, Pa., a retired attorney; July 11.
Lawrence A. Isdaner W’56, Bala Cynwyd, Pa., a managing partner of Isdaner & Co., an accounting firm, until his retirement in 2004; Dec. 26. A co-founder of Allegiance Bank of North America in 1999, he served as its chair until 2005. Earlier he had worked for an accounting firm in Philadelphia. He was past president of the Golden Slipper Club and Charities, which supports camps and care services for needy children and senior citizens. He was a board member of the Curtis Institute and Pop Warner Little Scholars. He served in the U.S. Army, 1957-58. His cousin is Lois Ford Alexander Ed’55.
Lt. Cmdr. Herbert Latch CCC’56, Lafayette, La., April 21, 2005. He had worked for Petroleum Helicopters.
Albert M. McQuiston II W’56, Paoli, Pa., owner of the McQuiston Insurance Agency; Oct. 5. He attended Penn on a golf scholarship after being undefeated in match play in high school and placing sixth in the state finals as a high school senior. In 1959 he began working for the Giantonio Insurance Agency, which he acquired in 1987 and renamed. The Paoli Business Association named him Business Person of the Year in 1994. A former president of the Chester Valley Golf Club, he was club champion, 1971 and 1974.
1957 | Dr. David P. Eastburn Gr’57, Doylestown, Pa., president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia from 1970 until his retirement in 1981; Oct. 13. In 1942 he joined the research department of the bank and rose through the ranks until being named president. He was on loan to the Board of Governors in Washington, 1950-51. In 1975 he chaired the Conference of Presidents of the Federal Reserve Banks, and served on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy-making body, the Federal Open Market Committee. An amateur oboist and lifelong music lover, he served as president of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1978 to 1985. He was named chair of the orchestra in 1985, a post he held for three years. In 2002 he was a member of the search committee that recommended the appointment of Christoph Eschenbach as music director.
Dr. R. Wayne Masters GrEd’57, Woodbridge, Va., Feb. 3, 2005.
Richard P. Richter G’57, Frederick, Pa., president emeritus of Ursinus College; Dec. 16. He began his career working in corporate public relations in Philadelphia. In 1965 he joined the Ursinus faculty (his alma mater) as an English instructor and alumni secretary. He went on to receive a Lindback Award for distinguished teaching. He served as president of the college from 1976 to 1994. Capital projects completed during his administration include the establishment of the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art and the construction of a humanities hall. After retiring, he served as a consultant for Community of Agile Partners in Education, represented Ursinus on several committees and boards, and wrote for a college website that he maintained. He had served in the U.S. Army in Germany, 1953-55.
Dr. Warren J. Robbins M’57, Lancaster, Pa., a retired physician; Nov. 11.
David S. Shrager C’57 L’60, Elkins Park, Pa., the lead attorney in several prominent Philadelphia class-action suits; Nov. 28. He began his legal career in a partnership with Donald Farage in Philadelphia. He left the firm in 1975 to found Shrager McDade and, in the late 1980s, joined Shrager, Spivey & Sachs, where he remained until his death. He was attorney for Michael Moses Ward (formerly known as Birdie Africa) in the former Move member’s 1987 suit against Philadelphia. Age 13 at the time, Ward was permanently disfigured by burns suffered in the city’s confrontation with the radical back-to-nature group in 1985; he was one of only two survivors of the fire that leveled a city block. The suit was settled before trial, with Ward receiving a lifetime payment. “He was not just my lawyer, he was like my father, my mentor, my friend,” said Ward of his long relationship with Shrager. “He made me part of his family.” Shrager was the lead attorney in a 1997 federal class-action suit involving 6,000 hemophiliacs who contracted HIV-related illnesses from contaminated blood-clotting products made by four pharmaceutical companies. The suit, which was settled for $640 million, set the precedent that blood-products manufacturers could be liable for causing serious injuries to consumers. He also served as lead counsel in a 2001 federal suit on behalf of more than 1,000 health-care workers who had allergies caused by latex gloves. And in 2000 he filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the state of Pennsylvania, contending that people with smoking-related illnesses were entitled to a portion of the state’s $11.3 billion share of a national tobacco settlement. The case was dismissed by U.S. District Court in 2001. “David was a generous man,” said his law partner Wayne Spivey. “If anyone had financial problems, he quietly helped them out.” After being diagnosed with lymphoma, he set up the Shrager Fund at the Abramson Cancer Center, an endowment for research and patient care at the University. (Gifts can be mailed to 3535 Market Street, Suite 750, Philadelphia, PA 19104.) He was a founder of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association of America and served as president in 1971. And he was president of the Association of Trial Lawyers in 1983. His wife is Joan Myerson Shrager Ed’60. His daughter is Deborah E. Shrager C’85, whose husband is H. Scott Ableman C’85. His son is Jay Benjamin Shrager L’92, and his stepson is Steven Gold C’85.
