Faculty and staff

Howard Stein, PhD’58, professor emeritus in the Department of Philosophy and the Committee on the Conceptual Foundations of Science, died March 8 in Chicago. He was 95. Stein’s scholarship explored the foundations and history of physics, spanning antiquity to the present. With his undergraduate degree from Columbia University, Stein next studied at UChicago with Rudolf Carnap, a founding figure in the field of the philosophy of science, before earning his master’s degree in mathematics at the University of Michigan. Stein taught at UChicago and then Brandeis, Case Western Reserve, and Columbia Universities before returning as a member of the philosophy faculty from 1980 to 2000. His writing during that period included papers on contemporary quantum theory and perspectives on ancient physics and mathematics. His many honors include election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is survived by a daughter, a son, a sister, and a brother.

William Walker Tait, professor emeritus in the Department of Philosophy and the Committee on the Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science, died March 15 in Naperville, IL. He was 95. Over his 60-year career as a philosopher and mathematician, Tait made significant contributions to his main areas of research: mathematical logic, especially proof theory and finitism, and the philosophy and history of mathematics and logic. A graduate of Lehigh University, Tait attended the Summer Institute for Symbolic Logic at Cornell University in 1957, while a doctoral student at Yale, where he met several logicians who influenced his work. Before joining the UChicago faculty in 1972, he taught at Stanford, the University of Illinois Chicago, and Aarhus University. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Tait continued to pursue his research after retiring in 1996. Survivors include his partner, Rebecca West, the William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Service Professor Emerita in the Departments of Romance Languages and Literatures and Cinema and Media Studies; a daughter; and two grandchildren.

Manfred “Fred” Ruddat, associate professor emeritus in the Department of Ecology and Evolution, of Chicago, died March 2. He was 91. With his PhD from the University of Tübingen in Germany, Ruddat joined the UChicago faculty in 1964. He received a 1969 Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and was an associate dean of students from 1988 to 2004. The author of numerous research articles, he served as editor in chief or coeditor of the International Journal of Plant Sciences for 37 years. A longtime Hyde Park resident, Ruddat was a member of the American Society of Plant Biologists and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Survivors include a daughter, Monica B. Roelandse, LAB’84, AB’88; a son, Michael S. Ruddat, LAB’81, AB’85, MD’89; and six grandchildren.

W. Ralph Johnson, the John Matthews Manly Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the Department of Classics, died April 13 in Culver City, CA. He was 90. Johnson earned his PhD in classics at the University of California, Berkeley, and taught there and at Cornell University before joining the UChicago faculty in 1981. He also held visiting professorships at UCLA and the University of Michigan. A specialist in Latin poetry and poetics, Johnson authored several books, including the influential Darkness Visible: A Study of Vergil’s Aeneid (1976). He also wrote fiction and poetry and was fluent in five languages. After retiring in 1998, Johnson taught in the classics department and at the Graham School until 2011. He is survived by a daughter, Leatrice Oram, AB’88; a son; and three grandchildren.

Donald Whitcomb, PhD’79, research associate professor in the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures and the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (NELC), died February 8 in Chicago. He was 79. A pioneering scholar of Islamic archaeology, Whitcomb investigated the history of Islam through excavations across the Middle East. He trained generations of students in archaeological fieldwork, created master’s and doctoral programs in Islamic archaeology at UChicago, and authored eight books and numerous articles about excavations and museum exhibitions. In 2018 Whitcomb received the Middle East Medievalists Lifetime Achievement Award. He was a research fellow at the American Center of Research in Jordan, the American Research Center in Egypt, the Smithsonian Institution, the Field Museum of Natural History, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He is survived by his wife, Janet H. Johnson, AB’67, PhD’72, the Morton D. Hull Distinguished Service Professor Emerita in NELC; two children; and a brother.

1940s

Louise (Tibbetts) Smith, LAB’35, MAT’43, died December 29 in Bennington, VT. She was 105. Smith studied English literature at Wellesley College and child development at UChicago. During and after World War II, she did relief work in France and Italy. She later worked in day care centers and preschools in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Bethesda, MD. Smith was active in the Washington, DC–area Wellesley alumnae community and composed a song that has been sung at the college’s reunions for 85 years. Survivors include her son.

