Trustees

J. Parker Hall III, X’54, a University of Chicago trustee emeritus, died September 22 in Winnetka, IL. He was 78. The son of former University treasurer J. Parker Hall Jr., U-High’23, PhB’27, in 1971 Hall joined Lincoln Capital Management Company, where he was president for almost 30 years. He published frequently on investment topics in the Financial Analysts Journal and in 2000 received the first Hortense Friedman Award from the Investment Analysts Society of Chicago. A trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Nature Conservancy of Illinois, Hall and his wife, Julie, created the Julie and Parker Hall Botanic Garden Endowment Fund at the University, which helped renew Botany Pond. Recipients of the 2008 University of Chicago Medal, the couple also received several other awards honoring their philanthropy. He is survived by his wife, two daughters, a son, two brothers, and eight grandchildren.

Faculty & Staff

Frank J. Baker II, MBA’84, cofounder of the University of Chicago Aeromedical Network, died May 13 of diabetes complications in Oak Brook, IL. He was 65. In the late 1970s Baker joined the Pritzker School of Medicine and rose to emergency-medicine chair. Around that time, he cofounded the city of Chicago’s Emergency Medical Service Systems to coordinate paramedics and ER physicians. In 1984 Baker started the Medical Center’s emergency helicopter system. Three years later he left the University to work as a senior ER physician at several local hospitals. A past president of the Illinois College of Emergency Physicians, Baker coedited Rosen’s Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice (1983). He is survived by his wife, Mary Mila Juric-Baker, MBA’87; two daughters; two sisters; and two grandchildren.

James Bowman, X’64, professor emeritus in pathology and medicine, died September 28 in Chicago. He was 88. A pathology and population-genetics expert who studied inherited blood diseases, Bowman was the first African American tenured professor in the University’s Biological Sciences Division. After two years as chief of pathology for the Medical Nutrition Laboratory at Denver’s Fitzsimons Army Hospital, Bowman and his wife, Barbara (Taylor) Bowman, AM’52, moved to Iran, where Bowman joined Nemazee Hospital as its pathology chair. In 1962 he returned to UChicago, where he became a full professor in 1971, directed the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center, and served as Pritzker School of Medicine’s assistant dean for minority affairs. He served on two federal review committees overseeing sickle cell screening and education. His many awards include a CINE Golden Eagle Award for a film about sickle cells and a 1992 Gold Key Award from the University’s Medical and Biological Sciences Alumni Association. Survivors include his wife; a daughter, former University trustee and Medical Center trustee Valerie Bowman Jarrett; and granddaughter Laura Jarrett, U-High’03.

Zdenek Hruban, MD’56, PhD’63, professor emeritus of pathology, died September 18 in Chicago. He was 90. A pioneer in early electron microscopy, Hruban applied it to clinical pathology, identifying how cells respond normally to cellular injuries such as oxygen deprivation, and was among the first to describe cellular organelles called peroxisomes. After fleeing communist Czechoslovakia, Hruban joined UChicago in 1960, retiring as professor emeritus in 1991. He received the 1994 Gold Key Award from the University’s Medical and Biological Sciences Alumni Association. Cofounder of the Regenstein Library’s Archives of the Czechs and Slovaks Abroad, Hruban was a member of the Czechoslovak Council on Higher Education and received the 1998 Czech Medal of Merit First Degree. He is survived by his wife, Jarmila; three children, Paul Hruban, U-High’73, X’80, Ralph Hruban, U-High’77, AB’81, and Diana Quinn, U-High’79; and five granddaughters, including Zoe Hruban, AB’09, and Emily Hruban, ’12 .

Claire (Tournay) LaCocque, MST’75, former University of Chicago Lab Schools French teacher, died May 30. She was 83. A Lab Schools teacher from 1970 to 1994, LaCocque also taught religion in Belgium and French in Jerusalem. She ministered at her husband’s parish in Alsace, France. She is survived by her husband, André; daughter Elisabeth Brunner, U-High’74, MST’83; two sons, including Lab Schools counselor Michel LaCocque, AB’73, MST’79; a sister; seven grandchildren, including David LaCocque, U-High’90, Rebecca LaCocque-Randle, U-High’94, AB’98, and Jeremy LaCocque, U-High’07; and four great-grandchildren.

