Trustees

Richard M. Morrow, of Glenview, IL, trustee emeritus, died January 21. He was 86. A WW II Navy veteran, Morrow spent his career at Standard Oil Company (later renamed Amoco), becoming its chair and CEO in 1983. After his 1991 retirement, Morrow chaired school-reform organization Leadership for Quality Education. He served for more than three decades on UChicago’s Board of Trustees, was a member of the Chicago Booth Council and the Social Sciences Visiting Committee, and spent 15 years on the board of ARCH Development Corporation, a nonprofit affiliate of the University. Morrow’s honors included the Civic Federation’s Lyman J. Gage Founder’s Medallion for outstanding civic achievement. He is survived by a daughter and two granddaughters.

James T. Rhind, trustee emeritus, died January 16 in Glenview, IL. He was 90. An Army veteran, Rhind was the former chair and managing partner of the law firm Bell, Boyd & Lloyd (now K&L Gates). Serving more than three decades on the University’s Board of Trustees, including almost ten years as its vice chair, Rhind also was a Medical Center trustee, chaired the Law School Visiting Committee, and was a life member of the Divinity School and School of Social Service Administration Visiting Committees. He is survived by his wife, Laura Campbell Rhind, a life member of the Art History and Music Visiting Committees; a daughter; two sons, including David Rhind, a member and former chair of the Music Visiting Committee; and five grandchildren, including Alexander and Benjamin Rhind, current Laboratory Schools students.

Faculty and Staff

Roger Ebert, X’70, a film critic and former lecturer at the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies, died April 4 in Chicago. He was 70. Ebert spent a year as a doctoral student in English at UChicago, leaving in 1967 to become the Chicago Sun-Times film critic. A year later he joined the University’s adult learning division (now the Graham School) as a lecturer in film, a position he held for 37 years. In 1975 Ebert won the first Pulitzer Prize given for film criticism and teamed with Chicago Tribune critic Gene Siskel to host a new movie-review program on WTTW, syndicated in 1986 as Siskel and Ebert at the Movies. Following Siskel’s death in 1999, Ebert continued to cohost the program. In 2006 he left the show due to cancers of the thyroid and the salivary glands but continued writing reviews and commentary for the Sun-Times and hosting Ebertfest, a yearly festival of overlooked films in Champaign, IL, near his hometown of Urbana. His books include annual editions of Roger Ebert’s Movie Yearbook, a rice cooker cookbook, and Life Itself: A Memoir (Grand Central Publishing, 2011). He is survived by his wife, Chaz Hammelsmith Ebert; a stepdaughter; a stepson; and four step-grandchildren.

Paul N. Pohlman, AM’66, of St. Petersburg, FL, a former teacher in UChicago’s adult learning division, died January 23. He was 70. After 20 years teaching business and media management courses for the University, Pohlman worked as a consultant to media organizations, including the Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY). In the late 1980s, Pohlman joined the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, where he taught and held many roles including director of international programs. He is survived by a brother.

Donald Rowley, SB’45, SM’50, MD’50, professor emeritus in pathology and the Committee on Immunology, died February 24 in Chicago. He was 90. In the 1950s, shortly after joining the University as a research associate, Rowley pioneered the field of ambulatory cardiology through a series of discoveries that led to the invention of the first gel electrodes to monitor heartbeats over long periods. Rowley also was the first to describe a previously unknown blood cell type’s role in the human immune response. An Army veteran, Rowley was named a full professor at Chicago in 1969 and a professor of pediatrics in 1973. He also directed the La Rabida Children’s Hospital and Research Center and served as director of research at the La Rabida–University of Chicago Institute. In addition to winning a 1995 UChicago Medical and Biological Sciences Alumni Association Gold Key Award, Rowley (with his wife, Janet D. Rowley, U-High’42, PhB’45, SB’46, MD’48, the Blum-Riese distinguished service professor in medicine, molecular genetics and cell biology, and human genetics) was named an American Association for the Advancement of Science fellow in 1998. Survivors include his wife; three sons, including geophysical sciences professor David Rowley and Roger H. D. Rowley, U-High’81; a sister; and five grandchildren, including Jason Rowley, U-High’08, and Gia Rowley, a current Laboratory Schools student. Another son, Donald Rowley Jr., U-High’69, died in 1983.