Wilmar Jensen, PhB’45, of Modesto, CA, died January 6. He was 96. The California native took a train across the country by himself to attend the College, graduating at age 17. When he turned 18, he was drafted into the US Army and fulfilled two years of postwar service in the Philippines. Jensen later completed bachelor’s and law degrees at Stanford and practiced law in Modesto for 72 years. He also launched a family farming operation producing eggs, almonds, and walnuts and was active for decades in the Republican Party, Masonic Lodge, and Rotary Club, as well as on local nonprofit boards for organizations such as Community Hospice. Survivors include his wife, Judy; four children; nine grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Gerald S. Picus, SB’47, SM’50, PhD’54, of Reseda, CA, died February 21. He was 98. Following US Navy service during and after World War II, Picus earned his doctorate in physics, studying and teaching with Enrico Fermi and Edward Teller. He worked at the US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, before accepting a position with the Hughes Aircraft Company in California. In retirement he was a visiting fellow in physics at Caltech and enjoyed travel and cultural events. Survivors include his wife, Joy; three children, including Lawrence O. Picus, AM’87; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

David L. Rosenberg, PhB’48, SB’50, MD’54, died January 21 in Highland Park, IL. He was 95. Rosenberg established a private psychiatry practice and was a consulting psychiatrist at Highland Park Hospital beginning in the mid-1960s. He served on the UChicago and Northwestern University faculties and consulted for the Consulates of Germany and Switzerland on the psychological impact of the Holocaust. Rosenberg dedicated time to family, travel, concerts, and UChicago alumni activities, including Phi Gamma Delta gatherings, both before and after retiring in 2015. His wife, Petra (Herd) Rosenberg, EX’53, died in 2016. He is survived by three children and seven grandchildren.

Beaty (Rosenblum) Harris, AM’49, of Northbrook, IL, died September 23, 2023. She was 98. She enjoyed playing cards, golfing, and dancing. She is survived by two children, including Janet Harris Wolf, AM’74; four grandchildren, including Rachel Wolf Dietrich, MBA’15; and five great-grandchildren.

1950s

William T. Barnes, AB’50, of Briarcliff Manor, NY, died April 2. He was 95. Barnes studied English literature in the College and became a special education teacher in 1957 at the League School in Brooklyn, a day school serving children and young adults with behavioral and emotional difficulties. In 1968, working with the Association for Mentally Ill Children, he was named executive director of the newly founded Clear View School in Westchester County. He remained in that role for 44 years, developing a therapeutic milieu to meet children’s needs and help them grow, learn, heal, and lead productive lives.

Budd B. Adams, AB’51, died February 20 in Lynchburg, VA. He was 93. After graduating from the College, Adams earned a second bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of Illinois and a PhD in geophysics from the University of Wisconsin. In 1960 he started work at Columbia University’s Hudson Laboratories, an oceanographic research center supported by the Office of Naval Research. During the Cold War, he did top secret sonar research at the US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, and later worked as a program manager at NRL’s Stennis Space Center location in Mississippi. In retirement Adams studied genealogy, art, and history. He is survived by two daughters, five stepdaughters, three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Bruce Collard, AB’53, JD’56, of Sausalito, CA, died February 10. He was 89. In the 1960s Collard served on the original staff of the Peace Corps, opening its volunteer program in Nepal. He later worked for the Asia Foundation in Tokyo and then in international banking, including at a position in Paris with Bank of America, before becoming an entrepreneur. He is survived by his wife, Eve; four children; and six grandchildren.

Willys Kent Silvers, PhD’54, of Gladwyne, PA, died January 24. He was 95. A Johns Hopkins University graduate, Silvers spent summers doing biomedical research at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, ME, before enrolling in UChicago’s zoology doctoral program. He joined the University of Pennsylvania’s genetics department in 1965, where he focused on pigment cell biology and transplantation biology and won two teaching awards. Silvers served on the Jackson Laboratory board of scientific overseers and, after retiring from Penn in 1996, conducted research at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Survivors include two children and two grandchildren.

Norman G. Swenson, AB’55, MBA’61, died August 12, 2023, in Palos Heights, IL. He was 88. A US Army veteran and former business professor at City Colleges of Chicago’s Olive-Harvey College, Swenson founded the Cook County College Teachers Union, serving as its president for 40 years. Two strikes he led in the 1960s resulted in the first collective bargaining contract for public employees in Chicago. As a vice president for the American Federation of Teachers, Swenson helped organize community college faculty around the country; he was also an international observer for the 1994 South African presidential election. Survivors include his wife, Ellen; three children; and two grandchildren.

