Faculty and Staff
Susan M. Fisher, SB’59, of Chicago, died June 21. She was 74. A former clinical professor in psychiatry and comparative human development, Fisher was known for her work to understand and relieve the suffering of others. One of her first posts was as a psychiatrist at Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston. She also held faculty positions at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis and Rush, Tufts, and Harvard medical schools before joining the University in 1979 as a lecturer and consultant in psychiatry. In 1999 she was named a clinical professor. Fisher published two books, including Talking with Young Children About Adoption (Yale University Press, 1995). Her husband, Herman Sinaiko, AB’47, PhD’61, a longtime UChicago professor, died in 2011. Survivors include a daughter; son Benjamin Sinaiko, U-High’99; and a granddaughter.
Michel-Rolph Trouillot, professor of anthropology, died July 5 in Chicago after a long struggle to recuperate from a 2002 aneurism. He was 62. Trouillot grew up in Haiti and came to the United States in 1969. Before beginning his scholarly career, he was a songwriter and activist, protesting Haiti’s Duvalier dictatorship and the US government’s treatment of undocumented Haitian immigrants. Founding director of the Institute for Global Studies in Culture, Power, and History at Johns Hopkins University, Trouillot joined Chicago’s faculty in 1998. He studied the dynamics of power across cultural boundaries and wrote several influential books, including Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (Beacon Press, 1995) and Haiti, State against Nation: The Origins and Legacy of Duvalierism (Monthly Review Press, 1990). The Caribbean Philosophical Association awarded him the 2011 Frantz Fanon Lifetime Achievement Award “for the originality of his interrogations in the human sciences.”
Leonard Linsky of Chicago died August 27. He was 89. A professor emeritus of philosophy, Linsky taught at institutions including the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign before arriving at Chicago, where he served as philosophy department chair. Linsky published several dozen articles and five books, including the landmark publications Referring (Routledge & K. Paul, 1967) and Names and Descriptions (University of Chicago Press, 1977). Both books explored how names and descriptive expressions can be used to talk about real-world objects and phenomena. After he retired, Linsky continued to teach classes and direct workshops on Ludwig Wittgenstein. He is survived by his companion, Alexandra Bellow; two sons; and three granddaughters.
Ira Wool, MD’53, PhD’54, the A. J. Carlson professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, died October 23 in Chicago. He was 87. Wool was a pioneer in the study of the structure and function of the ribosome. A demolition specialist during WW II, he then attended Syracuse University on a football scholarship. Wool joined the faculty as an assistant professor of physiology in 1957; he maintained his laboratory for more than 50 years. Wool authored more than 260 papers and contributed regularly to standard textbooks. Survivors include his wife, Barbara Mirecki, AB’71; sons Christopher Wool, U-High’72, and Jon Wool, U-High’75; and a brother.
1930s
Jerome Sachs, SB’36, SM’37, PhD’40, died October 12 in Chicago. He was 98. Starting his career at what is now Chicago State University, where he taught mathematics to prospective Chicago Public Schools instructors, Sachs joined Chicago Teachers College–North (now Northeastern Illinois University) in 1962 as dean. He became the school’s first president in 1966, leading its transition from college to university. An administration building at the school was named in honor of Sachs, who retired in 1973. Survivors include a daughter, a son, a grandchild, and two great-grandchildren.
Clarence S. Siegel, AB’38, of Chevy Chase, MD, died October 15. He was 95. A WW II Army veteran, Siegel was an economist with the Department of Commerce. At retirement, he was a member of the Federal Executive Service. Survivors include a brother, Gordon S. Siegel, AB’49, SB’54, MD’54.
Franklin Miller Jr., PhD’39, died October 4 in Mount Vernon, OH. He was 100. Miller started his career teaching physics and astronomy at Rutgers University, and then joined Kenyon University in 1948. The co-writer of the textbook College Physics (now in its sixth edition), Miller produced a series of physics-demonstration films, including preserving a famous film clip of the collapse of the Tacoma (WA) Narrows Bridge. Recipient of the 1970 Millikan Award of the American Association of Physics Teachers, Miller retired in 1981 from Kenyon, where he was honored with an observatory, a lecture hall, an award, and an endowed scholarship in his name. Survivors include a son and two grandsons. His wife, Libuse L. Miller, SB’37, died in 1973.