1930s

Benedict M. Ashley, né Winston Norman Ashley, AM’37, of Chicago, a theologian and a philosopher, died February 23. He was 97. Ordained a priest in the Dominican Order in 1948, Ashley taught at the Aquinas Institute (serving as its president for seven years) and later at the Center for Health Care Ethics at St. Louis University. In 2003 he became an adviser to the Institute for Advanced Physics, a Baton Rouge−based organization that focuses on the relationship between scientific study and moral, spiritual, and philosophical issues. He also served on the advisory board of the Lumen Christi Institute for Catholic Thought in Hyde Park. A prolific writer, Ashley published more than 20 books, including Theologies of the Body: Humanist and Christian (Pope John Center, 1985) and a memoir, Barefoot Journeying: An Autobiography of a Begging Friar (New Priory Press, 2013). In 1992 Ashley received the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Medal from Pope John Paul II.

Betty Quinn Brinker, AB’38, died September 22, 2011, in Burr Ridge, IL. She was 94. A volunteer at Traveler’s Market and the Courtyard Wellness Center, Brinker was a member of the Hinsdale (IL) Golf Club and the Fortnightly of Chicago. Her husband, Robert R. Brinker, AB’39, died in 1970. Survivors include a daughter and a son.

William H. Moore, AM’35, PhD’38, died February 1 in New Orleans. He was 100. After working as an economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics and as a vice president at the Electronics Industries Association, Moore joined Pension Guaranty Corporation in 1974. He retired in 1986 as a chief of the office of financial operations. In retirement he was a volunteer cancer counselor with the Cancer Counseling Institute in Bethesda, MD. He is survived by his wife, Avis; two daughters; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

1940s

Arthur C. Connor, SB’41, MD’43, died January 3 in Palos Heights, IL. He was 92. A WW II Navy veteran, Connor practiced orthopedic surgery for almost 60 years. His first wife, Selma Irene (Renstrom) Connor, AB’41, died in 2003. Survivors include his wife, Noelle; four daughters; three sons; a brother; 17 grandchildren; and 18 great-grandchildren.

William H. Friedman, AB’41, died January 12 in Olney, MD. He was 91. A WW II Army veteran, Friedman worked at three European posts as a Foreign Service officer before starting a 30-year career in public relations in New York City. He retired in 1984 as vice president of Ketchum Communications. Friedman was a board member of the Volunteer Center of United Way and of the Futura House Foundation, both in White Plains, NY. He is survived by two stepsons, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

William Letwin, AB’43, PhD’51, of London, died February 20. He was 90. A WW II Army veteran, Letwin taught economic history at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining the London School of Economics. An expert in the governmental regulation of economic life, in the 1970s he led a large research team hired by AT&T to prevent the company from being broken up by regulators. With his wife, Shirley Robin Letwin, AM’44, PhD’51, Letwin organized salons composed of a distinguished group of intellectuals from the 1960s until his wife’s 1993 death. In retirement Letwin was an economic consultant for Putnam, Hayes & Bartlett. He is survived by a son.

Louis Frishman, AB’45, of Pomona, NY, died February 6. He was 89. Frishman served as rabbi of Temple Beth El in Spring Valley, NY, for 43 years and was president of the New York Board of Rabbis. Survivors include his wife, Mimi; three daughters; a brother; and four grandchildren.

Frederick H. Martens, SB’46, of Plainfield, IL, died October 5. He was 90. A WW II Army Air Corps veteran, Martens spent more than three decades as a physicist at Argonne National Laboratory, where one of his early assignments was to help design the nuclear power system for the first atomic submarine, the Nautilus. He retired in 1983 as director of the reactor operations division. In retirement Martens was active in the Plainfield Historical Society and shared his WW II stories in an interview for the Library of Congress Veterans Project. He in survived by his wife, Carolyn; a daughter; a son; and a granddaughter.

Watson Parker, AB’48, a historian, died January 9 in Rapid City, SD. He was 88. A WW II Army veteran, Parker joined the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh in 1965, becoming professor emeritus in 1986. His books included Black Hills Ghost Towns (Swallow Press, 1974) and Deadwood: The Golden Years (Bison Books, 1981). His many honors for his work on the history of South Dakota included induction into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 2011. Parker also belonged to the Rotary Club and the Tin City Masonic Lodge. He is survived by his wife, Olga G. Parker, AB’49; a daughter; two sons, including David T. Parker, MBA’80; six grandchildren, including Jennifer B. P. Truong, AB’06; and a great-granddaughter.