Susan Fromberg Schaeffer, AB’61, AM’63, PhD’66, a visiting professor in English and creative writing, died August 26 in Chicago. She was 71. Three-time winner of the O. Henry Award for short fiction and a finalist for the 1975 National Book Award for poetry, Fromberg Schaeffer wrote six volumes of poetry and 14 novels, including Buffalo Afternoon (1989). She taught English at Brooklyn College, winning the University of Chicago Alumni Association’s 1996 Professional Achievement Award, until joining the University in 2002. She is survived by her husband, Neil; a daughter; a son; a brother; and two grandchildren.

Herman L. Sinaiko, AB’47, PhD’61, a professor of humanities, died October 2 in Chicago. He was 82. Teaching in the College for 57 years, Sinaiko was its dean of students from 1982 to 1986, where he worked to improve student mental-health care and to expand University Theater. Later, he founded the University of Chicago Great Books Institute, which introduces minority and first-generation community-college students to the materials used in the Core curriculum. Sinaiko earned several awards for his teaching, including the University’s Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (1963) and the Alumni Association’s Norman Maclean Faculty Award (2003). He is survived by his wife, Susan Fisher, SB’59; two daughters, including Eve Sinaiko, U-High’73, X’76; three sons, including David Sinaiko, U-High’80, and Benjamin Sinaiko, U-High’99; and four grandchildren.

1930s

Robert S. Whitlow, AB’36, died April 4 in Hilton Head Island, SC. He was 96. A WW II veteran, Whitlow was an attorney with the State and Treasury Departments and GE Corporation before entering private practice. He later held corporate counsel posts at General Precision Equipment Corporation and Commonwealth Oil Refining Company. After retiring from the latter in 1976 as senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary, Whitlow became a private consultant. He is survived by his wife, Leila; a daughter; three sons; brother Joseph Whitlow, AB’39; a sister; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Helen Harshbarger, AB’37, of Plainfield, IL, the first woman elected to the Will County (IL) Board, died July 4. She was 95. Harshberger was a teacher, secretary, and tax consultant before being elected to the board in 1972. After serving three terms, she was elected circuit clerk, retiring in 1996. Harshbarger was president of the United Way of Will County and the Joliet Junior College Foundation. Survivors include a daughter, three sons, and six grandchildren.

Ruth S. Kadish, AB’37, of San Francisco, died August 10. She was 95. A Navy lieutenant during WW II, Kadish moved to San Francisco, where she founded the Service Committee on Public Education and was named to the State Committee of Teacher Credentials. As the first woman on the San Francisco International Airport Commission, she started the art exhibitions that still decorate SFO’s corridors. In 2001 an art gallery in her name was dedicated at the airport. Kadish is survived by her husband, Morris; a daughter; a son; and two grandchildren.

Bernard Wolnak, SB’39, of Northbrook, IL, died June 2011. He was 92. A WW II veteran, Wolnak did laboratory research in what later became the field of biotechnology before consulting to international agricultural, food manufacturing, and pharmaceutical companies. He retired at age 90. Survivors include two daughters, a brother, a sister, five grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

1940s

Antreen M. Pfau, SB’40, SM’44, died August 17 in Napa, CA. She was 93. A biomedical editor, Pfau worked at Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and City of Hope National Medical Center. She is survived by her husband, John Pfau, AB’47, AM’48, PhD’51, and two daughters.

Isabel (McNeill) Carley, U-High’35, AM’41, died July 14 in Gaithersburg, MD. She was 92. A leader in bringing the Orff approach—a method that combines music, movement, and speech—to American music education, Carley cofounded the America Orff-Schulwerk Association and chaired the Orff Echo’s editorial board. Recipient of the association’s 1998 Distinguished Service Award, she composed for the recorder and wrote the three-volume Recorder Improvisation and Technique. Survivors include two daughters; a son; a brother, the Robert A. Millikan distinguished service professor emeritus in history William H. McNeill, U-High’34, AB’38, AM’39; a sister; three grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Henry R. Gass, AB’41, died May 8 in Rockford, IL. He was 91. A WW II veteran, Gass was a systems analyst for Ben Franklin Bank. In retirement he was a Walmart greeter and played Santa Claus at the Aurora, IL, store during the holidays. He is survived by his wife, Bernice; a stepson; a sister; and four step-grandchildren.

