Faculty and staff

Mary Jean Mulvaney, former director of athletics and professor emerita of physical education, of Lincoln, NE, died September 20. She was 92. Over 24 years of service, Mulvaney transformed athletics at UChicago and was a powerful national influence in collegiate sports, emphasizing academic-athletic balance. She arrived on campus in 1966 to chair the women’s physical education division. When the University consolidated men’s and women’s athletics in 1976, she became one of the first women to head a US university coeducational athletic department. Under her leadership, UChicago expanded women’s sports offerings from two to nine and became a competitive force in the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Division III. The namesake of UChicago’s Mary Jean Mulvaney Scholar-Athlete Award and a member of the UChicago Athletics Hall of Fame, she received the Founders Medal of the University Athletics Association, the University’s intercollegiate conference, which she helped establish in 1986. She is survived by a sister.

Vivian Gussin Paley, PhB’47, retired Laboratory Schools teacher and an early childhood education researcher, died July 27 in Crozet, VA. She was 90. Paley was on Lab’s faculty from 1971 until her retirement in 1995, teaching kindergarten, mentoring educators, and holding workshops and lectures on pedagogy. The recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship in 1989, she was known for experimental teaching methods emphasizing the roles of fantasy, storytelling, and play in children’s learning. Her ideas, incorporated into a school-district curriculum for the first time in Boston, influenced early-childhood education reform nationwide. Paley’s numerous books on education include You Can’t Say You Can’t Play (1993) and A Child’s Work: The Importance of Fantasy Play (2004). She is survived by her husband, Irving Paley, AB’47; a son, David A. Paley, AB’73; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

David Bevington, the Phyllis Fay Horton Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature, died August 2 in Chicago. He was 88. A scholar of the English Renaissance and a leading Shakespeare expert, Bevington began teaching at UChicago in 1967 and remained a devoted classroom instructor through retirement, teaching at the University’s Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies as recently as 2018. He received the Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and was twice a Guggenheim Fellow. Known for his studies of both the history and the staging of drama, he wrote From “Mankind” to Marlowe: Growth of Structure in the Popular Drama of Tudor England (1962), analyzing the medieval legacy in Tudor morality plays, and Action Is Eloquence (1984), about gesture and the visual aspects of Shakespearean drama. Editor of the popular Bantam Classics and Longman editions of Shakespeare’s complete works, he also coedited The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson (2012). A frequent Court Theatre collaborator, Bevington helped found the College’s theater and performance studies major. He is survived by his wife, Peggy; two daughters, Kate Bevington, LAB’82, and Sarah A. Bevington, LAB’88; a son, Stephen R. Bevington, LAB’80; and five grandchildren. (For remembrances of Bevington, see Letters.)

Douglas Mitchell, AB’65, retired executive acquisitions editor at the University of Chicago Press, died September 1 in Chicago. He was 76. Mitchell began his publishing career at the Scott Foresman college division, acquiring textbooks in American and European history. Joining the UChicago Press in 1977, he made important acquisitions of books by the Annales school historians and works in sociology, rhetoric, and sexuality studies, including John Boswell’s National Book Award–winning Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century (1980). Mitchell’s list in sexuality studies helped shape the field, earning him a Lambda Literary Award in 1998. At the 2018 meeting of the American Sociological Association, he was honored for contributing to the advancement of US sociology, work for which he also received the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction’s George Herbert Mead Award. Building the press’s jazz studies list, Mitchell was himself a jazz drummer. Survivors include his wife, Christine; a daughter; a brother; and two granddaughters.

William Meadow, professor emeritus of pediatrics at UChicago Medicine, died September 14 in Chicago. He was 70. A neonatologist and a medical ethicist, Meadow joined the faculty in 1981, codirected the neonatology section for nearly a decade, and was a clinician in the neonatal intensive care unit. He also served on the faculty of UChicago’s MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. The coauthor of Neonatal Bioethics: The Moral Challenges of Medical Innovation (2006), he helped shape the decision-making framework of physicians caring for infants with critical illnesses and congenital conditions. Meadow received the American Academy of Pediatrics’ 2016 William Bartholome Award for Ethical Excellence. He is survived by his wife, Susan Goldin-Meadow, the Beardsley Ruml Distinguished Service Professor of Psychology, of Comparative Human Development, and in the College; a daughter, Jacqueline G. Meadow, LAB’07, MD’16; two sons, Alexander Meadow, LAB’99, and Nathaniel Meadow, LAB’03; a sister; and two grandchildren.