Jerome “Jerry” Sivesind, AB’38, died July 30, 2010, in Ashland, OR. He was 95. The captain of UChicago’s baseball team, Sivesind was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago Cubs. A WW II veteran, Sivesind retired from the Army Reserves at the Presidio as a lieutenant colonel after 35 years of service. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, he was a transportation executive for companies including UPS and Consolidated Freightways, where he started a division. He is survived by two daughters, two sons, 12 grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren.
1940s
Walter Nudenberg, PhD’41, of Newtown, CT, died September 22. He was 98. During WW II Nudenberg worked at the University on a collaboration among rubber companies, the petrochemical industry, and academic research laboratories to replace natural rubber with a synthetic substitute. He later worked for Chemtura Corporation, where he created many processes still used in rubber and polymer processing and manufacturing. He retired in 2011, the same year that Chemtura’s Nudenberg-Wheeler Technology Center was named in his honor. Survivors include two sons and a great-grandson.
Jeanne DeNovo, AM’43, died October 1 in Madison, WI. She was 95. DeNovo taught history and English at a Park Ridge, IL, high school, later serving as a history instructor at Pennsylvania State University. She is survived by a daughter and a son.
Richard Pettengill Gosselin, SB’44, PhD’51, of Hartford, CT, died October 1. He was 91. A WW II veteran, Gosselin taught mathematics at the University of Connecticut until his 1982 retirement. He is survived by his wife, Maria; a daughter; three sons; a brother; and eight grandchildren.
Aileen Harrison Grumbach, AB’45, AM’49, died December 24, 2011, in Roslyn, NY. She was 85. An English professor for four decades at Nassau Community College, Grumbach was also a poet, publishing in the New York Times and Paris Review. She is survived by her husband; three daughters, including Diane Selinger, AB’77; and four grandsons, including William Selinger, AB’08.
Ernest Hillard, AB’45, AM’47, died October 14 in Columbia, MO. He was 90. Hillard taught Spanish and French at institutions including DePaul University and Westminster College in Fulton, MO, where he worked for 33 years. He eventually became the government-documents librarian at Westminster’s Reeves Library, and continued there part time in retirement. Survivors include a son, three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
E. Earl Baughman Jr., SB’46, PhD’51, died September 29 in Chapel Hill, NC. He was 90. A WW II Air Force veteran, Baughman joined the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1954, teaching in the psychology department for almost three decades. In 1969 he was a corecipient of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for his pioneering research on southern rural children, and he received the 1972 Standard Oil Foundation Award for undergraduate teaching. He retired as professor emeritus in 1981. Survivors include two daughters, a sister, and two grandchildren.
Daniel John O’Connor, AM’47, of Exeter, UK, died August 12. He was 98. A philosopher, O’Connor held chairs at Liverpool University and then Exeter University, where he worked until 1979. He published ten books, including The Correspondence Theory of Truth (Hutchinson, 1975) and influential works on John Locke, and he compiled A Critical History of Western Philosophy (Free Press of Glencoe, 1964). O’Connor also served as president of the Mind Association and of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science. He is survived by his wife, Maureen.
William E. Hummel, MD’49, died July 16 in Everett, WA. He was 89. A WW II and Korea veteran, Hummel practiced orthopedic surgery in Everett, specializing in trauma and reconstruction. He also was on the staff at Seattle’s Shriners Hospital. Survivors include his wife, Doris; two daughters; and two sons.
Dwight Raymond Smith, SB’46, MD’47, died October 18, 2011, in Silver Spring, MD. He was 87. An Air Force veteran, Smith started a surgical practice in 1959, where he worked for more than 40 years. Smith also served on the staffs of three local hospitals until his 2002 retirement, including Washington Adventist Hospital, where he chaired the surgery department for a term. He is survived by his companion, Marilyn; a daughter; two sons; and a sister.
John Hermanson, AM’49, died February 29 in Houghton, MI. He was 93. A WW II Air Force veteran, Hermanson taught mathematics at Evanston Township High School [IL] until age 55, with a one-year leave of absence to study at Stanford University as a National Science Foundation Scholar. Hermanson also spent more than 40 years as a Christian foreign missionary in Finland, Russia, and Estonia. He is survived by three brothers and two sisters.
1950s
Walter Chizinsky, SM’50, died October 1 in Burlington, VT. He was 85. A Navy Hospital Corps veteran, Chizinsky taught and held administrative posts at institutions including Bennett College, Stephens College, and Bergen Community College. He retired from academic life in 1992. He is survived by his wife, Marta; a daughter; two sons; and four grandchildren.
Keith Fowler, MBA’50, died September 15 in Northbrook, IL. He was 90. A WW II Army Air Corps veteran, Fowler was a civil engineer for Allstate Insurance Company. Survivors include his wife, Margaret; two daughters; a brother; four grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
Maurice S. Friedman, PhD’50, of Solana Beach, CA, died September 25. He was 90. An expert on philosopher Martin Buber, Friedman, who taught at Sarah Lawrence College and Temple and San Diego State Universities, published Martin Buber: The Life of Dialogue (University of Chicago Press, 1955), now in its fourth edition, as well as a three-volume biography of Buber in the early 1980s. He retired as professor emeritus of religious studies, philosophy, and comparative literature at San Diego State. Survivors include his wife, Aleene; a daughter; a son; a sister; and a granddaughter.
Joseph H. Callender, JD’51, of New Rochelle, NY, died October 9. He was 90. A WW II Army veteran, Callender practiced law for more than four decades, including 25 years as arbitrator in the New Rochelle City Court. Survivors include his wife, Ersaline; two daughters; and three grandchildren.
Etha “Bea” Fox, MBA’51, died September 8 in Chicago. She was 98. An international and military law specialist, Fox was a lawyer for the Coast Guard for three decades, retiring with the rank of captain in 1974. Fox also helped to establish the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois. In 1962 the National Council of Jewish Women and the YWCA recognized her contributions to peace and international understanding. Fox spent 20 years volunteering for the American Red Cross.
Joanne Holden, AM’51, of Three Rivers, MI, died April 17. She was 84. The proprietor of the Long Lake Food and Book Shop from 1968 until her retirement in 2011, Holden was a connoisseur of beers from around the world.
Norman Johnston, AM’51, a sociologist, died October 6 in Ambler, PA. He was 91. A WW II Army Air Corps veteran, Johnston joined Beaver College (now Arcadia University) in 1962 as an associate professor and chair of the sociology department. The author or editor of eight books on criminal justice and prison architecture, he also served on the boards of the Pennsylvania Prison Society and of the Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, which he helped develop. Johnston retired from Arcadia as professor emeritus in 1992 but continued to teach part time. Survivors include his cousins.
Herbert Kondo, AM’51, of Saratoga Springs, NY, died May 6. He was 88. A WW II Army veteran, Kondo served as senior science editor at Macmillan Company and then as editor in chief of Grolier/Scholastic Publishing’s science department. He was the author of several books, including Adventures in Space and Time: The Story of Relativity (Holiday House, 1966) and Albert Einstein and the Theory of Relativity (Franklin Watts, 1969). Survivors include a daughter, a son, and six grandchildren.
Earl McKinley Lewis, PhD’51, died October 13 in Houston. He was 92. A WW II Army Air Corps veteran, Lewis was head of the political science department at Prairie View A&M College before joining Trinity University in San Antonio, TX. At Trinity, Lewis directed one of the country’s first urban-studies graduate programs and was the school’s first tenured African American professor. Lewis retired in 1990 as professor emeritus. His many awards include the 1976 Award for Service to the State of Texas from Texas Ministers for Social Progress. He is survived by his wife, Hazelyn; a daughter; two sons; and a granddaughter.
Robert H. Nanz Jr., PhD’52, of Houston, TX, died May 20. He was 88. The first geologist hired for Shell’s Exploration and Production Research Laboratory, Nanz spent 36 years in research and operations positions at the company, including as vice president of exploration and production for the western region. He also chaired the American Petroleum Institute’s exploration affairs committee and government lands task force. Survivors include a son, a brother, four grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.
Thomas H. Wood, PhD’53, of Merion Station, PA, died July 5. He was 89. An experimental biophysicist, Wood worked to map the E. coli genome decades before DNA sequencing. After serving in the Navy during WW II , he became a full professor of physics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1963, chairing the physics graduate group from 1971 to 1976. He retired as professor emeritus in 1989. Survivors include three sons and three grandchildren.