James A. Schoenberger, SB’41, MD’43, died August 13 in Palo Alto, CA. He was 92. A cardiologist who linked high cholesterol and smoking to heart disease, Schoenberger taught at the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago before starting a private practice. In 1968 he returned to teaching at Rush University Medical Center, where he chaired the preventive-medicine department and founded an Alzheimer’s research center, retiring as professor emeritus in 1994. A past president of the American Heart Association, Schoenberger received the University of Chicago Medical and Biological Sciences Alumni Association’s 1982 Distinguished Service Award. He is survived by his wife, Sara Ann (Cotter) Schoenberger, PhB’46; three sons; and five grandchildren.

James W. Tedrow, AB’42, JD’47, MBA’50, an attorney, died January 13 in Menlo Park, CA. He was 90. A WW II and Korea veteran, Tedrow was counsel at Automatic Electric Company before becoming a corporate secretary at Lenkurt Electric. After retiring in 1984, he did pro bono work for the Legal Aid Society and served on Menlo Park’s Library Commission. He is survived by his wife, Virginia (Vlack) Tedrow, AB’47; three daughters; a sister; a granddaughter; and a great-grandson.

Louise (Harvey) Clark, SB’45, an architect, died August 21 in Santa Rosa, CA. She was 86. An apartment-complex designer in the Bay Area with her husband, Johnson Clark, SB’43, Clark became an antiwar activist in the late 1960s, working as a draft counselor at the Mount Diablo Peace and Justice Center. In 2006 she created a hillside memorial honoring troops lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. Her husband died in 2007. She is survived by two daughters and four sons.

Michael M. Davis, U-High’35, SB’47, SM’57, an engineer, died April 19 in Chapel Hill, NC. He was 93. A WW II veteran, Davis developed biomedical technologies at the National Institutes of Health, created radio-navigation systems for NASA at General Electric, and devised vehicle-testing systems for government agencies. He is survived by his wife, Patricia; two daughters; three sons; eight grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.

C. Lamar Wallis, BLS’47, a library administrator, died April 15 in Memphis, TN. He was 95. A WW II veteran, Wallis led efforts to desegregate Memphis public libraries in the 1960s. He spent 22 years as director of the Memphis/Shelby County Public Library and Information Center. Survivors include a son and two grandchildren.

Willis Dale Hannawalt, AB’49, JD’54, of San Francisco, died June 22. He was 83. An attorney, Hannawalt taught at Stanford Law School before joining Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro, where he retired as a partner. He also did pro bono work for San Francisco public schools. His first wife, Vivian (Chaya) Hannawalt, AB’49, AM’54, died in 2003. He is survived by his wife, Linda; two daughters; a son; two sisters; and six grandchildren.

1950s

Charles O. Erickson, AM’50, DB’51, died July 4 in Kalamazoo, MI. He was 86. A WW II veteran and civil-rights advocate, Erickson was a United Church of Christ minister and taught at Piedmont and Defiance Colleges. He was later director of church relations at Olivet College. He is survived by his wife, Alberta “Jane” Drake Erickson, X’50; three sons; and six grandchildren.

Leon F. Miller, AM’46, PhD’50, died May 28 in Springfield, MO. He was 91. A WW II veteran, Miller was a distinguished professor of education at Northwest Missouri State University, where he directed the Horace Mann Laboratory School and chaired the education and psychology division. He served as graduate dean before retiring in 1985. Miller won the Phi Delta Kappa Distinguished Educational Service Award and received the 1991 Lions Club International Humanitarian Award. He is survived by his wife, Mary Belle, and a daughter.

Katalin (Sarosy) Paterson, AM’50, of Aranda, Australian Capital Territory, Australia, died May 1. She was 87. After meeting at Chicago, Paterson, a social worker, and her husband, Mervyn Paterson, X’50, moved to Australia, where she worked for the Canberra immigration department and the Heart Foundation of Australia. She is survived by her husband, a daughter, a son, and two grandsons.

Heath K. Riggs, SM’48, PhD’50, a mathematician, died April 20 in Burlington, VT. He was 92. Riggs was admissions director at the University of Vermont before joining the school’s math faculty in 1953. During his 31 years there, he introduced the first computer to campus and taught in the schools’ National Science Foundation Summer Institute for math teachers. He also chaired the Richmond (VT) school board and zoning committee. He is survived by his wife, Harriet; a daughter; two sons; two sisters; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Earl H. Swanson, X’50, of Lincolnshire, IL, died April 24. He was 100. Swanson worked for the Advertising Checking Bureau for 58 years, retiring as chair. He is survived by his wife, Beryl Petersen Swanson, PhB’33; a daughter; two sons; a brother; 12 grandchildren; and 19 great-grandchildren.

