Faculty and staff

David Tracy, the Andrew Thomas Greeley and Grace McNichols Greeley Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Catholic Studies, died April 29 in Chicago. He was 86. An ordained priest and influential Catholic theologian, Tracy studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome during the 1960s. He taught in the Divinity School and the John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought from 1969 to 2007, after being fired from the Catholic University of America along with others for dissenting from papal doctrine on birth control. Engaging with both the Christian tradition and contemporary thought, Tracy’s writings offered a vision of theology as public discourse, accountable to the academy and the broader world. His many writings—including the book The Analogical Imagination: Christian Theology and the Culture of Pluralism (1981)—bridged systematic theology, hermeneutics, and postmodern philosophy while always returning to questions of human meaning and the divine.

Roberto Lang, the A. J. Carlson Professor of Medicine in the Section of Cardiology, of Wilmette, IL, died June 10. He was 73. A distinguished cardiologist, Lang pioneered the development of 3D transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography, a noninvasive technique used worldwide to diagnose and treat heart disease. After completing his medical studies at the University of Buenos Aires and both his internship and residency in Israel, Lang did his cardiology fellowship at UChicago and then joined the faculty in 1985. He published widely in the field of cardiac imaging and served as director of the Cardiac Noninvasive Imaging Laboratory and Cardiac Imaging Center at UChicago Medicine. An award-winning teacher, Lang also mentored many students, fellows, and physicians and held leadership roles in the American Society of Echocardiography. He is survived by his wife, Lili Lang, MBA’87; two children; and two grandchildren.

Holly J. Humphrey, MD’83, former dean for medical education and Ralph W. Gerard Professor in the Pritzker School of Medicine, died April 17 in Hinsdale, IL, of pancreatic cancer. She was 68. Humphrey’s career at Pritzker began with a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care. She directed the school’s internal medicine residency program for 14 years, coleading the nation’s first White Coat Ceremony to welcome first-year medical students to the profession. In her 15 years as dean for medical education, Humphrey strengthened diversity and inclusion, mentorship, and medical education scholarship. She received the Favorite Faculty teaching award from Pritzker students more than 25 times and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. In 2018 she stepped down as dean to lead the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation. She is survived by her husband, Duane Follman; three children, including Sarah Follman, MD’21; and two brothers.

Edward Anders, the Horace B. Horton Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and in the Enrico Fermi Institute, died June 1 in San Mateo, CA. He was 98. A trailblazer in cosmochemistry, Anders played a key role in advancing our knowledge of the solar system’s formation by analyzing meteorites, presolar grains, and lunar samples. He began his tenure at the University of Chicago in 1955, earned the Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 1973, and retired in 1991. His distinguished career included election to the National Academy of Sciences and honors such as NASA’s Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement. A survivor of the Holocaust, Anders authored a memoir about his experiences and created a database of the names and fates of about 7,000 Jews who were living in his birthplace, Liepāja, Latvia, before World War II. He is survived by two children, including George Anders, LAB’74; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Choudhri M. Naim, professor emeritus of South Asian languages and civilizations, died July 9 in Chicago. He was 89. Naim was a prolific translator and scholar of classical and modern Urdu literature and a pioneering pedagogue who helped establish South Asian studies as an independent academic discipline. Born in the Indian province of Uttar Pradesh, Naim earned graduate degrees from the University of Lucknow and the University of California, Berkeley, before moving to the University of Chicago, where he served on the faculty for four decades, eventually as chair of the department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations. He was also founding editor of the Annual of Urdu Studies and what is now the Journal of South Asian Literature and the author of a noted Urdu textbook for English speakers. After his retirement in 2001, he continued to publish widely in his field and on current affairs in South Asia, most recently releasing Urdu Crime Fiction, 1890–1950: An Informal History in 2023. He is survived by a daughter, a son, two sisters, and a grandchild.