Sir Ronald D. Wilson GL’57, Perth, Australia, a retired judge of the Supreme Court of Australia; July 15.
1958 | Col. R. Howard Lackay GM’58, San Antonio, Tex., Oct. 10, 2004.
Clara Shaefer Roe Nu’58, Carlisle, Pa., Oct. 15.
Leslie Susser W’58, New York, a retired attorney; Dec. 11, 2004.
1959 | Dr. Andre C. Blanzaco M’59, North Wales, Pa., the chief of obstetrics and gynecology for 15 years at Chestnut Hill Hospital, until his retirement in 2002; Dec. 17. He also had maintained a private practice for nearly 40 years in Erdenheim and Blue Bell.
Dr. Benjamin Diamant GME’59, Boca Raton, Fla., Nov. 24.
Dr. Henry J. Faller D’59, Bolton Landing, N.Y., July.
David S. Frieder W’59, Bala Cynwyd, Pa., a former sales executive and financial adviser; Nov. 2. He began his career as a salesman in Chicago and Cincinnati for his family’s cigar business, F. Frieder & Sons. In the mid-1980s he left his sales position to become a retail stockbroker and later a financial planner for brokerage firms in Philadelphia, until retiring in 2001. During the 1970s he had served as a volunteer with the Elkins Park Fire Company; in the 1980s he coached baseball for the Fairmount Sports Association. After being diagnosed with cancer in 2000, he became an active participant in the Philadelphia chapter of the Wellness Community, a national nonprofit serving people with cancer and their families. In a video interview produced by the organization he encouraged patients to take control of their disease, urging them to opt for the best quality of life even if it meant ending treatment, as he eventually chose to do. He had served in the U.S. Navy in Washington state and later earned a pilot’s license.
Evelyn G. Gendelman CW’59 SW’61, Philadelphia, 2005.
Ronald P. Sanderson C’59, Indianapolis, Nov. 17.
1960s
1960 | Paul S. Dresser WEv’60, Zelienople, Pa., Oct. 28, 2004.
Hon. John Walter L’60, Lebanon, Pa., Dec. 18.
David L. Williams L’60, Boca Raton, Fla., Nov. 20. At Penn he was a member of the Sharswood Law Club. He began his career in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office under the direction of now U.S. Senator Arlen Spector. He then worked in upper management with Avon, Fuller Brush, and Roux. He retired as a financial consultant in Jacksonville, Fla. He was a board member of the Jacksonville Community Council and was president of Community Care Connections. He served as a pilot in the U.S. Navy and retired as a captain from the Naval Reserves.
Peter Zambelli L’60, Philadelphia, the co-owner, since the late 1990s, of Global Corporate Relations in Manhattan; Nov. 13. Earlier he had worked in public relations for the financial industry in New York. For over 10 years, until the late 1980s, he was public affairs manager for the eastern regional office of Atlantic Richfield. And he had been director of communications for Insurance Company of North America. He served as an overseer of the Annenberg Center and was an associate trustee of the University in the late 1990s. In Philadelphia he served on the boards of the Art Alliance, the Academy of Vocal Arts, the Society Hill Civic Association, and the Mikveh Israel Cemetery. He was a founding member of Business Leaders Organized to Save Catholic Schools (BLOCS). And he was a patron of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He had been a gunnery officer in the U.S. Navy.
1961 | Dr. Barry G. Cole W’61, Alexandria, Va., Nov. 28.