Corinne Murphy Lee, AB’54, died October 8 in Minneapolis. She was 79. A homemaker, Lee was known for her lively conversation and sense of humor. Survivors include her husband, Stuart; a daughter; a son; a brother; two sisters; and four grandchildren.
Sol Henry Krasner, PhD’55, died September 27 in Waterford, CT. He was 89. A WW II Army veteran, Krasner started his career in the Office of Naval Research. He then joined the University of Chicago as dean of students in the Physical Sciences Division and assistant to the chair of the physics department. He worked at the University for 25 years. He is survived by his wife, Phyllis; two daughters; two sons; 14 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.
Ethel Spector Person, AB’56, SB’56, a psychiatrist, died October 16 in New York City. She was 77. A pioneer in sexuality research, Person was known for her clinical studies on sexual fantasy and on transsexuals and transvestites. She led Columbia University’s Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research from 1981 to 1991 and was a member of the clinical psychiatry faculty. Person published four books, including By Force of Fantasy: How We Make Our Lives (Basic Books, 1995), and several articles for general-interest publications. She is survived by two sons, two stepdaughters, a grandchild, and three step-grandchildren.
Wilma J. Phipps, AM’56, PhD’77, died June 23 in Cleveland. She was 87. In 1970 Phipps joined Case Western Reserve University’s experiment in nursing program. She went on to serve as chair and professor of the school’s medical-surgical nursing department and director of medical-surgical nursing at University Hospitals. An editor of Medical-Surgical Nursing: Concepts and Clinical Practice (Mosby, 1979), now in its eighth edition, Phipps was named the 1997 Nurse of the Year by the Cleveland Academy of Medicine Hall of Fame. Survivors include a son, a brother, and a sister.
Edward A. Goerner, AM’57, PhD’59, died October 2 in South Bend, IN. He was 82. A Navy veteran, Goerner joined the University of Notre Dame in 1960, retiring more than five decades later as a professor emeritus of political science. The author of Peter and Caesar: The Catholic Church and Political Authority Survivors (Herder and Herder, 1965), Goerner also was an associate editor of the Review of Politics. Survivors include his wife, Iris; four daughters; a son; two sisters; and ten grandchildren.
1960s
William P. Doherty Jr., JD’60, died September 28 in Camden, NJ. He was 77. After establishing his own law practice, Doherty became one of New Jersey’s longest-serving prosecutors, starting in 1973, and was elected an arbitrator for the US federal courts. A former president of the Cumberland County Bar Association, Doherty was a member of the Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey Judicial Conference as well as the Cumberland County ethics committee. He is survived by two daughters, a son, and two brothers.
Lynn McNulty Koons, AB’60, died September 6 in Tucson, AZ. She was 79. Koons taught writing and English at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Columbia College.
Elio Tarika, MBA’60, died September 10 in Boston. He was 86. A chemical engineer and then a business executive, Tarika worked at Union Carbide Corporation for 34 years, retiring as executive vice president. An alumnus of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Tarika was honored with a U of I chair in chemical engineering as a 75th-birthday present from his wife, who predeceased him. Survivors include two daughters, a son, and seven grandchildren.
John Francis Fahey, AM’61, died October 9 in Manteca, CA. He was 88. Ordained as a priest in 1949, Fahey was pastor of Chicago’s St. Clement Parish from 1975 to 1989. After resigning from his pastorate, he moved to California and began a second career in academia. Fahey served as an adjunct faculty member at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, CA, and Columbia College in Sonora, CA. He is survived by his wife, Joan.
Peter Oppenheimer, AB’62, died July 29 in Princeton, NJ. He was 71. After teaching philosophy at the University of Missouri in St. Louis and at the University of Pennsylvania, Oppenheimer worked at antiquarian bookstore Witherspoon Books. Survivors include a brother and two sisters, including Lucy Oppenheimer Hickey, AM’67.
James Reavis, MBA’62, of Nashville, TN, died October 18. He was 72. An Army veteran, Reavis was a Wall Street financial executive. Survivors include a daughter, two sons, and three granddaughters.
Raymond Skilling, JD’62, died October 10 in London. He was 73. An international lawyer, Skilling worked for London law firm Clifford Turner, now Clifford Chance, where he represented some of the Beatles as well as classical musicians. He then moved to Chicago, where he was chief counsel of Aon Corporation for almost 25 years. A member of the British American Business Council’s international advisory board in Chicago, Skilling was also chair of the board of overseers of the RAND Corporation’s Institute for Civil Justice. In 2006 he was awarded an Order of the British Empire for working to build UK and US business relationships. Survivors include a son and a brother.
Hans-Joachim G. Mollenhauer, AM’63, died October 2 in Morton Grove, IL. He was 84. In 1963 Mollenhauer joined the faculty of North Park University, where he taught German, Italian, and French for more than 30 years and served as foreign-languages chair. Retiring in 1995, Mollenhauer stayed on as a part-time professor. He is survived by his wife, Ilse; a son; a brother; and two grandchildren.
Karen Carper Martin Priest, AB’63, died October 20 in Carson City, NV. She was 62. While raising her children, Priest worked as a part-time interviewer for Research Triangle Institute and as a social worker in New York state. She also volunteered for organizations including Servas International and the United Methodist Women. Survivors include her husband, Robert F. Priest, AB’59, PhD’64; a daughter, Susan Sara Priest, AB’87; a son; two sisters; and three grandchildren.
Robert Ronald Riedle, MBA’65, died October 24 in The Villages, FL. He was 76. An Air Force veteran, Riedle worked in hospital administration and medical sales. He is survived by his wife, Marie; three daughters; a son; four stepchildren; a brother; four grandchildren; ten step-grandchildren; and six step great-grandchildren.
Patrick John Phillips, MBA’68, died January 9 in Moreno Valley, CA. He was 77. A Navy veteran, Phillips worked for 22 years in sales at Outboard Marine Corporation. He later owned two companies: Custom Travel and Turf Tire Distributors. He is survived by his wife, Joanne; three daughters; a son; a brother; and a grandchild.
1970s
Jacob R. Matijevic, SM’70, PhD’73, an engineer who worked on three Mars rover missions, died of a traumatic lung event August 20 in Los Angeles. He was 64. After teaching mathematics at the University of Kentucky and the University of Southern California, in 1981 Matijevic joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he held several positions, including control systems engineer. In 1992 he began working on the Mars rover missions, focusing on the design of the vehicles. After his death, NASA and JPL named in his honor a pyramidal basalt rock that the Curiosity rover encountered on Mars in September. Survivors include his mother, a brother, and two sisters.
Jeffrey A. Kant, PhD’74, MD’75, of Franklin Park, PA, died September 29. He was 65. After 12 years at the University of Pennsylvania, Kant joined the University of Pittsburgh as a professor of pathology and human genetics and as the director of the pathology department’s molecular-diagnostics division. In addition to directing the pathology residency training program for five years, Kant founded Pitt’s molecular diagnostic fellowship program and was the founding president of the Association for Molecular Pathology. Kant is survived by his wife, Julie; two sons; three brothers; and four grandchildren.
Ava-Lisa Memmen, AM’75, died September 19 in Zionsville, IN. She was 60. Cofounder of the Heartland Film Festival, Memmen served on the boards of several educational and nonprofit organizations. She is survived by her husband, Edward Memmen, MBA’75; three daughters; and two grandchildren.
Gene R. Saffold, MBA’79, of Chicago, died October 8 following complications from heart surgery. He was 57. A well-known financier, Saffold was a managing director at Smith Barney and was Bank One’s national head of public finance. In 2009 he joined former mayor Richard M. Daley’s staff as chief financial officer. Most recently, he was an independent consultant. Saffold served on the boards of national and local organizations including the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, Erikson Institute, and Chicago Low-Income Housing Trust Fund. As a trustee of the Chicago School Reform Board of Trustees, he helped spearhead the school system’s financial restructuring. Survivors include two daughters, including Jessica Saffold, U-High’05; a son; and a sister.
1990s
Noel Jay Mirasol, MBA’93, of Glencoe, IL, died October 6. He was 50. A lifelong employee of IBM, Mirasol was also technical director for the Glencoe Grand Prix. Survivors include his wife, Kendra Mirasol, MBA’93; a daughter; a son; his parents; a brother; and a sister.
2010s
Allison Ann Tovo-Dwyer, SB’10, of St. Paul, MN, died of gastric cancer October 11. She was 25. Dwyer was a doctoral student in chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she researched computational chemistry. Survivors include her boyfriend, Jon Baskin, AM’12; her parents; her stepparents; her grandmother; a sister; and two half sisters.