Priscilla Diane Chapman Frisch, a research professor in astronomy and astrophysics, died April 2 in Chicago. She was 81. A leading authority on the heliosphere and the local interstellar medium, Frisch served on the University of Chicago faculty for nearly five decades, authoring over 160 scientific papers that explore the sun’s galactic surroundings. She spearheaded an international effort to map the interstellar magnetic field and edited the influential book Solar Journey: The Significance of Our Galactic Environment for the Heliosphere and Earth (2006). She was deeply involved in local education reform, cofounding the Teachers Academy for Math and Science and the Chicago Education Federation. She is survived by her husband, Henry J. Frisch, professor in the Department of Physics, the Enrico Fermi Institute, and the College; two daughters, Sarah Frisch, LAB’92, and Genevieve Frisch, LAB’95; and three grandchildren.

1940s

Malkah Tolpin Notman, PhB’46, SB’47, of Brookline, MA, died May 3. She was 97. Notman studied physiology in the College and took classes with Enrico Fermi and Bruno Bettelheim. Graduating from the Boston University School of Medicine in 1952, Notman became a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a training and supervising analyst at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. Her scholarship centered on adult development, gender and identity, and the psychological dimensions of women’s reproductive lives, and she practiced psychiatry well into her 90s. She is survived by three children, including Laura Notman, AB’85, and four grandchildren.

Herbert J. Gans, PhB’47, AM’50, died April 21 in New York. He was 97. Gans, a refugee from Nazi Germany, studied under UChicago sociologists who stressed the importance of urban fieldwork. With his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, he joined the sociology department at Columbia University and published a dozen books and hundreds of articles on American communities and cultural institutions. His writing—including The Levittowners: Ways of Life and Politics in a New Suburban Community (1967) and The War Against the Poor: The Underclass and Antipoverty Policy (1995)—reached wide audiences and shattered popular myths about urban and suburban life, poverty, ethnic groups, and the news media. Survivors include his wife, Louise Gruner; a son; and a grandchild.

Florence Baumruk Otstot, PhB’48, SB’49, of Richmond, VA, died April 2. She was 98. Otstot met her husband, Charles M. Otstot, PhB’48, SB’50, SM’50, who died in 2001, at the University. They were longtime residents of Arlington, VA, where she was active in the community, especially the Rock Spring Congregational Church and Rock Spring Garden Club. She is survived by two children, four grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

Richard L. Garwin, SM’48, PhD’49, died May 13 in Scarsdale, NY. He was 97. Garwin was a former student of Enrico Fermi’s and an assistant professor of physics at UChicago when, in 1952, he designed the world’s first hydrogen bomb as a summer consultant at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Few knew of his role, and over the next 40 years at what was then IBM’s Watson Laboratories, Garwin undertook research leading to 47 patents, many scientific publications, and technological advances in computers, communications, and medicine. A recipient of the National Medal of Science and Presidential Medal of Freedom, Garwin advised a dozen US presidents on national defense and taught at Columbia, Harvard, and Cornell. Survivors include a daughter, two sons, five grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.

Alan D. Kimmel, SB’49, died March 27 in Massachusetts. He was 98. From an early age, Kimmel loved maps; he earned undergraduate and master’s degrees in geography after time in the Army Air Corps. He worked as a city planner and cartographer and became a researcher, writer, and editor for Encyclopedia Britannica, Scott Foresman, IBM, and other companies. A self-described “hope-ist,” Kimmel volunteered for many political campaigns and was active in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood and with the Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago. He is survived by three sons, four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Alexander “Alex” Polikoff, AB’48, AM’50, JD’53, died May 27 in Keene, NH. He was 98. A Chicago native, Polikoff devoted his life and career to integrating the city’s public housing. He argued Hills v. Gautreaux before the Supreme Court in 1976, successfully challenging Chicago’s racially segregated public housing policies. In addition to practicing law, Polikoff published five books and served as executive director and later housing director of Businessmen for the Public Interest (now Impact for Equity), engaging in nonprofit work and activism until his 90s. In his spare time Polikoff maintained a butterfly collection and was an avid outdoorsman. His wife, Barbara Polikoff, AM’52, died in 2022. He is survived by a daughter, a son, and five grandchildren.

Helen (Biederman) Snider, AB’43, AM’48, died August 6 in Northbrook, IL. She was 102. After studying political science and earning her master’s degree at the School of Social Service Administration (now the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice), Snider embarked on a career in social work that included positions with the American Red Cross in Chicago and in Kansas City. She later became certified as a teacher and taught primary school in Chicago for 20 years. She enjoyed playing bridge and swimming. She is survived by two daughters, four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

1950s

Joseph Patrick “Joe” Muldoon, EX’51, died March 27 in Blacksburg, VA. He was 98. The son of Irish immigrants, Muldoon was drafted into the US Army and served in World War II. Drawn to the great books program, he enrolled in the College in 1947 but completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Muldoon eventually earned three master’s degrees, and he taught, directed libraries, and coached wrestling and tennis at high schools in Connecticut, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Florida. He is survived by his wife, Joyce; two sons; and 12 grandchildren.

Joanne “Joey” (Taubman) Medlinsky Gibson, AB’53, SM’55, MD’58, died January 31 in Arlington, VA. She was 94. With her master’s degree in pharmacology, Gibson was one of three women in her medical school class. She also was one of the first faculty members at what is today Rutgers Health’s Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, where she served as associate dean for student affairs until her retirement. Moving to Arlington, Gibson took adult education classes and enjoyed gardening, making clothes, and dancing. She is survived by a son, three stepchildren, and five grandchildren.

Max Kozloff, AB’53, AM’58, died April 6 in New York. He was 91. Trained as an artist and art historian, Kozloff left his doctoral studies at New York University to cover the city’s art scene. In the 1960s and ’70s he wrote for The Nation and worked his way up to executive editor of Artforum, as he shifted his focus to photography. Kozloff became a prominent street and portrait photographer who also organized photography shows and authored 16 books on subjects including Jasper Johns, Cubism, and New York photography. Survivors include his wife, Joyce, and a son.

Charles Tamotsu Kito, MBA’54, of Woodside, NY, died May 17. He was 101. Born in South Dakota, Kito moved to Japan as a child and later graduated from Waseda University in Tokyo. He worked as a journalist and bureau chief for Fuji Television and served as president of both the Japan International Satellite Organization and Entel Communications. Kito was also a black belt in judo. He is survived by a daughter and a son.

Roy L. Prosterman, AB’54, died February 27 in Seattle. He was 89. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Prosterman left a prestigious corporate law firm to teach law at the University of Washington; soon after, he began championing land reform in developing countries. Years of partnering with governments to strengthen landownership among poor rural families led to his cofounding Landesa, a land-rights institute that has worked with people in more than 60 countries—including Vietnam, El Salvador, and India—to effect land reform. Among his many honors, Prosterman received a UChicago Alumni Public Service Award in 2010.

George E. Smith, SM’56, PhD’59, died May 28 in Barnegat Township, NJ. He was 95. A US Navy veteran, Smith completed his doctorate in physics with a dissertation on electronic properties of semimetals. Working in the research division of Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, Smith earned 30 patents and collaborated with Willard Boyle to invent the charge-coupled device—a sensor used in nearly every telescope, medical scanner, photocopier, and digital camera today. Their contribution was recognized with the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics. Retiring in 1986, Smith traveled the world in a 31-foot sailboat. He is survived by three children, two sisters, five grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

1960s

John Buchanan, DB’63, died February 3 in Chicago. He was 87. Following his Divinity School studies, Buchanan led churches in Indiana and Ohio before serving as senior pastor at Chicago’s Fourth Presbyterian Church from 1985 to 2012. As a leader in the Presbyterian Church USA and editor and publisher of The Christian Century magazine for 17 years, Buchanan was an early voice for equality, advocating for the ordination of gay and lesbian clergy and for same-sex marriage. He is survived by five children, a brother, 13 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

Ronald J. Przybylski, PhD’63, of Pepper Pike, OH, died April 19. He was 89. With his doctorate in zoology, Przybylski taught anatomy and cell biology at Case Western Reserve University for 58 years, retiring as an associate professor emeritus. Known to his students as “Dr. P,” he used his sense of humor and artistic talent to make anatomy memorable, helping generations of medical, dental, and graduate students and postdoctoral scholars learn through creative drawings and acronyms. Survivors include his wife, Ning Tsu Kuo; two daughters; a son; two siblings; and two grandchildren.

Jean Maclean Snyder, LAB’59, AB’63, JD’79, died April 27 in Chicago. She was 83. Snyder worked in the nonprofit sector before pursuing a legal career, first with D’Ancona and Pflaum, a corporate firm in Chicago. Later, through the MacArthur Justice Center and in private practice, she shifted to defending the rights of incarcerated and wrongly accused clients, many of whom were abused by the penal system. The daughter of Norman Maclean, PhD’40, Snyder was a lifelong Hyde Park resident who enjoyed summers at the family cabin in Montana. She is survived by her husband, Joel Snyder, SB’61; two sons, Jacob Snyder, LAB’90, and Noah Snyder, LAB’93; a brother, John Maclean, LAB’60; and two grandchildren.

Jeremiah P. Ostriker, PhD’64, died April 6 in New York. He was 87. Ostriker graduated from Harvard and completed his doctorate in physics under Nobel laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. During his 47 years at Princeton, Ostriker published groundbreaking studies on how galaxies form and evolve; he explored the nature of pulsars, the role of black holes in the evolution of the cosmos, and what the universe is made of. He also chaired Princeton’s astrophysical sciences department, served as provost, helped set up the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and in 2000 received the National Medal of Science. Survivors include his wife, Alicia; three children; a sister; two brothers; and three grandchildren.

Robert J. Poor, PhD’64, of Minneapolis, died February 11. He was 93. Poor’s path to becoming an art historian began when his childhood interest in Asian art deepened during his US Army service in Kyoto, Japan. After teaching at Dartmouth, he spent 45 years at the University of Minnesota, concentrating on Chinese and Japanese painting, Asian ceramics, Indian art, and his specialty, Chinese bronzes. Poor published exhibition catalogs of museum collections featuring artworks from Asian antiquities to modern Japanese prints; he also circumnavigated the globe twice, collected art, and served on the board of the Minnesota Bonsai Society. He is survived by his wife, Gerry Schmitt; a daughter; and three sons.

Guruswamy Rajasekaran, PhD’65, of Chennai, India, died May 29, 2023. He was 87. After training at Madras Christian College and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, Rajasekaran earned his doctorate in physics. A theoretical physicist, he published over 200 papers on quantum field theory and high energy physics. Rajasekaran taught at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai and the Chennai Mathematical Institute and was a longtime advocate for experimental physics research in India, especially the India-based Neutrino Observatory. Survivors include his wife, Suthandra Devi Rajasekaran; two daughters; and three grandchildren.

William A. “Bill” Kuperman, SM’66, died June 30, 2024, in La Jolla, CA. He was 81. After graduate studies in physics, Kuperman worked at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, and what is today the Center for Maritime Research and Experimentation in La Spezia, Italy. In 1992 he joined the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, as a professor and director of the Marine Physical Laboratory. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Kuperman was widely recognized for his expertise in underwater acoustics, acoustical oceanography, and computational ocean acoustics. He is survived by his wife, Gaby; two children; and three grandchildren.

Donald H. Carlisle, MBA’67, of Toronto, died March 26. He was 83. Carlisle studied science and engineering physics prior to completing his business degree, and he spent his career in the financial industry. A lifelong Toronto resident, he loved sailing, playing the piano, and attending symphony, ballet, and opera performances. He is survived by his partner, Jan; three children; a stepdaughter; a sister; and nine grandchildren.

Robert N. Staley, AM’67, died March 27 in Coralville, IA. He was 89. Educated at the University of Minnesota College of Dentistry, Staley came to UChicago for a dental internship, where he studied the humanities, studio art, and anthropology and worked as a dental physical anthropologist. Staley also served in the US Army Dental Corps. As a member of the University of Iowa dentistry faculty from 1970 to 2016, Staley treated patients, consulted, and coauthored a textbook, Essentials of Orthodontics: Diagnosis and Treatment (2011), which was published in five languages. He is survived by his wife, Kathleen; a daughter; a son; and seven grandchildren.

Virginia (Cook) Aronson, AB’69, AM’73, JD’75, of Washington, DC, died March 2. She was 77. A Washington state native, Aronson was recruited to the College by the Small School Talent Search. With her sociology and law degrees she joined the Chicago firm Sidley Austin, led its real estate practice, and became the firm’s first woman managing partner before retiring in 2010. Outside of her legal work, Aronson loved magic, art, and cooking. She and her husband, Simon Aronson, AB’64, AM’65, JD’73, who died in 2019, were known for their mind-reading act, which they performed worldwide. Survivors include a sister and a brother.

Mario Ferland, AM’69, of Quebec City, died April 5. He was 93. Following his UChicago graduate studies in education, Ferland earned a doctorate in education from the University of Rennes in France. He was employed for his entire career at Laval University in Quebec City as an administrator and teacher, retiring in 1993. He is survived by his wife, Yvette Chouinard; a daughter; a son; a sister; five grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

Donald L. Lawler, PhD’69, of Raleigh, NC, died March 25. He was 90. Lawler earned degrees at Georgetown and Columbia Universities before pursuing his doctorate in English. A specialist in Victorian literature, fantasy, and science fiction, he taught at East Carolina University from 1968 to 1998 and introduced generations of students to the writings of Oscar Wilde; J. R. R. Tolkien; Kurt Vonnegut, AM’71; and others. When he wasn’t reading, Lawler enjoyed stained glass craftsmanship, music, and baseball. Survivors include four children, nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

1970s

Ronald Filak, AB’75, of Callawassie Island, SC, died January 19. He was 81. Filak spent 22 years in the Field Artillery of the US Army, with service in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal; Germany; Korea; Oklahoma; and at the University of Massachusetts as head of ROTC. Retiring from the Army in 1989 as a lieutenant colonel, Filak became a project manager in the private sector. He retired again in 2007 and dedicated his time to golf, travel, books, and family. Survivors include his wife, Mary; a daughter, Meredith Filak Rose, AB’08, JD’13; a son; a stepson; a sister; a brother; and six grandchildren.

Scott Teissler, MBA’77, died April 16 in Atlanta. He was 71. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Chicago Booth, Teissler served as UChicago’s vice provost for information technology from 1987 to 1993. He spent more than two decades as chief technology officer for Turner Broadcasting Systems, ushering the traditional media company into the digital age. Retiring to San Francisco in 2015, Teissler became principal at Teleologistics, a firm focused on technology-oriented business problems. He is survived by his wife, Paula Ruth Markowitz, LAB’74, AB’78; three children; a sister; and a grandchild.

Thomas W. Weidenbach, AB’81 (Class of 1975), of Ann Arbor, MI, died January 7. He was 72. In the College, Weidenbach was an architecture aficionado and a cinephile who cofounded the Contemporary European Film Society, which later merged with Doc Films. Weidenbach worked at UChicago’s medical facilities before pursuing a career in law and teaching that took him all over the world—including, notably, to China.

1980s

Jennifer Costello McBride, AB’88, died March 26 in Hawthorne, NY, following a brief illness. She was 58. Trained at Manhattan’s French Culinary Institute, McBride worked at the Consulate General of France in New York and later as a private caterer in the Princeton, NJ, area. She loved to travel, visiting Africa and China and trekking to Everest Base Camp. A Chicago Cubs season-ticket holder, McBride also kept beehives and led trivia night teams at Princeton’s Ivy Inn. She is survived by her partner, Benjamin Warren.

Diane (Smith) Ativie, AM’89, of Skokie, IL, died January 4, of ovarian cancer. She was 66. Raised in Chicago’s Ida B. Wells housing projects, Ativie trained as a social worker at Loyola University Chicago and at the School of Social Service Administration (now the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice). For more than 25 years she was a medical social worker and case manager at Endeavor Evanston Hospital, winning awards for innovation and leadership. Ativie also helped other Chicagoland clients as a care manager at Centene Corporation, a mental health counselor at Thresholds, and a foster care/adoption specialist at Children’s Home & Aid. She is survived by a son and four siblings.

Eugene Valentine Sitzmann Jr., PhD’89, of Wyandotte, MI, died March 11. He was 71. A graduate of Saint Thomas Academy in St. Paul, MN, Sitzmann studied chemistry as a Northwestern University undergraduate and at UChicago. He was a faculty member at Columbia University before working for nearly 20 years at the chemical companies CIBA and BASF in Europe. Survivors include three sisters and a brother.

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.