Joseph Palombo, AM’59, of Lake Forest, IL, died June 10, 2023. He was 94. A graduate of The New School for Social Research and Yale, Palombo studied and taught at what is now the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. As an author, speaker, educator, and clinician, he focused on disorders of the self that often accompany neuropsychological deficits in children, adolescents, and adults. He was the founding dean of the Institute for Clinical Social Work in Chicago and distinguished director emeritus of its Joseph Palombo Center for Neuroscience and Psychoanalytic Social Work. Survivors include a daughter.

1960s

Judith “Judy” McCombs, AB’60, AM’61, died April 27 in Olney, MD. She was 85. McCombs published five books of poetry, hundreds of poems and works of short fiction, and two books on Margaret Atwood. She was the founding editor of the 1970s feminist literary magazine Moving Out. The recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, McCombs taught creative writing at Wayne State University and the College for Creative Studies in Detroit as well as at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, MD. She is survived by her husband, Ernst Benjamin, AM’60, PhD’72; a daughter; a son; a sister; a brother; and two grandchildren.

Anthony N. Penna, AM’61, died March 1 in Waltham, MA. He was 84. During Penna’s 25 years at Northeastern University, he first served as provost and then taught environmental history, chairing the department’s graduate program during the 1990s. Before that, he taught and held administrative positions at Carnegie Mellon University, where he received his doctorate. Penna’s many books include The Human Footprint: A Global Environmental History (2010). He also launched an environmental history seminar series at the Massachusetts Historical Society for academics and the wider public. He was a well-traveled hiker and a longtime volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. He is survived by a daughter, a son, and a grandchild.

Donald G. Lindburg, AM’62, of San Diego, died April 6. He was 91. Lindburg’s curiosity and love for animals led him to a career in global wildlife conservation. With his doctorate in anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley, he studied primates in their natural habitats in India and Indonesia and taught anthropology at several universities. Joining the San Diego Zoo staff in 1979, he directed its cheetah conservation program and giant panda project, welcoming America’s first baby panda born in captivity and promoting joint research with China. He is survived by a daughter, a son, five stepchildren, a sister, a brother, four grandchildren, and three step-grandchildren.

Edward C. Stone, SM’59, PhD’64, died June 9 in Pasadena, CA. He was 88. Stone is best known as the chief project scientist for NASA’s Voyager mission, which provided the first high-resolution images of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Raised in Burlington, IA, he attended Burlington Junior College (now Southeastern Community College) before attending graduate school at UChicago. He then joined the physics faculty at Caltech, where he spent the next six decades. In 1972 Stone began work on the Voyager mission and its twin spacecraft, both of which launched in 1977 and remain in operation today as they explore the Milky Way; in 2012, Voyager 1 became the first human-made object to enter interstellar space. From 1991 to 2001, Stone led NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, overseeing projects including the Mars Pathfinder mission and the launch of the Cassini and Galileo spacecraft. Among many honors, he received the National Medal of Science, the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, and UChicago’s 2015 Alumni Medal. His wife, Alice Stone, EX’62 , died in 2023. He is survived by two daughters and two grandsons.

Anthony Barton, AM’60, PhD’64, died February 22 in Pittsburgh. He was 89. A founding faculty member of Duquesne University’s psychology department, Barton helped create a graduate program devoted to an existential phenomenological approach to therapy and counseling. For nearly 60 years, he taught Duquesne students, supervised therapists in training, and counseled hundreds of clients in his private psychotherapy practice. Barton studied Gestalt psychology, hypnotherapy, group and family therapies, and Buddhism, and he authored two books. He also helped with local animal rescues and adoptions. He is survived by his wife, Carolyn DeForest; seven children; a sister; 21 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.

J. David Colfax, PhD’64, died November 12 in Boonville, CA. He was 87. A sociologist, Colfax was fired from the University of Connecticut faculty for his political activism against the Vietnam War. In 1973, after he was denied tenure at Washington University, he left academia to build a house, start a farm, and homeschool his four sons with his wife, Micki, in Northern California. The couple authored two influential books about homeschooling. Colfax also served as a Mendocino County supervisor and advocated for environmental causes. Survivors include his wife, four sons, a sister, and nine grandchildren.