Joseph V. Brady, PhD’51, a neuroscientist, died July 29 in Towson, MD. He was 89. A WW II veteran, Brady specialized in behavioral substance abuse, pioneering treatment approaches such as mobile methadone units and launching the field of behavioral pharmacology. He spent 20 years at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research as deputy director of neuropsychiatry and directed the space-research laboratory at the University of Maryland, training the first chimps to fly on NASA missions. He later joined Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. A recipient of the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Award, Brady also founded the nonprofit Institute for Behavioral Resources. He is survived by his wife, Nancy; four daughters; a son; a stepdaughter; a brother; 13 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

David G. Hinners, AM’48, PhD’51, died July 6 in Bangor, ME. He was 87. A WW II veteran, Hinners was a research analyst for the Census Bureau; the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; and the State Department’s Asia and Far East division. He retired from the Justice Department in 1986 as a senior research specialist and wrote a biography of Chinese diplomat Tong Shao-Yi.

Mary (Lawrence) Stillings, SB’51, died July 25 in Salem, OR. She was 88. In 1959 Stillings and her husband, Edwin J. Stillings, AM’48, PhD’52, moved to Salem, where she was a member of the League of Women Voters, the American Association of University Women, and Marion County Democrats. Her husband died in 1991. Survivors include two daughters, a son, five grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

Creed Black, AM’52, of Miami, former president of the Knight Foundation, died August 16. He was 86. A WW II veteran, Black was a journalist with the Philadelphia Inquirer before becoming chair and publisher of the Lexington Herald-Leader Company. In 1986 he led the Kentucky news team to a Pulitzer Prize with a series exposing violations of NCAA policy. Black was inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame that year. He joined Knight in 1988 and grew the organization’s endowment to nearly $1.2 billion. He is survived by his wife, Elsa; a daughter; and three sons.

Leo Herzel, JD’52, a corporate attorney and legal scholar, died July 21 in Glencoe, IL. He was 87. Cochair of law firm Mayer Brown, Herzel wrote a market analysis of resource allocation problems that continues to influence Federal Communications Commission policy. Survivors include a daughter, a son, and a grandson.

Jo Eleanor Elliott, AM’53, died May 1 in Boulder, CO. She was 87. A past president of the American Nurses Association, Elliott headed the Western Council on Higher Education for Nursing for 23 years. She later directed the US Public Health Service’s nursing division and taught at several schools, including the University of Michigan. Recognized by President Obama during his 2010 speech to the ANA for a lifetime of “courage and leadership” in health care, Elliott received the University of Chicago Alumni Association’s 1983 Professional Achievement Award. Survivors include several nieces and nephews.

John A. Harvey, AB’55, PhD’59, died June 25 in Philadelphia. He was 80. A specialist in drug treatments for depression and movement disorders, Harvey held joint appointments as an associate professor in psychology and pharmacology at the University until 1968, when he joined the University of Iowa. In 1988 he became a professor at the Drexel University College of Medicine and was department chair before retiring in 2010. A past president of the American Psychological Association’s psychopharmacology division, Harvey received a research development award and a research scientist award from the National Institute of Mental Health. He is survived by his wife, Rhoda (Sadigur) Harvey, AB’54, PhD’61; two sons; and two grandchildren.

Tom Gehrels, PhD’56, of Tucson, AZ, died July 11. He was 86. After fighting with the Dutch Resistance during WW II, Gehrels, an astronomer, spent 50 years at the University of Arizona studying asteroids and comets, research that helped create imaging devices that took early close-up photos of Saturn and Jupiter. He was principal investigator for a Pioneer 10 and 11 imaging experiment, which returned the first images of Saturn’s F-ring. In 1980 he founded the Spacewatch Project to observe asteroids, including ones that could threaten Earth. Gehrels received the American Astronomical Society’s 2007 Harold Masursky Award for his contributions to planetary science. He is survived by his wife, Liedeke; a daughter; and two sons.

Sarla Sharma, AM’56, of Greensboro, NC, died May 25. A psychologist, Sharma taught at North Carolina A&T State University for 44 years and retired professor emeritus. Her publications focused on injustices against women. She is survived by her husband, Chiranji L. Sharma, PhD’55; a daughter; two sons; a sister; and two grandchildren.

William Maehl Jr., PhD’57, a historian, died July 26 in Santa Fe, NM. He was 81. A US Army veteran, Maehl taught at Chicago and the University of Oklahoma before becoming president of Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, CA. A board member for the Council on Adult and Experiential Learning, he consulted to universities around the country. Maehl, a recipient of the University of Oklahoma Regents’ Award for Superior Teaching, also cofounded the Journal of Transformative Education. He is survived by his wife, Audrey; a daughter; a sister; and three grandchildren.

1960s

Joseph Coggin Jr., PhD’65, of Mobile, AL, died August 22. He was 73. An expert in cancer detection, therapies, and potential vaccines, Coggin joined the University of South Alabama College of Medicine as a professor of microbiology and immunology in the 1970s. He later served as associate dean for basic medical sciences and retired as professor emeritus in 2006. He is survived by his wife, Sharon; two daughters; two sons; a brother; and seven grandchildren.

Helen Elizabeth Bock, AM’67, of Arvada, CO, died May 21. She was 87. Bock taught special-needs students in the Chicago Public Schools for many years and created the special-education program at Harlan High School. After retiring in 1987, she moved to Scottsdale, AZ, and became board president of the Heard Museum Guild. Her husband, Frederick C. Bock, AB’39, PhD’50, died in 2000. Survivors include two daughters, a son, two grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Marguerite (Bondy) Bougere, PhD’68, an educator, died June 29 in New Orleans. She was 92. Bougere taught early-childhood education and children’s literature at Tulane University for nearly three decades. She cowrote the International Reading Association’s first dictionary of reading. Survivors include a son, a brother, and four sisters.

1970s

Geoffrey “Geoff” M. Adkins, AB’73, MD’77, of River Forest, IL, died July 30 after a long illness. He was 60. A fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Adkins consulted to hospitals and private practitioners. Survivors include a sister.

Frank A. Wood, AB’73, X’80, died May 27 in De Pere, WI. He was 82. In 1953 Wood and his wife, Agnes, bought Denmark Press and grew it into Brown County Publishing Company, the umbrella company for the Green Bay News Chronicle and 35 other publications. In 2002 Wood was inducted into the Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame and two years later sold the company to Gannett Corporation. He also taught humanities and international business at St. Norbert College. Wood is survived by his wife; two daughters; five sons, including Michael Wood, AB’79, MBA’83; 14 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Gordon B. Shneider, LLM’75, of Northbrook, IL, died April 21. He was 77. In 1975 Schneider became one of the 28 original faculty members of Lewis University Law School (later acquired by Northern Illinois University), teaching there until 2004. A corporate finance and torts specialist, he was voted Professor of the Year by members of the school’s Class of 1988. Shneider served on the board of the LUNGevity Foundation. Survivors include two daughters; a son, Benjamin Shneider, MD’86; two brothers, including Jerome Shneider, MBA’69; a sister; and four grandchildren.

2000s

John “Jack” Wing, MLA’05, died August 7 in Skokie, IL. He was 75. After working as a financial analyst, Wing became president at A. G. Becker & Co. and then CEO of investment firm the Chicago Corp. (later ABN AMRO). Wing next joined the Illinois Institute of Technology as executive director of the Center for Law and Financial Markets and taught law and finance. Inducted in 2005 into the Futures Industry Association of Hall of Fame, he served on the boards of the Chicago Stock Exchange and the Illinois Humanities Council. Wing is survived by his wife, Joan; two daughters; a son; a brother; two sisters; and nine grandchildren.

2010s

Mandeep Bedi, AB’10, died August 25 in Chicago from injuries related to a traffic incident in which his wife, Elizabeth (Baker-Steimer) Bedi, ’12, was also injured. He was 23. Bedi was a sales intern for University of Chicago’s IT Services Solution Center. In the College, Bedi was a residential computing assistant and taught courses on the politics of soccer and freedom of speech for Chicago high-school students. His senior thesis explored the anthropology of urban graffiti. He is survived by his wife, his parents, and a sister.