Peter A. Gross W’61, Chesterfield, Mo., Oct. 10, 2004.
1962 | Paul L. Feinsmith C’62, Hollywood, Fla., June 19, 2005.
Michael D. Levine C’62, Chapel Hill, N.C., an attorney in general practice from 1969 until retiring in 2005; Aug. 11. Known as a strong negotiator, he was often overheard telling a client, “I don’t want this to cost you more with me than without me,” according to The Durham Herald-Sun. He provided his services for those who could not afford an attorney and served on the court-appointed indigent list for more than 20 years. In 2001 he was inducted into the North Carolina Bar’s General Practice Hall of Fame. He was a co-founder of Ocutech, which makes products for nearly blind people. And he was active in many social-outreach programs, including the Women’s Shelter of Chapel Hill, for which he provided free legal counseling for many years. Among his hobbies was the collection of antique weaponry. He enjoyed growing roses and maintaining his pasture with a 1947 Ford tractor. During the Vietnam War he served as a captain, subsequently retiring as major from the Marine Corps Reserves.
William E. Missert W’62, Pawleys Island, S.C., Sept. 10.
Dr. Conrad H. Nebeker M’62, Ogden, Utah, a retired physician; November.
John J. Sweeney GEE’62, Greensboro, N.C., Oct. 27.
1963 | Frances M. Deal GEd’63, Raleigh, N.C., July 6.
Louise P. Housel GEd’63, Camden, Maine, a language teacher at Audubon High School in New Jersey for 39 years; Sept. 20. She taught Latin, French, and German there from 1938 until her retirement in 1977, when she moved to Maine.
Edward W. Samans GEE’63, Broomall, Pa., June 10, 2005.
Dr. Howard M. Skurow D’63, Swampscott, Mass., a dentist; Nov. 27.
C. Dolores Tucker WEv’63, Philadelphia, the first African American secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; Oct. 12. At age 16 she began protesting against discrimination from the back of a flatbed truck when Philadelphia’s old Bellevue Stratford Hotel refused entrance to black athletes. As a young woman she earned a real estate license and founded an insurance company in the Olney district with her husband. In 1965 she marched with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King in Selma, Ala. She became the first black woman to be named vice chair of Pennsylvania state Democratic party and the first woman vice president of the NAACP in 1970. A year later Pennsylvania Governor Milton J. Shapp selected her as secretary of the Commonwealth; during her tenure she helped streamline voter registration and lower the voting age to 18. And she started the first State Commission on the Status of Women. She lost her position in 1977 under allegations of using state employees to write political speeches that earned her $65,000, a claim that supporters said was racially motivated. She ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 1978 and lost a bid for the U.S. Senate in 1980. While continuing to sell real estate and insurance, she remained politically active, including heading the minority caucus of the Democratic National Committee and being a founding member of the National Women’s Political Caucus. In 1984 she founded what is now the National Congress for Black Women. State Senator Anthony H. Williams said, “At a time when women and people of color often were relegated to second-class citizenship, she rose above and challenged those assertions, demanding to be engaged based on her intellect and passion.” During the 1990s she became a vigorous opponent of the obscenities in rap music, protesting, writing letters, and picketing in front of stores. Despite being a board member of the NAACP, she picketed it after its nomination of Tupac Shakur for one of its Image Awards (which he did not win). She told The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1994 that she was “ready to go to jail, to die, whatever is necessary to stop this pornographic filth.” Her protests led to defamation suits against rapper artists, who began ridiculing her in their lyrics, and the conglomerates that distributed their music. Always proud of her heritage, she was known for wearing turbans with her matching ensembles, even when protesting in the streets, for which she was sometimes arrested. Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell C’65 Hon’00 called her “one of the great civil rights activists of our time,” citing her “dedication, class, grace, and dignity.”
1964 | Herbert S. Adler W’64, Scarsdale, N.Y., a principal at Halcyon Management Company since 1995; Dec. 12. He began his professional career as an associate at Lehman Brothers, then served as assistant to the president of Koffman Family Interest, where he was responsible for distressed investments and workouts. From 1968 to 1976 he was a first vice president and treasurer of E.M. Warburg, Pincus & Co., where he specializeed in private-equity transactions. He served as vice president and member of the executive committee of Hugo Neu & Sons, Inc., a family holding company, 1976-79. From 1979 to 1991 he was principal and co-director of the national merger and acquisition department at KPMG Peat Marwick, where he also chaired itsinternational merger & acquisition steering committee and leveraged-buyout committee. Before joining Halcyon he was a general partner of McFarland Dewey & Co., 1991-95, where he specialized in acquisitions and restructuring. He co-wrote Guide to Acquisitions in the U.S., and wrote numerous articles on acquisitions; he lectured in many countries and chaired or participated in merger and acquisition seminars in various U.S. cities. An active supporter of the University, he received the Alumni Award of Merit in 1992. He served Penn on the boards of overseers of Penn Design, the University Library, and on the board of Penn Alumni. He was past chair of The Penn Fund and Benjamin Franklin Society, and a member of the steering committee for The Campaign for Penn. As chair of the 25th Reunion gift committee, he raised the largest amount of money ever for a 25th Reunion gift to any university. A member of numerous cultural, scientific, and medical non-profit boards in both the U.S. and the U.K., he served as past president of the visiting committee at Williams College Museum of Arts and as director of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (New York chapter); he was a trustee for the American Association of the Royal Academy Trust, the Marlborough College Foundation, and the American Friends of Winchester Cathedral. His collection of 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century American works on paper has been exhibited in several American museums. His daughters are Sloane E. Simon-Adler C’93 G’93 and Margaret C. Adler Gr’09, and his cousin is Dr. Lawrence H. Lublin C’67 D’71.
1965 | Dr. John A. Flavia D’65, Norwalk, Conn., a dentist; Dec. 19, 2002.
Patricia A. Gibson Nu’65 GNu’70, North Cape May, N.J., professor emeritus of nursing at Widener University; December.
Dr. Alma S. Woolley GNu’65 Grd’80, Catonsville, Md., Dec. 17.
1966 | Dr. William M. Mekenney V’66, Berwyn, Pa., a veterinarian; Nov. 15.
Clara Diven Rollason GEd’66, Broomall, Pa., a teacher for more than 20 years at Sayre Middle School in Philadelphia; Oct. 24. On weekends she taught Sunday school. During World War II she worked at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
Peter R. Schlam C’66, New York, an attorney; June 1, 2005.
1967 | Frederick B. Gleason III C’67 WG’70, Savannah, Ga., Nov. 28.
John H. Jacobs C’67, New York, an attorney; Oct. 29.
Michael B. Kelland WG’67, New York, an executive at Citibank who was in charge of investment-banking activities for South America, Japan, and Australia, until his retirement in 1990; Nov. 27. He also served on the bank’s policy committee. After retiring, he became a painter, concentrating on architectural compositions in oil. His daughter is Jennifer P. Kelland C’91.
Dr. Dolly Schlain Rieder Gr’67, Yonkers, N.Y., a French teacher at Penn, Temple University, and Finch College in New York; Nov. 4. Her specialty was modern French literature. She was former treasurer of the Association for the Study of Dada and Surrealism. Also active in Democratic politics, she campaigned for presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy in 1968, was director of Delaware County Citizens for George McGovern in 1972; and she ran the Delaware County campaign of independent presidential candidate John Anderson in 1980. And she served a term as president of the Southeastern Pennsylvania chapter of the Americans for Democratic Action. She was devoted to women’s organizations, including National Organization for Women, Planned Parenthood, and the National Abortion Rights Action League.
1968 | Dr. Charles Davis Belcher C’68, Falmouth, Mass., a retired physician; Sept. 14.
Leonard A. Segal L’68, Bardonia, N.Y., an attorney; May 4, 2005.
Dr. Everett H. Silverman D’68, Halesite, N.Y., a dentist; Sept. 29.