John L. Etter, MBA’64, of Dexter, MI, died April 4. He was 87. A US Army veteran, Etter received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Michigan. In 1971 he cofounded the law firm of Reading & Etter, where he practiced for his entire career. Outside of work, Etter loved to spend time with family in northern Michigan and was a passionate paddleball player and Michigan football fan. Survivors include three sons, three sisters, and six grandchildren.

David R. Heise, AM’62, PhD’64, died September 28, 2021, in Bloomington, IN. He was 84. A Rudy Professor Emeritus in the sociology department at Indiana University, Heise was known for his groundbreaking work in affect control theory, which links culture with social behavior. His many honors include distinguished career awards from four sections of the American Sociological Association—Social Psychology, Sociology of Emotions, Mathematical Sociology, and Methodology—and from the International Academy for Intercultural Research. In 2022 American Behavioral Scientist published a special two-part issue to celebrate and build on Heise’s scholarly contributions. Survivors include his son.

Lester S. Barritt, MBA’65, of Western Springs, IL, died April 20. He was 90. A DePauw University graduate, Barritt served as a US Air Force pilot and intelligence officer and achieved the rank of captain. He went on to a career managing office buildings and other commercial properties in the Chicago area, pursuing entrepreneurial ventures, and serving as a longtime member and president of the Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago. He is survived by two children, seven grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Eleanor P. Simpson, AB’65, of Creve Coeur, MO, died April 17. She was 79. Simpson earned a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and later graduated from Saint Louis University School of Law while raising her family. A licensed attorney, she was active on a local private school board and with the Missouri House Rabbit Society. She is survived by her husband, Joseph R. Simpson, PhD’67; two sons; two siblings; and five grandchildren.

Robert S. Greenberg, PhD’66, of Newton, MA, died March 21. He was 89. Greenberg was a graduate of Reed College, a Fulbright Scholar at the Universities of St. Andrew’s and Oxford, and a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at UChicago. He taught philosophy for more than 60 years, including at Brandeis University from 1966 to 2020. Greenberg published three books on the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and centered his teaching on Kant, metaphysics, and the history of philosophy. Survivors include his wife, Maida Jablon Greenberg, AM’61; three children; and six grandchildren.

Joseph L. Gray III, AM’59, PhD’67, of Lakewood, OH, died April 29. He was 94. After serving in the US Air Force from 1946 to 1949, Gray graduated from Washington and Lee University. He studied in Germany as a Fulbright Scholar and a Goethe-Universität Fellow, and while at UChicago he was active at International House. In 1970 Gray joined what is now the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Bowling Green State University, where he served as chair, expanded language offerings, and taught German until retiring in 2003. He is survived by two sons, a brother, and three grandchildren.

Wendell H. Adair Jr., JD’69, of St. Joseph, MI, died April 21. He was 80. An Emory University graduate, Adair practiced corporate law in Chicago and New York. After retirement he and his wife moved to Sawyer, MI, and launched a small business investing and building houses in the area. He is survived by his wife, Monica; a daughter; two sons; a sister; a brother; and four grandchildren.

Linda R. Hirshman, JD’69, died October 31 in Burlington, VT. She was 79. Hirshman began her legal career at a firm that represented labor unions, arguing several cases before the US Supreme Court. She later completed a doctorate in philosophy, taught at the Chicago-Kent College of Law, and taught philosophy and women’s studies at Brandeis University. In 2005 Hirshman penned a controversial article for the American Prospect that decried the trend of highly educated women leaving the workforce to stay home and raise children. Five books followed, on topics such as feminism, gay rights, and abolition history. She is survived by her daughter, Sarah Shapiro, LAB’93; two stepdaughters; and seven grandchildren.

Bernard M. Kosowski, MBA’69, of Valley Forge, PA, died February 1. He was 83. After earning a bachelor’s in chemistry at Purdue University and then serving in the US Army, chemical brigade, Kosowski joined the US Army Reserve while pursuing his MBA. He then spent 20 years at Atlantic Richfield Company in Pennsylvania, becoming its global business director for specialty chemicals; afterward, he launched two businesses: MACH I in 1985 and Reactive Metals International Inc. in 2010. A chemical and ordnance officer in the Army Reserve, he achieved the rank of colonel and was awarded the Legion of Merit for his service. Survivors include two children, three siblings, and four grandchildren.