Dan R. Roin, PhB’48, JD’51, of Winnetka and Glencoe, IL, died February 18. He was 85. Roin had a private law practice in Chicago for almost 50 years. He was also the president and a board member of his synagogue and active in Avenue of the Righteous and the Glencoe Human Relations Commission. He is survived by two daughters, including Julie Roin, the Seymour Logan professor of law at Chicago; son Howard Roin, JD’78; and five grandchildren, including Katharine Roin, JD’10; Nathaniel Levmore, U-High’11; and Eliot Levmore, a current Laboratory Schools student.

Theodore C. Edquist, AM’49, of Seattle, died December 22. He was 91. A WW II Navy veteran, Edquist was a Congregational/United Church of Christ pastor at Pullman (WA) Community Congregational Church, where he was named pastor emeritus, and at Woodlawn Congregational Church in Boise, ID, retiring in 1986. He is survived by his wife, Nancy; a daughter; a son; three stepsons; two brothers; two grandchildren; and a step-grandson.

Erwin Nick Hiebert, SM’49, died November 28 in Waltham, MA. He was 93. After working as a research chemist at the Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory and at the Institute for the Study of Metals, Hiebert taught the history of science at institutions including the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Harvard, where he chaired the department and became professor emeritus in 1989. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he chaired the History and Philosophy of Science Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for four years. His wife, Elfrieda Franz Hiebert, AB’45, AM’46, died in 2012. Survivors include two daughters, a son, and seven grandchildren.

Jerome G. Manis, AM’49, of Honolulu, died February 23. He was 95. A WW II  Air Force veteran, Manis taught sociology for 26 years at Western Michigan University, helping to develop its graduate program in sociology. An expert in mental health and substance abuse, Manis founded WMU’s Center for Sociological Research and directed it from 1956 to 1972. He was also a Fulbright professor in the Philippines and Singapore. Manis retired in 1975. Survivors include his wife, Laura; a daughter; a son; and a sister.

Merle T. Sternberg, AM’49, died February 1 in West Union, IA. She was 91. After serving with the American National Red Cross during WW II, Sternberg worked for the Women’s American Baptist Foreign Mission Society before attending the School of Social Service Administration. After her husband, David, died in 1995, Sternberg moved to Fayette, IA, where she was active in the United Methodist Church and United Methodist Women. Survivors include her cousins.

Felix Stungevicius, MBA’49, of Buffalo, NY, died January 22. He was 92. Serving as honorary consul of Uruguay in Illinois for five decades, Stungevicius also served as dean of the Consular Corps of Chicago and was a longtime member of the Economic Club of Chicago. Fluent in six languages, including Russian, in 1958 he opened the American Association of Translators, Interpreters, and Linguists, which he maintained and expanded to include two more companies, Communica International and International Language and Communication Centers. He stepped down as honorary consul at 73 and retired from his corporate career at 89. Survivors include a daughter, a son, and five grandchildren.

1950s

Donald L. Berry, DB’50, a philosophy and religion professor and an Episcopal priest, died January 15 in Hamilton, NY. He was 87. An Army veteran, Berry joined Colgate University in 1957, later introducing one of the country’s first college courses exploring the implications of the Holocaust for Jewish and Christian theology. Receiving Colgate’s 1992 Sidney and Florence Felten French Prize for inspirational teaching, Berry retired as professor emeritus in 1994. The author of six books, including Holy Words and Holy Orders: As Dying, Behold We Live (University Press of America, 2009), Berry, who was ordained in 1950, served as a supply priest in several central New York parishes and was rector at St. George’s Episcopal Church from 1976 to 1990. Survivors include his wife, Wanda Warren Berry; two daughters; and two grandsons.

L. Edward Ellinwood, PhD’51, of Grand Junction, CO, died October 31. He was 90. A WW II Navy veteran, Ellinwood did radiology research at Los Alamos National Laboratory before attending medical school at the University of Colorado. He then worked as a physician in a Colorado mining town, where he was the only doctor in a 90-mile radius. Moving to Grand Junction, he became the first director of the St. Mary’s Family Practice Residency Program in 1974 and then the founding president of Rocky Mountain Health Plans. He is survived by his wife, Frances; a daughter; four sons; 13 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Kenneth W. Thompson, AM’48, PhD’51, a scholar of the US government and foreign relations, died February 2 in Charlottesville, VA. He was 91. A WW II Army veteran, Thompson worked for the Rockefeller Foundation until the 1970s, becoming its vice president of international programs. Joining the University of Virginia in 1975, Thompson became director of the school’s Miller Center of Public Affairs, a position he held for two decades until his 1998 retirement, continuing to lead the center’s speaker program until 2004. The University of Chicago Alumni Association’s 1974 Alumni Medal winner, Thompson wrote more than 30 books, including Schools of Thought in International Relations: Interpreters, Issues, and Morality (Louisiana State University Press, 1996). He is survived by three sons, a stepdaughter, and four grandchildren.

Elliot “Bud” Nesvig, MBA’52, an electrical engineer, died November 2 in Laguna Hills, CA. He was 92. A WW II Army veteran, Nesvig started his career at General Electric, working for other industrial manufacturing companies before starting ERDCO Engineering Corporation in Evanston, IL. There he helped develop international standards for instruments and testing materials. Survivors include a daughter, a son, and six grandchildren.

Raymond P. Klein, MBA’53, died June 5, 2012, in Greenville, SC. He was 92. A WW II Army Air Corps veteran who earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, Klein served 26 years in the Air Force. He then spent 13 years as general manager of the Washington, DC, office of General Motors before retiring to Charleston, SC. Survivors include two daughters, a son, eight grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren.

Florence C. (Nordstrom) Walbert, AM’53, died January 17 in St. Paul, MN. She was 83. A former evangelical missionary, Walbert retired from Bethel Seminary in St. Paul. Her husband, Clement D. Walbert, AM’53, died in 2011. She is survived by two daughters, three sons, and four grandchildren.

Richard H. Moy, AB’53, SB’54, MD’57, died February 15 in Springfield, IL. He was 82. After teaching at Chicago for three years, in 1970 Moy moved to the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine as a professor of medicine and founding dean. Retiring in 1993 as dean emeritus, Moy was honored with a Recognition Award from the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. He also received a Distinguished Service Award from the UChicago Medical and Biological Sciences Alumni Association in 1979. His wife, Caryl (Towsley) Moy, AM’69, died in 2010. Survivors include two sons and two grandchildren.

Norman Vaughan Breckner, PhD’56, died January 1 in Ventura, CA. He was 90. A WW II Army Air Corps veteran, Breckner taught economics at the University of California, Los Angeles, and worked for the Rand Corporation. In 1962 he moved to northern Virginia, where he worked for private and government agencies until his retirement. He is survived by a daughter, a son, and two grandsons.

Eda (Easton) Mueller-Westerhoff, AB’57, died January 28 in Storrs, CT. She was 75. Mueller-Westerhoff was a sculptor and painter whose work included building a carved obelisk in 2003 for a private school in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Survivors include her husband, Ulrich.

Ruth (Marzano) Litvak, AM’48, PhD’58, died February 6 in Chicago. She was 92. Litvak taught biology, chemistry, and anatomy at Truman College for more than three decades. The owner and manager of an apartment building, she was a member of the Harbor Point Condominium Association Board of Directors for more than three decades. Her husband, Henry Litvak, AB’41, JD’48, died in 1973. Survivors include a son and two grandchildren.

1960s

Joseph Frank, PhD’60, of Palo Alto, CA, died February 27. He was 94. A comparative literature scholar, Frank taught at the University of Minnesota and Rutgers, joining Princeton in 1966. In 1985 he moved to Stanford, where he ended his career. His five-volume biography (the final volume was completed in 2002), Dostoevsky, is widely considered among the greatest 20th-century literary biographies. In 1992 Frank received an honorary degree from the University. Survivors include his wife, Marguerite; two daughters; a brother; and two grandchildren.

George P. Blake, JD’61, of Northbrook, IL, died February 2. He was 79. A labor relations lawyer, Blake was a partner at Vedder Price. He is survived by his wife, Mary; a daughter; two sons; two brothers; a sister; and nine grandchildren.