1940s

John Paul Stevens, LAB’37, AB’41, died July 16 in Fort Lauderdale, FL. He was 99. The third-longest-serving Supreme Court justice, Stevens was nominated for the post in 1975 by President Gerald R. Ford at the suggestion of former UChicago president and then attorney general Edward H. Levi, LAB’28, PhB’32, JD’35. Stevens served in the US Navy during World War II as a signals intelligence officer; his work breaking Japanese codes earned him the Bronze Star. After attending Northwestern’s law school on the GI Bill, he clerked for Supreme Court justice Wiley B. Rutledge. Joining the court as a moderate Republican, Stevens would come to lead its liberal wing. He wrote influential opinions on decisions regarding the criminalization of same-sex sexual activity, the interpretation of federal statutes by the judiciary, the desecration of the US flag, and the execution of intellectually disabled prisoners. His outspoken dissent in Bush v. Gore rued what he saw as the case’s damage to perceptions of the court’s political impartiality; he lodged another major dissent in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Stevens received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. He is survived by two daughters, nine grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren. (For more, see “Remembering Justice John Paul Stevens.”)

Lois Davis Atwood, AB’44, died March 31 in Providence, RI. She was 95. Born in Providence and raised in Georgia, Atwood headed the Charleston (SC) Navy Yard’s publications unit after World War II. Returning to Providence, she studied fiction writing and worked at Brown University Press, in the university’s religious studies and human resource departments, and as an original committee member of the master of arts in teaching program. A longtime book reviewer for the Providence Journal, she edited the Rhode Island Jewish Herald. She is survived by her husband, Preston; two sons; and three grandchildren.

Mary (Oxley) McEachron, SB’44, died March 19 in Louisville, KY. She was 96. With a bachelor’s in dietary science, McEachron interned at Chicago’s Michael Reese Hospital and then worked as assistant head dietitian at Evanston Hospital. After settling in Wilmette, IL, to raise her family, she was active in the local philanthropic educational organization and the Trinity United Methodist Church. She is survived by a daughter, three sons, eight grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

Peter Selz, AM’49, PhD’54, died June 21 in Albany, CA. He was 100. Selz was chair of the art department at Pomona College when he turned his UChicago dissertation into the book German Expressionist Painting (1957), praised for situating artworks in their social and political contexts. A year later he became the Museum of Modern Art’s curator of painting and sculpture exhibitions, organizing the provocative show New Images of Man (1959). As founding director of the University Art Museum and professor of art history at the University of California, Berkeley, Selz helped start the Pacific Film Archive and curated such exhibitions as Funk (1967), showcasing the San Francisco Bay Area’s Beat-inspired artists. He is survived by his wife, Carole Schemmerling; two daughters; two stepdaughters; four grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.

1950s

Sherman Shapiro, AM’51, PhD’62, of Lafayette, CA, died June 22. He was 94. An economist and banking expert, Shapiro taught at the University of Texas at Austin and Notre Dame University before becoming professor of economics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he chaired the department. Formerly on staff at the US Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Shapiro later served as a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and did consulting for Chicago banks and savings and loan associations. He is survived by his wife, Ellen; two sons; and two grandchildren.

Eunice M. (Berg) Rosen, SB’54, of Highland Park, IL, died June 5. She was 88. Rosen majored in mathematics at UChicago and worked as an editor at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. A national champion bridge player, she twice won the American Contract Bridge League’s Freeman Mixed Board-a-Match competition with her husband, William A. Rosen, EX’58, and later took the Whitehead Trophy in the women’s pairs contest. Her husband died on April 7 (see this page). She is survived by a daughter; three sons; two sisters, including Donna (Berg) Gilboa, AB’62; and eight grandchildren.

Virginia W. Beauchamp, PhD’55, died February 10 in Harwood, MD. She was 98. A literary scholar and early champion of women’s studies, Beauchamp helped found what is now the American International School of Lagos before she joined the English faculty at the University of Maryland. In 1973 she became the first coordinator of the school’s new women’s studies program. The editor of the 1987 collection A Private War: Letters and Diaries of Madge Preston, 1862–1867, she received the Maryland Governor’s Award for her scholarship and work promoting gender equity in academia. She is survived by a daughter, two sons, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Stanton T. Friedman, SB’55, SM’56, died May 13 in Toronto. He was 84. After working as a nuclear physicist for General Electric, Westinghouse, and McDonnell Douglas, Friedman dedicated his career to researching unidentified flying objects, having discovered records from a US federal investigation called Project Blue Book. A leading ufologist, he brought widespread attention to what became known as the Roswell incident, lectured and made media appearances about UFOs and purported government secrecy, and wrote or cowrote numerous books. Survivors include his wife, Marilyn; two daughters; a grandchild; and a great-grandchild.

Dale Miller Jr., PhD’55, died May 21 in Raymore, MO. He was 96. An educator, minister, and political activist, Miller was the first pastor of Disciples Church in Huntsville, AL, and was active in the civil rights movement. With a doctorate in church history from the Divinity School, he taught at Drake University for nearly four decades. His publications include The Adult Son: A Study of the Gospel of Mark (1974). He is survived by his wife, Betty; three daughters, including Cristanne C. Miller, AB’74, AM’76, PhD’80, and Patricia Jayne Miller, EX’72; three sons; and many grandchildren.

Don R. Yungclas, DB’55, died April 15 in Grinnell, IA. He was 92. A minister in the United Church of Christ (UCC), Yungclas served as pastor for congregations in Washington, Iowa, Nebraska, and Illinois before moving to Wichita, KS, where he led the UCC’s Kansas-Oklahoma Conference for more than a decade. In 1979 he founded a church in Port Orange, FL, and later led UCC conferences in Michigan, the Dakotas, Ohio, and elsewhere. After concluding his conference ministry, he became an interim minister at his hometown church in Webster City, IA. He is survived by his wife, Pat; four daughters; a son; a sister; a brother; 10 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.

Sydel Finfer Silverman, AM’57, died March 25 in New York City. She was 85. An anthropologist and ethnographer, Silverman taught at the City University of New York’s Queens College before serving as executive officer of the CUNY Graduate Center’s anthropology PhD program. Known for her fieldwork in Monte Castello di Vibio, Silverman wrote Three Bells of Civilization: The Life of an Italian Hill Town (1975). Her dozen years as president of the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research inspired her book The Beast on the Table: Conferencing with Anthropologists (2002). She is survived by two daughters, a stepson, two sisters, a brother, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

William A. Rosen, EX’58, of Highland Park, IL, died April 7. He was 90. Rosen served as a US Army medic during the Korean War, studied at the Law School, then became a floor trader at the Chicago Board Options Exchange. A Bermuda Bowl–winning bridge player when he was 25, at the time the game’s youngest world champion, he later won several national championships and was inducted into the American Contract Bridge League Hall of Fame. His wife, Eunice M. (Berg) Rosen, SB’54, died on June 5 (see this page). He is survived by a daughter, three sons, and eight grandchildren.

Mitchel J. Sweig, SB’59, SM’60, PhD’67, died August 1 in Evanston, IL. He was 79. Sweig spent most of his career at Northeastern Illinois University, where he was professor of physics. A skilled chess player, he competed in international tournaments and appeared on television as a commentator for the famous Fischer-Spassky World Chess Championship in 1972. He is survived by his wife, Linda; two daughters; a stepdaughter; and five grandchildren.

1960s

Lula M. White, AB’60, AM’63, died September 10 in Hamden, CT. She was 80. A Freedom Rider, White was held for 40 days in Mississippi State Penitentiary in 1961, an experience she recounted to the Library of Congress’s Civil Rights History Project. Returning to New Haven, CT, her hometown, she taught history at a local high school for nearly 30 years and was jailed for her role in a 1975 teachers’ strike. Her activism and service earned her Quinnipiac University School of Law’s Thurgood Marshall Award, the Greater New Haven NAACP’s Living Legend Award, and other honors. She is survived by a sister and three brothers.

Milan J. Packovich, MD’61, died April 19 in New Philadelphia, OH. He was 83. After serving in the US Navy during the Vietnam War, Packovich established a private practice as an internal medicine physician in Weirton, WV. Later moving to Dennison, OH, he continued in private practice while serving on the Tuscarawas County Board of Health. He is survived by his wife, Lois, and two sons.

Andrew Naylor, AM’63, PhD’66, of Nashville, TN, died July 1. He was 79. Naylor was professor emeritus of philosophy at Indiana University South Bend, where he chaired the department at its inception and again for a dozen years before his retirement. An expert in epistemology, he published papers on memory and personal identity. He is survived by his wife, Marilyn, and two sons.

Joel M. Stern, MBA’64, of East Hampton, NY, died May 21. He was 77. After running Chase Financial Policy, Chase Bank’s global consulting operation, Stern founded and led the advisory firm Stern Value Management. He developed the concept of economic value added, a measure of financial performance implemented by the US Postal Service, Singapore’s sovereign fund, and many private companies. A columnist and commentator who wrote or cowrote numerous books on financial economics, he taught at Chicago Booth and other business schools. He also led the private equity firm Stern Solutions Capital Partners and founded Stern Learning Systems, which adapted his graduate business lectures into a digital education resource. He is survived by a son, Erik D. Stern, MBA’97; two sisters; and three grandchildren.

Judith Klotz Morhar, AB’65, of Napa, CA, died June 8. She was 75. Dedicated to social service, Morhar spent three years in the Peace Corps in Venezuela, where she learned Spanish and helped farmers start credit unions. After moving to the Napa Valley, she became a counselor with the Napa Council on Alcohol Problems; then, working with the state’s Employment Development Department for the next 25 years, she helped clients secure benefits and find new jobs. In retirement she volunteered as a driver, transporting senior citizens to medical appointments. She is survived by her husband, Lee; a daughter; and a brother.

Charles L. Gellert, AB’66, of Laytonsville, MD, died December 31, 2018. He was 72. With a master’s in history, Gellert worked at the National Archives and Records Administration, eventually heading the Motion Picture Branch’s reference service. For his research, he received a credit in Woody Allen’s film Zelig (1983). He also published a guide to the National Archives’ motion pictures on Jewish history. He later became a systems analyst in Fannie Mae’s technology department. He is survived by his wife, Susan; two children; and a brother.

Kathryn “Kay” T. Caskey, AM’67, died May 5 in Kalamazoo, MI. She was 76. A social worker in mental health and educational settings, Caskey helped create Cass County Hospice in southwest Michigan. With her partner, Laurie Young, she founded the company Laughter Works, using humor and play, especially juggling, to promote wellness. Caskey taught in Western Michigan University’s integrative holistic health and wellness program and received a lifetime achievement award from the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor. She is survived by her partner, a stepdaughter, two sons, a brother, and three grandchildren.

Michael Lieber, AB’67, died December 23, 2018, in Jackson Heights, NY. He was 73. Trained as a cultural anthropologist, Lieber taught at Wellesley College and Boston University before his work on Balinese ritual performance deepened his interest in documentary and led him into the film business, where he worked for New Century Productions and developed projects at Disney, Paramount, TriStar, and other studios. He produced feature films including Joe Gould’s Secret (2000) and Flash of Genius (2008). Survivors include his wife, Tiffanie Morrow.

Mark C. Steinhoff, AB’69, MD’73, of Boston, died July 12, 2018. He was 70. A pediatric infectious disease specialist, Steinhoff conducted vaccine studies at Christian Medical College, Vellore, in his native India. Returning to the States, he worked at the University of Michigan Medical School and then at Johns Hopkins University’s schools of public health and medicine. He later directed the Global Health Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. In 2008 Steinhoff published the first randomized controlled study to demonstrate that an inactivated influenza vaccine during pregnancy protects women and infants. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Senft; three sons, including Eirik S. Steinhoff, AM’99, PhD’12, and Kristoffer S. Steinhoff, AB’01; two stepchildren; a sister; a brother; and six grandchildren.

1970s

Mark C. Patronsky, AB’70, of Sun Prairie, WI, died May 21. He was 70. During his US Army service in Germany, Patronsky photographed military life and later donated his image collection to the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. After earning a JD from the University of Wisconsin Law School, he joined the Wisconsin Legislative Council staff, specializing in natural resource matters until retiring in 2009. An all-seasons bicycle commuter, he once made local front-page news in Madison, WI, for cycling downtown in a blizzard. He is survived by his wife, Kathryn Ambler, and two brothers, including Ross T. Patronsky, AB’73.

Charles Cheung-Wan Leung, SM’71, PhD’77, of Fremont, CA, died March 22. He was 72. Born in Hong Kong, where he earned his undergraduate degree, Leung studied physics at UChicago and pursued a career in the technology industry, serving as president of the semiconductor company Bipolarics. A member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, he patented a wafer planarization technology, developed a high-speed silicon transistor, and invented a silicon microwave monolithic integrated circuit used in communications. He is survived by two daughters, a son, two sisters, and two brothers.

Carol Perkerson Foster, AM’74, died July 3 in Sidney, British Columbia. She was 69. Foster worked as a cooking instructor in the Pacific Northwest and published three cookbooks, including 365 Main-Course Salads (1997), part of a popular HarperCollins series. She is survived by a stepson, a sister, and two step-granddaughters.

Charles J. LaGrutta, AM’77, died August 2 in Chicago. He was 73. LaGrutta earned his first master’s degree, in English, and worked as a teacher before enlisting in the US Navy and serving in Guam, where he trained in Chinese linguistics. Then, with a master’s in library science from UChicago, he became a librarian and training manager, first with the real estate firm Urban Investment and Development Corporation and later at the Chicago Board Options Exchange. In retirement he again took up studying Chinese language and culture. He is survived by his husband, Stuart Miller, MAT’72, AM’76.

Timothy J. Nevitt, AB’78, of Red Wing, MN, died suddenly August 24. He was 64. Nevitt received his doctorate in meteorology from Penn State University in 1987 and worked as a staff scientist at 3M in the transportation and electronics business group, coauthoring more than 50 patents and receiving the Circle of Technical Excellence award. Active in the Red Wing community, he coached soccer and hockey, taught in an extracurricular math program, and taught religious education at a local Catholic school. He is survived by his wife, Susan; two sons; a sister; and two brothers, including Michael Nevitt, AB’73, AM’78.

Kamyar Jabbari, MBA’79, died of a heart attack April 8 in Northbrook, IL. He was 64. Working at First National Bank of Chicago, Jabbari served as agent, underwriter, arranger, and financial adviser for large-scale utility, oil and gas, and infrastructure projects around the world. He then launched an academic career as a clinical professor of finance at Illinois Institute of Technology’s Stuart School of Business, pursuing his JD at IIT’s Chicago-Kent College of Law. Most recently he was a financial representative at the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America. He is survived by a daughter.

1980s

Jeffrey F. Osanka, AB’82, of Alexandria, VA, died on December 26, 2018. He was 58. With degrees in public policy and communications, Osanka taught at the University of Oregon and Lane Community College. After working for the Oregon state legislature and serving on the board of a major public utility, he was appointed to the Department of Health and Human Services during the George W. Bush administration. Later a consultant with the Federal Labor Relations Authority, he also taught at Georgetown and George Washington Universities. He is survived by his mother; two sisters, including Wendy L. Jones, AB’86; and two brothers.

Andrew K. Miller, AB’83, of Budd Lake, NJ, died of a heart attack July 17. He was 58. With an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, Miller was president of the management consulting firm Milluk. Active in community service, he belonged to the Knights of Columbus and volunteered as a UChicago alumni interviewer for local high schoolers. He is survived by his wife, Mei Hong Yan; two daughters, Elizabeth R. Miller, AB’16, and Olivia A. Miller, Class of 2022; two sons; his mother; and three brothers.

1990s

Stefan Johannes Krieger, AM’92, PhD’99, of Oakton, VA, died of stomach cancer July 8. He was 52. A theoretical macroeconomist, Krieger taught at Yale University before becoming a hedge fund portfolio manager. He worked most recently at Freddie Mac, developing a house price index that was critical to the corporation’s risk modeling after the 2008 housing crisis. He is survived by his wife, Eliza Morss; three daughters; his parents; a sister; and a brother.

Paul M. Gaziano, AM’97, of Minneapolis, died June 23. He was 47. As a Duke University doctoral student, Gaziano studied Italian Renaissance history in Florence and Rome. Pursuing a career outside the academy, he did work for websites, most recently as a research assistant and partner at the medical education company obimages.net. He is survived by his parents and a brother, Emanuel P. Gaziano Jr., AB’92, AM’93.

2000s

Jason A. Yost, AM’02, PhD’11, died of brain cancer June 28 in Kalamazoo, MI. He was 42. A visiting assistant professor of English at Kalamazoo College, Yost taught classes in Renaissance literature and in writing. He is survived by his wife, Paramita Babli Sinha, AM’02, PhD’06; a son; and his parents.