Karen J. Sweeney, MFA’68, MAT’69, of Estero, FL, died April 18. She was 82. Sweeney earned a fine arts degree at St. Xavier University and was an accomplished artist and painter. As the owner of Karen Sweeney Interiors, she decorated and staged many homes in Illinois and Florida. Moving with her husband from Frankfort, IL, to Naples and Estero, FL, she volunteered weekly at Hope Hospice for many years and read to students in local schools as part of the literacy council. She is survived by her husband, Frederick L. Sweeney Jr., MBA’66; a daughter; a sister; and three grandchildren.

1970s

Jerome H. Barkow, AM’66, PhD’70, died April 30 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was 80. After earning his psychology degree from Brooklyn College and completing graduate studies in the Committee on Human Development, Barkow joined the faculty at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He taught anthropology there for nearly 40 years, doing fieldwork in Niger, Nigeria, and Indonesia, and specializing in the evolution of human behavior and evolutionary psychology. Combining those interests with his lifelong love of science fiction, Barkow became a board member of Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence. He is survived by his wife, Irma Juuti; a daughter; a son; and two grandchildren.

Peter Jon Nagourney, AM’62, PhD’71, of Ann Arbor, MI, died January 20, 2023. He was 82. An educator and activist, Nagourney studied English literature at the City University of New York and UChicago. He was a Fulbright Scholar in London and taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara; Wayne State University; and the University of Michigan. As a consultant, he designed and led training and database programs for businesses and nonprofit organizations; he also was a neighborhood organizer in Ann Arbor and Detroit. Survivors include his wife, Reena Liberman, and two sons.

Emmanuel Hatzidakis, EX’73, of Chania, Greece, died January 9. He was 82. Born and raised on Crete, Hatzidakis studied classics at Oberlin College and UChicago before earning his master’s in divinity from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Theological School. He served as a priest of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America from 1988 to 2019 and founded Orthodox Witness, a ministry dedicated to Orthodox evangelism. The author of books, articles, and Christmas plays, Hatzidakis rendered English translations of Greek church hymns to fit their original melodies. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; three children, including Joy Hatzidakis, AB’96; and three grandchildren.

Lee W. Movius, AM’70, JD’73, of Charlotte, NC, died June 27, 2020. He was 73. Raised in North Carolina, Movius attended Harvard before studying modern European history and then law at UChicago. He practiced law for most of his career at K&L Gates in Charlotte. His volunteer activities involved music—Movius served on the boards of two local music organizations and was a choir accompanist at the Unitarian Universalist Community of Charlotte. He is survived by his wife, Gwynne Lewis Movius, AM’70; a daughter; and a sister.

Fred William “Bill” Graue, MBA’74, of Downers Grove, IL, died October 15. He was 82. Graue received his undergraduate chemistry degree from Monmouth College and served in the US Army during the Vietnam War. His career included positions at DeSoto Chemical Coatings, Continental Can, White Cap, and Silgan Containers. He was a member of the International Metal Decorators Association for more than 30 years and served on its board of directors; he was also a sports car enthusiast and loved music, especially jazz. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; two children; two siblings; and one grandchild.

John F. Dean, AM’75, of Ithaca, NY, died February 29. He was 88. Born in England, Dean attended the Manchester School of Art and learned bookbinding before pursuing library studies at UChicago. He worked at Chicago’s Newberry Library and the Milton S. Eisenhower Library at Johns Hopkins, later becoming Cornell University’s first conservation and preservation librarian. A teacher and mentor to many, Dean created seminal online tutorials to guide librarians and archivists in Southeast Asia and the Middle East in conservation and preservation efforts. Survivors include his wife, Margaret; three children; seven grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

Maxine Hubbard-Cole, MST’75, died April 17 in Oakland, CA. She was 90. Hubbard-Cole became a kindergarten teacher in Kansas City after graduating from Emporia State University. She went on to teach students at every level, from three-year-olds to graduate students. During her graduate studies in Chicago, she started a public-school tutoring program. She lived in Hawaii, Massachusetts, Ohio, Illinois, and Florida before moving to California, where she was active in her senior community’s book and hiking clubs. She is survived by a daughter, six stepchildren, a brother, a grandchild, and several step-grandchildren.

Leigh Alan Littleton, SM’76, died February 8 in Fincastle, VA. He was 86. Littleton was a programmer who spent the first part of his career at the UChicago Laboratory for Astrophysics and Space Research and the UChicago computer center. After 30 years in Chicago, he moved to the Roanoke, VA, area and worked in information technology for health care systems until 2019. He had a lifelong interest in sight hounds and raised and ran borzois in lure coursing, a sport that tests dogs’ natural hunting abilities. He is survived by his wife, Vickie Sharp; a daughter; and a sister.