Eda Goldstein, AB’65, AM’67, of East Hampton, NY, died June 21, 2011. She was 70. Starting her career as a social work practitioner in mental health settings, Goldstein was a co-principal investigator of research projects on borderline disorders. In 1981 she joined New York University Silver School of Social Work, directing the PhD program and chairing the social work practice curriculum. She also founded a certificate program in advanced clinical practice, a program she directed until her death. Goldstein wrote seven books, including Ego Psychology and Social Work Practice (Free Press, 1984), and she was a distinguished scholar in the National Academies of Practice. Survivors include her partner, Patricia Petrocelli; her mother; and a brother.

Robert Dean Harvey, AM’49, PhD’65, a professor of English and American literature, died November 24 in Reno, NV. He was 86. An Army veteran, Harvey spent most of his career at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he served two terms as English department chair and helped establish its graduate program, retiring as professor emeritus in 1994. He also taught a course on justice, law, and literature at the National Judicial College. He is survived by four daughters, including Alison Harvey, AM’89; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

1970s

Marshall Gregory, AM’66, PhD’70, died December 30 in Indianapolis. He was 72. An English, liberal education, and pedagogy professor at Butler University, Gregory published several books, including Shaped by Stories: The Ethical Power of Narrative (University of Notre Dame Press, 2009). Survivors include his wife, Valiska Gregory, AM’66; two daughters; and four grandchildren.

Anthony J. Finizza Jr., PhD’71, of Dana Point, CA, died December 6. He was 69. Finizza was chief economist at Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) for more than two decades, retiring in 1996. He also taught economics at the University of California, Irvine, and worked for consulting company Econ One. A member of several economic advisory boards, Finizza was a senior fellow of the US Association for Energy Economics. He is survived by his wife Carol; two daughters; three sons; his parents; a brother; and three grandchildren.

Constance A. “Connie” Griffin, AB’73, a pancreatic cancer researcher, died of the disease January 8, 2012, in Baltimore. She was 60. In 1986 Griffin joined the medical faculty of Johns Hopkins University, where she directed the Kimmel Cancer Center’s Cytogenetics Core. She also headed the pathology department’s molecular diagnostics laboratory. Her 1990s research on the relationship between chromosomes and pancreatic cancer helped spark today’s cancer genome sequencing work. For the past 13 years, Griffin directed the Cancer Risk Assessment Program in the medical school’s oncology department. Survivors include her husband, Allan C. Spradling, SB’71; two daughters; a brother; and a sister.

Richard Rolf Rued Jr., AB’75, died December 12 in Gerradstown, WV. He was 60. A web architect, Rued worked in the public and private sectors, including posts with General Electric, Montgomery County (MD), and the Department of Commerce. Survivors include two sisters.

1980s

Chris Conley, AM’77, AM’82, died of cancer January 25 in Memphis, TN. He was 62. A newspaper reporter, Conley started his career at the City News Bureau of Chicago. In the early 1990s, he moved to Memphis, where he joined the staff of the Commercial Appeal, mostly covering crime. Conley is survived by two sons, three brothers, and  a sister.

William “Bill” Vollman, AM’87, died January 11 near Paris. He was 50. A communications specialist, Vollman worked for several public-relations consulting firms in England and France before founding the consulting firm Articulation. He also taught master’s level courses in communications and business English. Survivors include two sisters.

1990s

John F. Gilmore Jr., CER’94, MLA’97, of Burr Ridge, IL, died February 11. He was 72. Rising through the ranks at E. F. Hutton to head its emerging futures department, Gilmore then joined the Chicago office of Goldman Sachs, heading what later became its futures services department and becoming a general partner of the firm in 1988. A 35-year member of the Chicago Board of Trade, Gilmore chaired the board for a term. He retired from Goldman in 1994 and in 2005 was inducted into the Futures Industry Association Futures Hall of Fame. Survivors include his wife, Charlotte; two sons, including Christopher Gilmore, MBA’05; and two sisters.

2010s

Alexandra Frizzell, ’13, of Boise, ID, died February 4 in Chicago. She was 21. An economics major and active member of the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority, Frizzell was interested in environmental economics and policy. She researched land use in the Western United States and renewable energy. Survivors include her parents, two brothers, and two sisters.