Joan N. Silverstein CW’68, Albuquerque, N.M., a literacy teacher in the adult and development education department at Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute for almost two decades; Aug. 7. She also started a literacy library and a Web page for the program, and created the “new reader of the year” award, given annually to the student who had made the most progress in reading. “She had a deep sense of personal responsibility to try to work with the most disadvantaged students,” said Michael Gienger, a colleague and friend. “Joni really took it on as a calling … She had an ability, rare even in a teacher, to be very honest with students, but remain encouraging and supportive [even] when results were not forthcoming.” One example of her devotion was her replying to a student’s e-mail on the evening she died. “That alone tells you the kind of person she was,” said Lisa Rodrigues, a student in the program. Although Joni had not planned on a teaching career, she was struck, during jobs as a waitress and substitute teacher, by the number of children who could not read, and decided to enter the adult-literacy field.
1969 | Dr. Frieda Schreiber Herskovitz GrEd’69, Philadelphia, a psychologist who practiced individual and family therapy for over 30 years; Sept. 26. One of her sons is Dr. Barton S. Herskovitz M’76 GM’80, and her brother-in-law is Herman Mattleman W’47 L’49.
1970s
1970 | Gerald Carl Tegen Nu’70, Kewaunee, Wis., July 27.
1971 | Dr. William F. Lynch Gr’71, Boothwyn, Pa., emeritus professor of English at Neumann College; Sept. 15. He joined the faculty there in 1971 and retired in 2000, but continuing to teach as an adjunct. From 1981 to 1987 he chaired the humanities division. A specialist in Renaissance Literature, he received an NDEA fellowship for graduate studies and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities. He was past president of the Pennsylvania College English Association.
Wayne C. Watkins G’71 WG’73, Lusby, Md., December.
1972 | Lois Jean Nute Fairlie GNu’72, Manheim, Pa., the head of nursing instruction at Wernersville State Hospital; Oct. 17. She had previously been director of nursing for the Mennonite Home and had held nursing positions at numerous Pennsylvania hospitals, including Community Hospital of Lancaster, the Hershey Medical Center, and Presbyterian Hospital of Philadelphia. From 1975 to 1980 she was an assistant professor and chair of nursing at Millersville University, where she developed and initiated their BSN program. She also taught classes at Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg, the Willow Street Vocational Technical School, and in the Lancaster school district. After exploring the application of computers in nursing education, she designed one of the earliest medical-information systems, and presented it at a 1980 nursing conference. From 1987 to 1999 she set up and ran card and gift shops in Millersville and in Lancaster.
Dr. Michael J. Maffei GM’72, Langhorne, Pa., a physician; Dec. 10.
1973 | Taylor Deweese III L’73, Little Rock, S.C., an attorney; March 28, 2005.
1974 | Julian Y. Bernstein WG’74, Harrison, N.Y., an executive vice president of the Bernstein Research Group; Oct. 24. He was a devoted leader of the Jewish Community Center of Harrison, the UJA Federation of New York, the Westchester Jewish Conference, Hillels of Westchester, and the Westchester Jewish Chronicle.His wife is Betsy Bennett Bernstein WG’74.
Charles R. Kubisiak GCE’74, Elkins Park, Pa., an engineer; March 15, 2005.
1975 | Dr. Viola P. Stallings WG’75, Delran, N.J., a supervisor and teacher for IBM for 26 years; Nov. 27. At Penn she was inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society. An early tour of duty in the Peace Corps in Africa profoundly affected her, “changing her whole way of life,” according to her sister Mary. She then taught English and mathematics for a time at the Penn Treaty Middle School. After working as a business consultant she joined IBM, where she worked as a systems engineer, systems analyst, and product manager. Along with managing numerous technology projects and mentoring personnel, she designed and taught classes in project-management certification, working at IBM facilities in Philadelphia, Mount Laurel, N.J., and Redondo Beach, Calif. She served as an officer in local branches of the American Foundation for Negro Affairs, the Black United Fund, Inc., and the American Association of University Women.
1976 | John D. Buchin C’76, Los Angeles, a corporate marketing director; Nov. 11. Earlier he had been a reporter and journalist in several cities, including Orlando, Fla., Pittsburgh, and New York.
Debra Simon Cohen C’76, Skokie, Ill., Nov. 15, 2001.
Dr. Simon M. Goldstein W’76, Lake Oswego, Ore., a neuroradiologist who had maintained a practice in Portland; Sept. 25. Earlier he worked in research for many years at Oregon Health Sciences University. A lifelong lover of the Talmud, he was a sought-after reader of the Torah at several temples in the Portland area. And he coached children’s sports. His parents are Barbara Aspel Goldstein CW’55 and Jeremy E. Goldstein W’52. His brother is Daniel J. Goldstein C’83 W’83. His sisters are Marianne Goldstein Feifer C’88 GEd’92 and Sara Goldstein Alter C’79, whose husband is Scott M. Alter ME’80 W’80.
Deborah M. Jacobson C’76, Southampton, Pa., Nov. 15, 2004.
1978 | John R. Kessler WG’78, Downingtown, Pa., the retired director of technology at Unisys Corporation, where he had worked for 40 years; July 5. Earlier he had worked in software development for the company. The recipient of numerous achievement awards, he traveled worldwide, giving speeches to Unisys clients and users. After retiring in 2002, he was chair of the East Brandywine Historic Commission. And he was an active volunteer with the Brandywine River Museum.
1979 | Henry A. Leavitt WG’79, Kirkland, Wash., Aug. 9.
John P. McNulty WG’79, Short Hills, N.J., a senior director at Goldman Sachs; Nov. 16. He worked for Goldman Sachs for 22 years, where he helped build a global-investment management business that became an integral part of the firm. He became a partner in 1990 and a managing director in 1996. At his retirement in 2001, he was head of the investment-management division and a member of the management committee. He continued to serve as a senior director. He was a trustee of the Wharton School, 2002-05. He chaired the finance committee at St. Joseph’s University and served as an advisory director to the Metropolitan Opera. He was a patron of St. Joseph’s School in Chinatown, a trustee of the Aspen Institute, and served on the board of Carnival Corporation. His wife is Anne Welsh McNulty WG’79 and one of his sons is John P. McNulty C’07.
1980s
1981 | Anne Mickevicz Lukshus CGS’81, Philadelphia, Oct. 7.
Dr. Frederick Marz Jr. V’81, Point Pleasant, N.J., a veterinarian who practiced at the Point Pleasant Veterinary Hospital, until his retirement in 2003; Aug. 2.
1986 | Dr. Greg A. Yolowitz GM’86, Holmdel, N.J., a physician; July 3.
1987 | Marc Chemla WG’87, Paris, Aug. 31.
Dr. Muhammad J. Rehman GEng’87 Gr’97, Islamabad, Pakistan, Oct. 8.
1988 | Teddy Tak Dee Sun W’88, Hong Kong, Sept. 18. He had worked for Infoserve Technology Corporation.
1989 | Dr. Raymond Q. Seyler G’89, West Brandywine, Pa., a retired physician and medical consultant; Sept. 23. He practiced family medicine in Havertown, Pa., and was on the internal medicine staff of Bryn Mawr Hospital and Delaware County Memorial Hospital. In the 1970s he closed his practice and for more than 20 years was a medical consultant for Cigna Insurance Co. During World War II he served in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps in the Pacific aboard the transport ship U.S.S. Knox. He treated wounded Marines being evacuated by the ship’s landing craft from Iwo Jima, Tinian, and the Philippines, for which he was awarded the Bronze Star.
1990s
1994 | Susan McAndrews Falcone WG’94, Gaithersburg, Md., a former senior manager in the consulting department of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Washington; July 6. During her career there, she designed and installed financial systems for organizations and corporations. She was nominated by the firm to attend the executive MBA program at Wharton, after which she was appointed senior manager. She served as an officer with the Mary of Nazareth School Association.
Roger Nathan Trief C’94, Hollywood, Fla., 2005.
Dr. Michelle Daman Wasserman C’94, Highland Park, N.J., Oct. 17. She had received a doctorate degree in clinical child psychology from St. Johns University in Queens, N.Y. Her parents are Judith Barta Daman CW’70 and Lauren A. Daman C’68; her brother is Jeffrey K. Daman C’97 G’00 L’00.
1995 | Dr. Michele Connell McLennan Gr’95, Collegeville, Pa., Oct. 10.
1996 | Sabah Quraishi L’96, Gaithersburg, Md., an attorney in the office of hearings and appeals for the Social Security Administration; Sept. 8, 2004.
1999 | John R. Hertzler GEd’99, Det Udom, Thailand, a missionary with the Eastern Mennonite Mission there; July 24. He began working with the organization in 1987, as a member of a youth-evangelism team to Belize. He also served in Costa Rica and Honduras. His service in Thailand began in 2001, where he taught English at a university in Ubon Ratathani. He was known for a deep dedication to his work and a love of the Thai people.
2000s
2001 | Michael J. Bannister EE’01, West Hartford, Conn., an electrical engineer with the Underwater Electromagnetic Signatures and Technology Division of the U.S. Navy; Sept. 20.
2005 | Emily L. Saslow L’05, Denver, a clerk to Hon. Jean Pratter, District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania; Oct. 17. Passionate about constitutional law and social justice, she was to be an associate at Simpson, Thatcher this year. Her father is William S. Saslow C’63 GAr’68, and her brother is Michael H. Saslow C’06.
2006 | Kyle Ambrogi W’06, Havertown, Pa., a senior majoring in finance and a running back on the men’s football team; Oct. 10. A graduate of St. Joseph’s Preparatory School and a member of its football team, he was the Philadelphia 2001 City Player of the Year. At Penn, he appeared in every game from his sophomore year. In the Oct. 8 game against Bucknell University, he had five carries for 18 yards and two touchdowns. His brother is Gregory C. Ambrogi W’08. (See “Sports,” Nov.-Dec.)
Niall Grant Maclennan WG’06, Edinburgh, Nov. 13. While at Penn he served on the leadership-lecture committee, was co-president of the Scotch Club, and was a member of the Wharton rugby team.
Faculty & Staff
Edmund N. Bacon Hon’84, Philadelphia, former adjunct professor and retired executive director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission; Oct. 14. He worked as an architect in China and Philadelphia before becoming a city planner in Flint, Mich. He then served as the director of the Philadelphia Housing Association, where he was a designer of the 1947 Better Philadelphia Exhibition. And he was an early member of the City Policy Committee, which was instrumental in Philadelphia’s political reform movement. He was executive director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission from 1949 to 1970, a tenure that had a far-ranging and long-lasting impact on his native city. His influence became evident during the 1950s and 1960s with the planning of Penn Center, a huge development of the Philadelphia’s downtown core that included offices and hotels. In replacing the so-called Chinese Wall, a network of elevated railroad tracks that divided the city, he eventually established a strong east-west spine. His design concepts included the addition of buildings to the area around 30th Street Station and the development of Market East, Penn’s Landing, Society Hill, and Independence Mall. He was known for favoring a ceiling on Philadelphia building heights, honoring the longstanding tradition that no building should be taller than the height of the William Penn statue atop City Hall (491 feet). And he opposed the skyscraper One Liberty Place, causing a fallout with his former friend, the builder Willard G. Rouse III. In 1964 he was featured on the cover of Time magazine for an issue commemorating urban renewal in America. A year later Life magazine devoted a cover story to his work. His 1967 book, Design of Cities, is still considered a seminal text on urban planning. Frequently lauded, his work was also controversial. He often clashed with preservationists because he demolished so much of the city for new construction. And in 1998 Herbert Muschamp C’69 wrote in The New York Times that Penn Center was “reviled as a prime example of disastrous modern city planning,” citing its “disregard for the vitality of the traditional street.” After retiring from the City Planning Commission in 1970, he served as vice president for Mondev International Ltd., a private planning firm. And he produced Understanding Cities, a series of films on city planning. He appeared in the 2003 documentary film about legendary architect Louis I. Kahn Ar’24 Hon’71, My Architect, in which he vigorously defended his decision to reject Kahn’s urban plan for Philadelphia. He was an adjunct professor at Penn and also taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His awards and honors include a distinguished-service award from the American Institute of Planners and the Philadelphia Award. One of his children is actor Kevin Bacon.
Dr. John J. Cebra. See Class of 1955.
Dr. George Gerbner, Philadelphia, dean emeritus of the Annenberg School for Communication and professor emeritus of communication; Dec. 24. Born in Budapest, Hungary, he emigrated to the U.S. in 1939 to flee the Nazis. He was a professor and researcher at the Institute for Communications Research at the University of Illinois, 1956 to 1964. He was chosen dean of the Annenberg School for Communication in 1964 by Walter Annenberg W’31 Hon’66, who had established the school five years earlier. During his tenure as dean, Dr. Gerbner landed the leading publication in the field of communication research, the Journal of Communication, which he served as editor and executive editor. He created the Oxford-Penn project to publish a world encyclopedia of communications, and established the Washington Communications Project. In 1968 he founded and headed the Cultural Indicators Research Project to track changes in television programming and study how television influences American’s view of society; the project’s database has gathered over 3,000 television programs and 35,000 characters. He said that people no longer learn their cultural identity from their family, schools, churches, and communities, but through “a handful of conglomerates who have something to sell.” According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, he advised parents to watch television with their children to help them interpret what they see. He coined the phrase mean world syndrome, a phenomenon in which people who watch large amounts of television are more likely to believe that the world is an unforgiving and frightening place. “Fearful people are more dependent, more easily manipulated and controlled, more susceptible to deceptively simple, strong, tough measures and hard-line postures,” he testified before a Congressional subcommittee on communications in 1981. “They may accept and even welcome repression if it promises to relieve their insecurities. That is the deeper problem of violence-laden television.” Several of his studies also showed that women, senior citizens, and minorities were underrepresented on television: It is “a new civil right” for programs to represent people fairly and equally. Dr. Gerbner received many honors and was a member of several advisory committees and research commissions in communications. In 1979 he was named a Fellow by the International Communication Association. In 1986 he chaired the subcommission on communications and society of the Commission on the Social Sciences of the American Council of Learned Societies. Former President Sheldon Hackney Hon’93 and former Provost Michael Aiken honored Dr. Gerbner by establishing an annual lecture series in 1988, known as the George Gerbner Lecture in Communications. In 1989, after 25 years of service as the University’s longest serving dean, Dr. Gerbner stepped down as dean but continued to teach undergraduate and graduate courses in analysis of mass media, and conduct research at Penn; he retired in 1994. In 1990 he founded the Cultural Environment Movement, an advocacy group working for greater diversity in media. He held the Bell Atlantic Communications chair at Temple University, 1997-2000. Dr. Gerbner wrote and edited many books and articles in scholarly journals, including Invisible Crises: What Conglomerate Media Control Means for America and the World and The Global Media Debate: Its Rise, Fall, and Renewal. A collection of his poems, Moods and Modes: Rhythm and Rhyme, was published only two days after his death. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army and in the Office of Strategic Services. He was awarded a Bronze Star for parachuting behind enemy lines and joining Yugoslavian partisans to fight the Germans. After the war he helped arrest Nazi officials and personally arrested fascist Hungarian Prime Minister Bela Imredy, who was tried for war crimes. Dr. Gerbner’s wife was Ilona Kutas Gerbner, whom he met when she was an actress in Budapest. Their sons are John C. Gerbner C’73 GAr’76, whose wife is Anne Jarvis Gerbner CW’76 GEd’76, and Dr. Thomas J. Gerbner C’79 GEd’84 Gr’90; the grandchildren include Katharine R. Gerbner CGS’03 and Elizabeth I. Gerbner C’08.
Ilona Kutas Gerbner, Philadelphia, retired lecturer and director in the Theatre Lab at the Annenberg School; Dec. 8. Trained as an opera theater singer, she performed as an actress at the Podium Theatre in Budapest, 1945-6. After coming to America with her husband, George Gerbner, she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in theater arts from the University of Illinois, where he was then a professor. She joined Penn in 1967, teaching acting at the Annenberg School and in the theater-arts program. She was the instructor of the Theatre Lab I and II, where she directed Bertolt Brecht’s The Private Life of the Master Race, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, Lillian Hellmann’s Another Part of the Forest, Edward Albee’s The American Dream, Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit, amongst many other plays, before retiring in 1989.
Dr. Dolly Schlain Rieder. See Class of 1967.
Dr. Charles C. Wolferth Jr. See Class of 1954.