R. Conrad Douglas, AB’77, of Sioux City, IA, died January 27. He was 72. With degrees from Northern Baptist and Fuller Theological Seminaries, Claremont Graduate University, and the University of Iowa, Douglas practiced law for 26 years. A member of the Church of the Brethren, he loved music, reading, and activism. He is survived by his wife, Lucinda; three children; a sister; and a grandchild.

Warren R. Copeland, AM’71, PhD’77, of Springfield, OH, died January 22. He was 80. Copeland was ordained as a Disciple of Christ pastor after graduating from MacMurray College and Christian Theological Seminary. With his doctorate from the UChicago Divinity School, he taught religion at Wittenberg University for 41 years, where he directed urban studies and published books on social ethics and economic justice. He served as mayor of Springfield for more than 25 years, retiring in 2023. He is survived by his wife, Clara; three children; and seven grandchildren.

C. Sumpter Logan, MBA’77, of Asheville, NC, died November 21. He was 86. Logan worked for 60 years at GTE (now Verizon), where he served in various management positions including as president of GTE Airfone. He was a DePauw University graduate and later pursued a degree in arbitration. A lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Logan served on the board of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He is survived by his wife, Linda; two daughters; two sisters; and three grandchildren.

Gerald Randall “Randy” Bonney Jr., MBA’78, of McLean, VA, died unexpectedly April 18. He was 69. An economics major at the University of Virginia and a Chicago Booth graduate, Bonney was also a certified public accountant. He worked in financial and treasury management positions at MCI, Intelsat, and American Systems, where he was corporate finance and risk manager. A lover of music and books, he was devoted to his family and his West Highland terriers. He is survived by his wife, Carol; two daughters; and three brothers.

John F. Burleigh, AM’77, PhD’78, of New York, died June 24, 2023. He was 74. Burleigh graduated from Cornell University before studying political science at UChicago. He taught American constitutional law and political theory at the University of California, Davis; the University of Virginia; and Michigan State University. A specialist in intellectual property, he worked at several New York law firms, most recently Jacobs & Burleigh. Survivors include his wife, Beth Cohen, and a sister.

1980s

Robert V. Wheeler, MBA’80, of Lemont, IL, died April 27. He was 91. Wheeler served with the US Army Corps of Engineers in the Panama Canal Zone and later com-pleted degrees in chemical engineering and radiation physics. After working at Argonne National Laboratory as a radiation protection officer, he became director of product development at Landauer, focusing on radiation safety, and founded the Midwest chapter of the Health Physics Society. In retirement he volunteered with the Lemont Lions Club, Lemont Township, and Palos Hospital. Survivors include his wife, Geraldine; four children; 10 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Norman J. Kansfield, AM’70, PhD’81, died January 27 in New York. He was 83. Raised in a Midwestern Dutch community and the Reformed Church, Kansfield earned five academic degrees in two subjects: religion and library science. After earning his master’s degree in sacred theology, he prepared at UChicago for his career as a theological librarian. He joined the faculty of Western Theological Seminary and then became a professor of theology and president at New Brunswick Theological Seminary from 1993 to 2004, until he was defrocked after officiating the same-sex marriage of his daughter. Kansfield went on to teach reformed theology at Drew University; meanwhile, his ordained status was restored in 2011. He is survived by his wife, Mary; a daughter; a son; and three grandchildren.

Jonathan Vincent, MBA’82, of Norwich, VT, died April 19. He was 74. With a bachelor’s degree in history and literature from Harvard and a master’s degree in architecture from Princeton, Vincent became a licensed architect in a dozen states. Settling in Vermont, he ended his professional career as the director of design at Timberpeg. He was active in local government and taught architectural history at Granite State College as well as continuing education courses at Dartmouth. His activities and library reflected his diverse interests—among them, English sports cars and Japanese prints. Survivors include his wife, Priscilla; three children; and his grandchildren.

Updated 10.14.2024 to remove the obituary for Marc Neuerman, MBA’73. 

To request an obituary for a faculty member, staff member, or former student, please send a previously published obituary or a note that includes their accomplishments, surviving family members, and significant facts care of the Alumni News Editor, The University of Chicago Magazine, 5235 South Harper Court, Chicago, IL 60615, or by email: uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu.