Biographies
in Memoriam
Since AXP or EQV
or
Bios about those that lived it
Table of Contents
From The New York Times, May 7, 1991
Dr. Maxwell Abramson, chairman of the department of
otolaryngology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of
Columbia
University, died on Friday at Kona Hospital in Hawaii. He was 55 years old and
lived in Tenafly, N.J.
He was attending a medical conference and died after he
was struck by a car while bicycling, a family spokeswoman said.
A 1957 graduate of Wesleyan University, he graduated from
Albany College of Medicine in 1961. After additional training in
otolaryngology, he taught at several medical schools before being named chairman
of the department at Columbia University in 1977.
He was on the boards of the Deafness Research foundation and the Communicative
Disorders Committee of the National Institutes of healthy. He was also a past
president of the Society of University Otolaryngologists-Head and Neck Surgeons.
He is survived by his wife, the former Marsha Margulies,
a son, Stuart, of Manhattan; two daughters, Rebecca , of the Bronx, and Deborah,
of Brooklyn, and his mother, Esther Abramson of West Palm Beach, Fla.
From the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette, October 23, 1973
Services for Elmore Lee Keener, Jr., a principal partner
and director of the Pittsburgh Penguins, will be
held at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow at Calvary Episcopal Church…
Mr. Keener, 37, a vice-president and partner with Charles
G. Peelor and Co., Grant Building, Downtown, died yesterday (Oct. 22) at West
Penn Hospital. He lived on Indian road, Fox Chapel.
He was a past president of the
Pittsburgh
Securities Traders Association and a past governor of the Bond Club of
Pittsburgh. He also was a director of the
Pittsburgh Testing Laboratories.
He was a member of the Edgewood Country Club, the
University Club and fox Chapel Racquet Club.
Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Janet Bygate Keener; two
sons, Charles and Craig Keener; a daughter, Suzanne Leslie Keener, and three
brothers, Edward S., Robert J., and Eugene L.
Keener and his mother, Mrs. Amelia Keener.
From the Wesleyan Magazine, fall, 2003
Norman H. Wissing, a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Air
Force, died May 20, 2003. He was 67. A member of Alpha Chi Rho, he retired from
the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel after serving in Viet Name and in the
United States; he then became the commander of a Junior Air Force ROTC program.
Survivors include his wife, Beverly, three children, two grandchildren, a
sister, a niece, a nephew, and his former wife, Marilyn.
From the Wesleyan Magazine, 2003
William H. Olson, Jr. M.D., 66 a neurologist who had been
chairman of the Department of Neurology at the University of
Louisville
School of Medicine, died July 5, 2003. A member of Alpha Chi Rho, he was elected
to Phi Beta Kappa and to Sigma Xi. He received his degree with high honors and
with distinction in chemistry. He was a Fulbright Scholar and received his M.D.
from Harvard. Survivors include his parents; a brother, a sister,
Bonnie Olson ’78; two children; and his longtime companion, Violet
Dixon, and her son.
From The Philadelphia
Inquirer, October 16, 2002
Walter P. Miller III, 65, a retired executive who worked
in the packaging industry, died Thursday of a brain tumor at his home in Lake
Lure, N.C. Before moving to Lake Lure upon his retirement in 1996, Mr. Miller
had been a resident of Gladwyne and Parsippany, N.J.
Mr. Miller grew up in the Chestnut Hill section of
Philadelphia and graduated from Episcopal Academy in 1955. he want on
to earn a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Wesleyan University in
Middletown, Conn., in 1959.
He served for three years in the Navy before returning to
the Philadelphia region to join his father in the
Walter P. Miller Co., a Philadelphia firm;
founded by his grandfather in 1896 that manufactured paper boxes for the
pharmaceutical industry. After the business was closed in the late 1960s, Mr.
Miller remained in the industry, working for Becton Dickinson & Co.’s Iyers-Lee
division. Mr. Miller belonged to several professional organizations including
the Philadelphia Drug Exchange, which he served
as treasurer from 1993 to 1995.
Mr. Miller loved music, and he enjoyed singing in a choir
and playing guitar. He also liked golfing, ballroom dancing, gardening and
hiking.
He is survived by his wife of 25 years, Binney Bromley
Miller; daughters Elizabeth Miller and Susan DuBois; a stepson, Rudolph Nuissl;
a stepdaughter, Binney Huffman; one sister; a brother; and three grandchildren.
His first wife, Elizabeth Baumgartner, from whom he had been divorced for many
years, died several years ago.
From the Wesleyan Magazine, Issue III, 2005
James A. Alexander, Jr., 66, a retired college consultant
and a past president of the National Association for College Admissions
Counselors, died December 19, 2004. he was a member of Alpha Chi Rho [and EQV]
and received a master’s degree from New York University. In 1962, as assistant director of
admission and recruiting at N.Y.U., he wrote a proposal for a counseling
department model that included the role of college consultant; hired to
implement it at Highland Park (IL) High School, he created the first counseling
resource center in the country that was designed to help students with college
and career planning as well as with other post-secondary school issues. He is
survived by his wife, Gita Jarnstedt Alexander, a son, a daughter, a sister, and
a brother.
By Gus Napier (’60)
I vividly remember meeting Jim at AXP, this big guy from
the Bronx—tall, with a deep, booming voice that seemed to reverberate down into
his very long legs; he had a crew cut and a steady, confident smile. He seemed
inveterately friendly, full of energy and talk, and with a flair for the
dramatic. He reached out to this shy kid from southern Georgia and he impressed
him—among other ways—with his story of seeing man get caught halfway into a
New York subway door just as the train was pulling out, and yanking
the man free. The story makes a good metaphor for Jim: the rescuer, the giver;
and the dramatist.
At Wesleyan Jim majored in religion, with minors in
Spanish and biology. He was a swimmer, a member of Cardinal Key, and on the
Freshman Orientation Committee. Joining after the initial pledge period, he was
an enthusiastic member of AXP/EQV.
After graduating from Wesleyan in 1960, Jim went to
medical school for a year (the rescuer), but his love of Theater (capital T)
proved stronger, and he left to chase this dream. Singer, dancer and actor, he
performed with Carol Burnett on the Garry Moore Show. For a couple of years he
announced all the commercials for the Masters Golf Tournament, as well as doing
numerous voice-over commercial spots. He also acted in soaps, including As
the World Turns, and Days of Our Lives. He modeled in clothing, automobile,
and cigarette advertisements, and appeared in Life magazine four times.
He even appeared in a Frankenstein advertisement with Boris Karloff. Jim’s
success in these public ventures got him invited twice to the White House for
dinner—by Presidents Kennedy and Ford.
Running parallel with this theatrical side of Jim there
was the giver and the helper. In 1962, while working as Assistant Director of
Admissions/Recruiting at New York University, Jim wrote a proposal for a
counseling department “model” that included the role of college consultant. The
head of the counseling program at Highland Park High School (in Highland Park,
Illinois) saw this proposal, and hired Jim to implement it. There, Jim created
the oldest counseling resource center in the country, a center that helped
students not only with college planning but with career planning and with the
larger issues of the post-high school world.
In his 34 years at Highland Park, Jim was wellspring of
energy and creativity. He created a system in which students saw one counselor
for all four years; he was deeply committed to providing equal access to
counseling for all students, including minority students and those with learning
disabilities; he pioneered the use of the computer in providing college and
career information and referral. He visited countless colleges, made hundreds of
speeches, consulted widely, and was a tireless advocate for Highland Park and
its students. Jim worked with students’ families in doing long-term educational
financial planning. He also tried to bring a healthy “reality dose” to the
counseling process. Jim believed that his varied experiences allowed him
represent the larger world ore accurately to students.
In his “spare time,” Jim coached the water polo team
which he founded at Highland Park.
Jim’s innovative approaches to high school counseling
brought him national recognition: he was active in the Illinois Association of
College Admissions Counselors, which has created an award in his name; and he
served as president of the National Association of College Admissions
Counselors. He received a number of other citations and awards. The center Jim
helped create at Highland Park is now named for him.
Jim was full of life, and he led a full life. He
and Gita—the former Margareta Jarnstedt, who worked as an interior designer—had
two children, James and Caryn. Jim was extremely devoted to and proud of his
family. He and Gita also bought and renovated and sold real estate; collected antiques (the
couple owned and ran a small antiques business in Illinois). Jim painted (in
oils), loved music, antiques, travel, his friends.
In 2000, Jim and Gita retired to Hendersonville, N.C.,
which is also near the renowned Flat Rock
Playhouse. The last time I saw Jim (I live in nearby Brevard) was at a party he
and Gita gave to celebrate the expansion and renovation
of their house. Jim knew he was very ill; he couldn’t wait to show the
unfinished project to his friends. He led us around the house, his expansive
gestures filling in their dreams of new rooms, new surfaces, new spaces. He
talked the whole time; you could hear his booming voice all over the house.
Jim died on December 19, 2004, of leukemia. I am only one
of a huge number of people who miss him.
From The Boston Globe,
February 22, 2000
A memorial service will be held today for David Howard
Bing of Brookline, an authority on immunology and forensic DNA testing who held
appointments at Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Center for
Blood Research in Boston.
Dr. Bing died Saturday at his home from a brain tumor. He
was 61.
Born and raised in Hudson, Ohio, Dr. Bing graduated from
Western Reserve Academy, Wesleyan University, and the Western Reserve
University.
Known for his work in DNA diagnostics, Dr. Bing was
director of the first DNA lab accredited by the national Forensic Science
Testing Center. He also trained the directors of DNA testing at the
Boston
Police Crime Lab and served as an expert witness at more than 100 criminal
trials nationally. Dr. Bing’s testimony twice helped in the release of
wrongfully convicted prisoners on death row.
He was widely published in scientific journals for his
work as a research scientist. He was a fellow of the National Institutes of
Health and the American Cancer Society. Dr. Bing was also an investigator for
the American Heart Society and a Rockefeller scholar at the Bellagio Study and
Conference Center.
Dr. Bing’s last position was a scientific director at
Genomics Collaborative.
He leaves his wife, Claudine (Lang); two daughters,
Danielle M. of Nevada, and Deborah E.; a son, Jonathan W. of
New York; and two brothers, Anthony G. of Indiana and Stephen R. of
Bolton.
From the Wesleyan Magazine, winter 1991
Patrick Brian Smith, 52, died April 20, 1991, in
San Francisco, Calif., of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. He
received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work at the University
of Toronto. He was director of social work at the
Orthopedic and Arthritic Hospital, and coordinator of volunteers for Shanti
Projects, an AIDS social service agency. He is survived by two sisters.
Obituary from the Hartford Courant
BUTTNER, Steven B.
Steven B. Buttner, of West Hartford, died peacefully on August
1, 2012 at Hartford Hospital. He was born in Plymouth, MA on December 7, 1939,
son of the late George and Esther Buttner. He built a career as a management
consultant, specializing in leadership assessment and coaching, and through his
passion for this work became well respected in his field. He received his
undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University in 1961, a Master's Degree in
Russian Studies from University of Wisconsin, and was a PhD. Candidate at
Columbia University in Eastern European and Russian Medieval History.
He will be remembered for his warmth, engaging personality, and
sense of humor, as well as his love of nature, travel, literature, classical
music and opera. He was committed to social justice and civil rights.
He was an active participant in his Wesleyan fraternity, EQV for
all his years. He is survived by his wife Jeri; his children, Jessica Buttner of
Medford, MA, and Judson Buttner of Brooklyn, NY, and their mother, Doreen
Buttner of Middletown. He was predeceased by his parents and his sister Nancy.
He is survived by his brother Richard of Rockledge, FL, and his children, Susan,
Richard and Douglas and their families; as well as by numerous cousins and his
family of friends.
A memorial service to celebrate his life will be held on August
11, 2012 at 3 p.m. at Patricelli '92 Theater at Wesleyan University in
Middletown, CT. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to the
EQV Internship Program: Ann Goodwin, Wesleyan University, 318 High Street,
Middletown, CT, 06459. The check should note on the memo
line: EQV Internships.
Published in The Hartford Courant on August 7, 2012
Dan Aronson (62)
Dan R. Aronson, 69, an anthropologist whose career spanned
25 years at McGill University and 15 at the World Bank, died of brain cancer on
February 26, 2010, at a hospice in Wayland, Massachusetts.
Mr. Aronson was born in Brookline, Mass., and grew up
there and in nearby Watertown. An Eagle Scout, he graduated class Salutatorian
from Watertown High School in 1958 and won a General Motors National Merit
Scholarship to attend Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Conn.
At Wesleyan, Mr. Aronson pledged the EQV fraternity in the
same year as several musically inclined friends who would go on to national
stardom as The Highwaymen, a folk revival group. His early enthusiasm for
scouting attracted him to the study of Native American peoples; from there it
was a short leap to anthropology. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wesleyan in
1962 and went on to earn a doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1970. The
wave of independence movements cresting in Africa in the 1960s prompted him to
undertake field work in Ibadan, Nigeria, in 1967-68, where he focused on
patterns of migration and ethnic consolidation. The yellowy kerosene lamps
illuminating the Ibadan cityscape at night were an enchanting vision to a boy
from the suburbs of Boston.
A second period of field work in Ibadan, in 1973-74, led
to the publication of The City is Our Farm, a study of the experience of seven
Yoruba families who had recently migrated to the city. As the book’s title
reflects, Mr. Aronson’s assessment of urbanization was considerably more
optimistic than much of the contemporary literature, which tended to stress
patterns of
upheaval and social dislocation. Throughout his career he would defend the role
of individual agency and contingency against the more esoteric, structural
explanations then proliferating in the social sciences.
He married Theresa Geraldine Lopez in 1962, and began his
academic career at McGill University, in Montreal, Canada, in 1968. He became
department chair and full professor in 1980 and 1982, respectively. His academic
awards included fellowships and grants from the Ford Foundation, Woodrow Wilson
Foundation, Canada Council, and the International Development Research Centre.
He returned to Africa in 1976 for two years to work with
the U.S. Agency for International Development as part of what was then a novel
attempt to incorporate anthropologists into the design of development projects.
Based in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, he travelled throughout West Africa, sometimes
to remote areas of the Sahel. The self-sufficiency of the nomadic people living
in the desert drew his admiration; he later co-edited, with two McGill
colleagues, a book titled The Future of Pastoral Peoples. He would spend most of
the rest of his career in development anthropology, which attempts to
incorporate a deeper understanding of social structure and cultural values into
efforts to improve the well-being and income-earning potential of the poor.
Mr. Aronson left McGill University in 1993 to begin a
second career at the World Bank—a job change that, to his mock-dismay, required
him to don a suit and tie. There he focused on strengthening and enforcing the
Bank’s involuntary resettlement policies, sometimes mounting fierce challenges
to development schemes that failed to adequately compensate the people who would
be dispossessed by them.
Mr. Aronson became lead social scientist in the Bank’s
social development department before officially retiring in 2003, although the
thickening pages of his well-thumbed passport testified that the retirement was
in name only. In all, Mr. Aronson’s work took him to nearly 40 African countries
and well over 20 countries in Asia and Latin America. As much as he enjoyed
teaching and writing, he was never happier than when, under a kapok or baobab
tree, he would set up a makeshift office and spend a long afternoon listening to
villagers discuss their concerns about the plans distant bureaucrats had put in
motion on their behalf. Mr. Aronson’s son David remembers meeting the leader of
a Congolese nongovernmental organization his father had once worked with. “We
were worried when the Bank told us they were sending an expert in response to
our complaint about a Bank-funded hydroelectric project,” the Congolese told
him. “Had we done our research right? Would the Bank dismiss our concerns?
Instead, Mr. Aronson came in and wrote a report ten times more
scathing than our own!”
In his spare time, Mr. Aronson enjoyed music, the theater,
and reading. He collected and wrote about African art. He was an active scout
master while his children were growing up and may have established the first
American scouting troupe in francophone West Africa. During his later years, he
confabulated improbable stories about his journeys for the entertainment of his
grandchildren.
Mr. Aronson’s marriage to Theresa Lopez ended in divorce.
He is survived by three children: David Aronson, of Washington, D.C., Jennifer
Ewing, of Sudbury, Mass., and Joshua Aronson, of Wellesley, Mass; by eight
grandchildren ranging in age from 11 years to four months: Hannah, Ryan, Kevin,
James, Adam, Katherine, Benjamin, and Henry; by two brothers: Joel Aronson of
Kentlands, Maryland and Carl Aronson of Cambridge, Mass; and by numerous
in-laws, cousins, nieces, and nephews.
by Michael S Roth 2011
I often celebrate the musical culture generated by the students,
faculty, and staff at Wesleyan. Indeed, I’ve told prospective students
to check out the music scene here if they really want to understand the
personality of our school and to compare it with other places in which
they are interested. I thrilled to hear Persephone Hall sing the
national anthem at a football game, to listen to Sam Friedman ’13 play
piano anywhere, or to marvel at the vocal ingenuity of our a cappella
groups. I’m told that Eclectic still controls the music scene in
Brooklyn (hence, the world), and I take great pride in the rock ‘n roll
chops of Wesleyan’s Treasurer (John Meerts), Provost (Rob Rosenthal),
head of the faculty (Gil Skillman) and dean for academic advancement
(Louise Brown). Don’t even get me started on the all-star musicians in
the Music Department! From the experimental to the traditional, they
play with nuance and intensity.
This past week, we lost a storied voice in the chorus of Wesleyan’s
music history. Bob Burnett died on December 7 at his home in Rhode
Island. Bob and four other frosh were told to put on some entertainment
for their fraternity in 1958, and they decided to become a folk band.
While they were still undergraduates they had a #1 hit with their
version of “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore.”
After graduating Wes he went to Harvard Law School, and it looked like
he’d left the music business behind. But more than three decades after
that freshmen concert, the original Highwaymen started performing and
recording again — and winning great praise! I started hearing about Bob
and the Highwaymen almost on my first day on the job at Wes. They
inspired friendship and devotion. They still do.
You
can read more about the Highwaymen here and
here.
from information provided by Dave Fisher and Steve
Trott
After leaving Wesleyan in 1962, Chan, like the rest of
the Highwaymen worked and lived in Greenwich Village, singing with the group at
the Gaslight Café and making more records. He was the best man at Steve Trott’s
wedding in Cincinnati in 1962.
Eventually, Chan left the group and attended Harvard
where he earned an MBA. He worked for MGM and Capitol Records in the A&R
departments. He left to start his own successful international music company but
died unexpectedly in 1975 as a result of complications from pneumonia.
Henry L. Ernstthal ('62)
Henry L. Ernstthal, 72, a leader in the field of association
management who ran the master of association management degree program at George
Washington University for six years, died May 20 at the Washington Home hospice
in the District. He lived in Washington.
He had Parkinson’s disease-induced dementia, his sister-in-law
Penny Hansen said.
Mr. Ernstthal came to Washington in 1989, when he joined the GWU
faculty and served there until 1995. He also did consulting and public speaking
on association governance and corporate structure, strategic planning, board
management, trend forecasting, ethical behavior and legal issues.
He retired from active consulting about 2007 but continued
occasional public speaking until about two years ago.
Henry Leon Ernstthal was born in Brooklyn. He graduated from
Wesleyan University in Connecticut in 1962 and from Stanford University’s law
school in 1965.
He was executive director of the California Dental Association
and then of the Society of Nuclear Medicine in New York before coming to
Washington.
Mr. Ernstthal was the author of the third and fourth editions of
“Principles of Association Management,” the primary text in the field, and he
also wrote articles on association issues.
He was a 20-year member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of
Arlington.
Survivors include his wife of 50 years, Mary Lynn Miller
Ernstthal of Washington; two children, Logan Ernstthal of Creed, Colo., and Lisa
Harris of San Francisco; and two grandsons.
— Bart Barnes
The Washington Post
May 21, 2013
From
Bob Saliba
Dave and I were classmates and fraternity brothers. After I read of his passing, I played (as I did a lot over the past
two years) the CD with so many of the songs I remember:
Michael, Santiano, Cindy, Gypsy Rover, Cotton Fields, The Carlton
Weaver, Marching to Pretoria, Reuben James. It's like going right back to when
these were first performed. I suddenly realized that this music is really a part
of me.
I
was, to borrow the title from Dean Acheson's book, "present at the creation":
That weekend in October 1958 at the EQV House (hen known as Alpha Chi Rho), when
the Highwaymen made their debut. Never did I realize what an historical event
that was.
One time Dave was sitting somewhere in the House, maybe in his
room, playing a wonderful tune from an lp on a portable phonograph. Who's that,
I asked. It's Blind Blake, he replied. What's the song? Run Come See,
Jerusalem.("It was nineteen hundred and twenty nine...Pretoria was out on the
ocean...). It's fabulous, I said. Soon afterward they put this, my all- time
favorite Highwaymen song, in their repertoire.
In 1962 we graduated. The following autumn I was at the Cornell Law
School, and the Highwaymen came to Ithaca to give a concert. At intermission I
went back stage, we reunited, and I asked them to please play Run Come See. When
they went back on stage they did, and Chan Daniels announced to the audience
they were dedicating it to me.
Some twenty-five or even thirty or thirty-five years later (these
years all get blurred), after one of their reunion concerts, I asked Dave why
they didn't play Run Come See, and he said that was really Chan's song, and when
Chan died (in 1975) they didn't sing it any more.
In 2007, at our forty-fifth reunion, I sat next to Dave at one of
the picnic tables during the lunch on Andrus Field, and we chatted for about
half an hour. He personally autographed for me his CD "Love's Way", some
fourteen songs that he wrote by himself or with A. B. Clyde. I've enjoyed that
album over and over again, and I was going to drop Dave a line telling how much
I enjoyed the music, but I never did get around to it.
Until I went on the web last week, I thought I'd never hear Run
Come See, Jerusalem again, but I found it was available on one of their
recordings, which I am ordering. This time I am going to get around to it.
Dave was always approachable, open, kind, friendly and giving, and
he had that rare quality that even when he wasn't that way, he was.
If you go to you tube and type in Dave Fisher you can watch an
interview he gave in 2008.
Bob Saliba
Dave’s obituary in The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/13/arts/music/13fisher.html?hpw
David Towle ('62)
David W. Towle '62, a senior investigator at the Mount Desert Island
Biological Laboratory, died Jan. 3, 2011, at age 69. A member of EQV, he was
with the first Peace Corps group to serve in Nepal. He then received bachelor’s
and master’s degrees from the University of New Hampshire, and a doctorate from
Dartmouth College. Elected to Sigma Xi, he spent 18 years on the faculty at the
University of Richmond, where he received the Outstanding Educator Award. He
later became chair of the biology department at Lake Forest College before
moving full-time to Maine, where in addition to his work at the laboratory, he
pursued his interests in music and boat-building. Survivors include his wife,
Betty Massie, three children, two grandsons, his mother, two brothers, and a
sister.
From the Wesleyan obituaries page of the Wes website
Stuart Jay Byron was born on 9 May 1941 in the Bronx,
New York and attended public schools there. In 1958 he began his
freshman year at
Wesleyan University. He majored in history and graduated in 1963.
After graduation, Byron worked in New
York City in a number of different writing and film-related
positions. Between 1963 and 1965, he was associate editor of the Independent
Film Journal. Between 1965 and 1966, he was director of advertising and
publicity for
Pathé Contemporary Films. He moved to
Avco Embassy Pictures and worked as a publicist between 1966 and 1967. In
1967, he was employed as a reporter and reviewer for the entertainment industry
publication
Variety. In 1969 he left Variety for
Natoma Productions (known for its production of the 1960s play,
Hair), where he was assistant to the president for motion pictures.
In 1971, Byron began working as a film reviewer for
The Village Voice, and freelanced for publications, including
Rolling Stone,
Harper's,
The New York Times,
Boston Phoenix, Gay, On Film,
Film Comment, Movie,
Creem, and
New York magazine.
It was in the 18 February 1971 edition of The Village
Voice, in his review of the film, The Statue, that Byron came out, and
was one of the first openly gay film critics in New York.
He then became involved in the early gay rights movement in
New York. He was a member of the
Gay Activists Alliance, the
National Gay Task Force, and participated in the planning of annual Gay
Pride weeks. He was a member of a number of gay clubs, societies, and
organizations, and served as publicist for
Fred Halsted’s gay film,
LA Plays Itself.
In 1973, Byron moved from New York to Boston to
become the film editor for The Real Paper, an employee-owned alternative
weekly. By 1974 Byron was back in New York, as a contributing editor for
Film Comment. In 1976, Byron and Elizabeth Weis co-edited On Movie
Comedy, which was published by the Viking Press. In the next years, Byron
held a variety of positions, including movie editor of Entertainment, and
author of a weekly column for The Village Voice called “Rules of the
Game.”
In 1982, Byron left New York
and moved to Los Angeles to take a position with
Rastar Productions as the creative affairs executive for
Ray Stark. In 1984, Byron left Rastar, and worked in a number of different
jobs, including one as columnist for
LA Weekly. Byron also started his own business in
Los Angeles called “re:visions, motion picture consultants,” a
company which marketed his skills as a reader, writer, and editor to the movie
industry. In 1989, Byron began writing a monthly column for
The Advocate, the national gay and lesbian news magazine.
Stuart Byron was diagnosed with ARC (AIDS Related
Complex) in 1988, and died 13 December 1991 from complications resulting from
AIDS.
From the Wesleyan Magazine, Issue III, 2005
Donald G. Gregg, M.D., an emergency physician, died Jan.
28, 2005. He was 63 and was a member of [EQV]. After receiving his bachelor’s
degree, he joined the U.S. Air Force and was highly-decorated, winning many
awards, including the Distinguished Flying Cross. After leaving the Air Force he
received his medical degree from the University of North Carolina and practiced
emergency medicine. Survivors include his wife, Rebecca Reid Gregg, and three
children.
From the Wesleyan Magazine, winter 1994
Robert Henry Levy, 52, died September 29, 1993. A member
of the EQV, he received his bachelor’s degree with distinction in English. He
received his master’s and doctoral degrees in England language and literature
from the University of Michigan. An assistant professor of English at Brown
University, he later owned a real estate appraisal practice and, with his wife,
a jewelry store, in Telluride, Colo. He is survived by his wife, Valerie
Chakeres Levy, a daughter, a son, his father, and a brother.
Peter Cope (64)
From a printed notice sent by his wife Sandy
Peter L. Cope, 66, of Wellfleet and Nova Scotia, died
peacefully at his home Dec. 4 [2007] of cancer. He was with Sandy, his wife of
43 years, his son, Tristan, and his sister, Alison.
Peter was born in Philadelphia, the son of the late Paul
and Joan Cope. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 1964. It was about that
time that he and Sandy came to {Provincetown. His first job was as a waiter at
the Lobster Pot in the “old days.” He went on to cook at the Old Reliable Fish
House and Pepe’s Wharf. The love of Peter’s life was fishing. He started on trap
boats and went on to be captain of several draggers over the next 20 years. His
own boat was the CC Friday. If anyone ever found his true calling, he did. He
always said the gret thing about fishing was that when you went out in the
morning, you never knew what was going to happen.
When fishing declined, Peter turned to carpentry. He
worked for a time with Bob Baker and learned a lot from him. In 1988 to ’89,
Peter single-handedly built his own house in Wellfleet. In his later years, he
rediscovered his love from music and played the clarinet and saxophone every
day. He played sax in the Lower Cape Band and the Annapolis Basin Community Band
in Nova Scotia. For the past 15 years Peter and Sandy spent summers at their
home in rural Nova Scotia, where Peter played music and took long walks in the
woods with the dog.
In addition to his wife, son and sister, he is survived
by his daughter, Claudia Crosen, three grandchildren and his two great
grandchildren. He was pre-deceased by one daughter, Friday.
A family memorial will be held next summer in Nova Scotia
and Peter’s ashes will be
tossed off the Saint John ferry over the Bay of Fundy.
Robert
Jackson (64)
Robert Street Jackson – Obituary
DOVER - Dr. Robert Street Jackson of Dover died Saturday,
Sept. 22, 2007, in Bayhealth-Kent General Hospital, Dover. He was 64.
Dr. Jackson was born March 27, 1943, in New York, to the
late Robert Charles and Lura (Street) Jackson.
He worked for the past 13 years as the chief of the
Communicable Disease Bureau of the Delaware Division of Public Health, retiring
in 2007.
Prior to moving to Delaware in 1994, he had a colorful
career as a public servant. Dr. Jackson graduated in 1964 from Wesleyan
University in Middletown, Conn., where he had been active in his fraternity,
EQV. He was attracted to this fraternal group because of its policy of
inclusiveness that resulted in a racial, ethnic and religiously diverse
membership.
Dr. Jackson earned a medical degree from Columbia College
of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City in 1968, and had post-graduate
training at the UVA Hospital in Charlottesville, Va., and Babies Hospital of
Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York.
In 1971, he was commissioned in the U.S. Public Health
Service, serving as an epidemic intelligence service officer for the Centers for
Disease Control.
Dr. Jackson was assigned as medical epidemiologist to the
Hawaii State Department of Health.
While serving in Hawaii, he and his wife, Jayne Gosnell,
had two children. From 1974 to 1979, Dr. Jackson worked for the Virginia State
Health Department as director of epidemiology, the Bureau of Preventive Medical
Services, and later as assistant state health commissioner.
During his tenure there he directed the investigation of
a major Kepone spill into the James River. His management of the investigation
and his clarity in explaining it to the public brought national recognition to
his work.
Dr. Jackson was recruited to be the commissioner of the
South Carolina Department of Health & Environmental Control by its board in 1979
and served in that position until 1986. He was the first commissioner to fully
grasp and embrace the dual and
interdependent responsibilities of the agency for public health and
environmental protection.
During his tenure, he initiated action to address the
newly recognized AIDS epidemic through testing, epidemiologic investigations,
follow up treatment, and education of the public. He increased DHEC"s commitment
to diversity in staffing, both multidisciplinary and racial, and hired the
agency’s first African-American physician.
When it became necessary for him to seek treatment for
his long struggle with alcoholism, Dr. Jackson’s candor about his illness and
rehabilitation opened new awareness and support for prevention and treatment of
addiction.
Subsequent to leaving DHEC, he became board certified in
addictionology and developed a private practice that became a major resource for
treatment of impaired health professionals.
Dr. Jackson was instrumental in developing the South
Carolina Board of Medical Examiners" Impaired Physician Program.
When President Clinton created a federal office for AIDS
and appointed a chief staff person reporting directly to him, Dr. Jackson was
sought out by the new AIDS czar to work with her to strengthen the public health
approach in a nationwide effort to address this epidemic.
Dr. Jackson’s life presented him with many challenges. He
met those challenges with courage, and made a difference in many lives.
He had an astute sense of humor, a great love of animals
and nature in all its forms, and limitless compassion for people from all walks
of life.
Dr. Jackson is survived by his daughter, Jennifer D.
Jackson of Greenville, S.C.; his son, Jason S. Jackson; daughter-in-law, Wendy
S. Jackson; granddaughter, Lauren S. Jackson of Raleigh, N.C.; his brother,
Thomas W. Jackson and sister-in-law, Nan S. Jackson of Staatsburg, N.Y.; three
nephews, Christopher Jackson, Peter Jackson, and William Jackson; and his
ex-wife, Jayne G. Helm of Mt. Pleasant, S.C. A memorial service will be held at
a later date. Torbert Funeral Chapel, Dover, will be
handling the arrangements.
Instead of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to
the Carter Center, Office of Development, 1 Copenhill Ave., Atlanta, GA 30307, a
foundation that is committed to advancing human rights and alleviating
unnecessary human suffering. Bob admired Jimmy Carter, and shared the
foundation’s ideals.
From the Wesleyan Magazine, summer 1992
Leland Mothershead Burr, 47, died February 28, 1992. A
member of EQV, he was the grandson of Leland M. Burr, Class of 1893. He is
survived by his mother, two brothers, and three sisters. The University has no
further information.
From the Wesleyan Magazine, winter 1992
Brian David Kaslov, a painter who worked in
New York and Oregon, drowned while swimming in the Indian Ocean off
the coast of Bali on June 16, 1991. He was 47. A member of EQV, he received his
B.F.A. and his M.F.A. from Yale University. He taught art at several
universities, among them Western Washington State University, and his paintings
are in major national collections, including Chase Manhattan Bank and the
Richmond Museum of Fine Arts. He is survived by his wife, Luthera
Stone Kaslov; his daughter; gus mother, and his grandmother.
(from Wesleyan, issue 1, 2010)
Roger A. Young, a geophysicist and associate professor at the University of
Oklahoma, died Oct. 13, 2009, at age 66. He was a member of EQV and received his
degree with high honors in geology. After receiving a master’s degree from
Stanford University, he served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Map
Service). In 1979, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and
became best known for his work in near-surface geophysics. He received the
Stubbeman-Drace Presidential Professorship, given to outstanding faculty for
teaching, willingness to mentor, and dedication to research, creative activity
and service. Survivors include his wife, Frances Anne Bovee Young; his father,
Dr. John A. Young (’40); two sisters; and a large extended family.
From the Wesleyan magazine, summer 1979
Elliot S. Helfer, 33, of 220 San Vicente 413, Santa
Monica, Calif., died May 7, 1979, according to word recently received by the
alumni office. He was an attorney.
He graduated with honors from Wesleyan’s College of
Social Studies. He was a member of the Esse Quam Videre fraternity.
He is survived by his wife, Antoinette Ziegler.
Sibley
P. Reppert (67) (Obit
click here)t
Hello,
My name is Victoria Reppert, and my dad Sib Reppert was a Wesleyan grad (as was
I!) and EQV member. He passed away unexpectedly this summer and we were lucky
enough to have some of his Wes friends speak at his service. He stayed close
with his college friends all his life, including many rows with the Founders
Crew of the Wesleyan crew team at the Head of the Charles regatta each fall.
I was wondering whether you would mind putting me in touch with the EQV members
whom he would have known. I’d love to hear their stories and recollections of my
dad, if they would be willing to share.
Thank you!
Victoria
email here
Richard E.
Donely ('68)
Richard E. Donely '68, the founder of Mountain High Alfalfa, which markets hay for
farmers to dairymen and horse breeders throughout the U.S., died Aug. 4, 2006.
He was 59. A member of Esse Quam Videre, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. After
receiving his degree magna cum laude and with high honors from the College of
Social Studies, he received an M.B.A. from Harvard. While an undergraduate, his
research into the psychological motivation of presidential speeches received
national attention and was published in Time magazine. Active in human rights
organizations in Colorado, he also published two books. Among those who survive
are his partner, Ron Mahka; his second mother, Jean Donley; a brother; and a
nephew.
From the Wesleyan obituaries page of the Wes website
Rick Beebe ('67)
Richard Knowles Beebe Jr., 74, passed away October 23, 2020, at his home in
Santa Rosa. Richard, known by most as Rick, was born May 4, 1946, in Torrington,
CT, to the Rev. Richard Knowles and Jane (Rogers) Beebe. He grew up in Cornwall,
CT, and Briarcliff, NY, and graduated from The Hill School in 1963 and Wesleyan
University in 1967. In 1973, he received his master's in counseling at Antioch
University.
Rick served in the Peace Corps in Turkey from 1967 to 1969 and met Pamela Cordts
on vacation in Greece. Rick and Pam were married in San Mateo, CA, in 1969 by
Rick's father and lived in New England for years before moving to California,
where they raised their family. Rick worked as vice president of corporate
communications at Bank of America in San Francisco until his retirement in 2001.
An avid backpacker, Rick (aka "Snowbird") achieved his dream of hiking on all
seven continents, logging over 2,200 miles. Highlights included the Appalachian
Trail, the Tahoe Rim Trail, the John Muir Trail, the Tour du Mont Blanc, the
Grand Canyon, the Pacific Crest Trail, Mt. Kilimanjaro, the Paine Circuit in
Chile, the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal, the Tongariro Alpine Crossing and
Routeburn Track in New Zealand, the Walker's Haute Route from Mont Blanc to the
Matterhorn, and one cold, wet night on the ice in Antarctica. On his layovers at
home, he enjoyed a good book and a cold IPA.
Rick shared many other hobbies and interests with his family, inspiring many of
their pursuits. He was most fond of the outdoors, traveling, camping,
cross-country skiing, food, photography, music, and literature. Vacations
included road trips and river rafting, national parks and historical sites. He
was a lifelong choral singer and sang with Masterworks Chorale in San Mateo.
Later, he joined the Sonoma Bach Choir, where he was both a chorus member and
board member.
Rick was a longtime member of Pacific Swimming, serving as swim official, board
member, webmaster, and times recognition chairman. He was also a board member
and active parent participant of the Mid-Peninsula Mariners Swim Team and friend
to many Masters swimmers and coaches on the peninsula and within USA Swimming.
In addition to his wife, Rick is survived by his daughters, Jessica Beebe and
her spouse, Gwendolyn Rino, of Oakland, CA, and Damaris Beebe Barbour and her
husband, Brandon Barbour, of Millbrae, CA; and his brother, David Camp Beebe, of
Amherst, MA. Rick's reserved manner, practicality, and understated humor will be
greatly missed.
Due to public health concerns, no in-person memorial service is planned. Friends
may contact the family for information about an online celebration.
If you would like to honor Rick's memory, please spend a moment outdoors and
consider donating to the Yosemite Conservancy (101 Montgomery Street Suite 1700,
San Francisco, CA 94104) or to your favorite state or national park.
Published
in San Francisco Chronicle from Nov. 7 to Nov. 8, 20
Others
Died August 1, 1987
Died August 16, 1996
Died July 1, 1969