AUGUST 2001: CLASS NOTES, DEATHS, BOOKS
DEATHS
Faculty & Staff
Mortimer J. Adler, a professor at the University from 1930 until 1952, died June 28 in San Mateo, CA. He was 98. Adler was a philosopher and educator whose name became synonymous with the Great Books program, a course of study in the classics of Western literature and philosophy. With U of C President Robert Maynard Hutchins, he worked to revise Chicago's undergraduate curriculum, emphasizing breadth of learning in the humanities. A prolific writer and editor, after leaving the University he founded the Institute for Philosophical Research in 1952 and the Center for the Study of Great Ideas in 1990, the same year he received the National Endowment for the Humanities' Charles Frankel Prize. Survivors include four sons, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Edward C. Dimock Jr., professor emeritus in South Asian languages & civilizations, died January 11 in Centerville, MA. He was 71. Dimock, who joined the U of C faculty in 1959 as an assistant professor of linguistics and Asian languages, helped form the South Asian languages & civilizations department. A noted scholar of Bengali literature, in 1992 he was awarded the Indian government's highest honorary title, the Desikottoma, or honorary doctor of letters. Survivors include his wife, Lorraine; two daughters; three sons; and eight grandchildren.
Jacob W. Getzels, the R. Wendell Harrison distinguished service professor emeritus in education and psychology, died April 7 in Chicago. He was 89. Getzels was the co-author of Creativity and Intelligence, a classic study of the nature of intelligence. Applying the behavioral sciences to problems in education, educational administration, and children's acquisition of values, he established educational administration as a topic for scholarly inquiry. He served on the Research Advisory Council of the U.S. Office of Education (1964-1967), as a consultant to the 1965 White House Conference on Education, and on the 1967 President's Task Force on Talent in Education. He is survived by his wife, Judith Nelson Getzels, MBA'80; two daughters; a son; a brother; and six grandchildren.
Emanuel Hallowitz, professor emeritus in the School of Social Service Administration and the Pritzker School of Medicine, died December 30 in Niles, MI. He was 80. One of the country's first social workers to advance the concepts of group psychotherapy and sexual education in counseling, Hallowitz began his career in New York City, directing several social-work organizations and serving on the faculty at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In 1969 he came to Chicago, teaching and serving as chief of social service for the Hospitals and Clinics until his 1987 retirement. Survivors include a daughter, a son, and two grandchildren.
David A. Marcus, a psychoanalyst who taught at the Pritzker School of Medicine from 1985 to 1990, died November 13 in Chicago. He was 68. Marcus specialized in treating adults with low self-esteem and value conflicts. A 1969 graduate of the Institute for Psychoanalysis, where he taught for 20 years, he also had a private practice, retiring in 1997. He is survived by two nephews and a niece.
Donald Meiklejohn, a political scientist who taught at Chicago from 1946 to 1963, died February 22 in Syracuse, NY, at age 91. At Chicago, where he taught political philosophy, he won the Quantrell Prize for undergraduate teaching in 1954; in 1963 he joined the Syracuse University faculty, retiring in 1975. The author of many articles and Freedom and the Public, he also co-authored a public-affairs curriculum for New York State secondary schools. He is survived by his wife, Betty; a daughter; three sons, including Alexander M. Meiklejohn, JD'71; and five grandchildren, including Colin D. Meiklejohn, AB'96.
Manning Nash, AM'52, PhD'55, professor emeritus in anthropology, died December 12 in Hyde Park. He was 76. An influential figure in economic anthropology and an expert on the process of economic and social modernization in Third World countries, he taught at the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Washington before returning to Chicago, where he joined the Graduate School of Business faculty. Editor of the journal Economic Development and Cultural Change (1958-63), he joined the anthropology department in 1968, later serving as department chair. Survivors include a daughter, a son, two brothers, and a sister.
1930s
Gertrude I. Lewis Brown, SB'34, a retired elementary-school teacher, died July 14, 2000, in Massachusetts. She was 87. Lewis taught second grade in the Frankfort, KY, public schools. She is survived by a son.
Jeannette Geisman Coral, PhB'34, a retired high-school math teacher, died July 28, 2000, in Ithaca, NY. She was 87. She is survived by two daughters, including Lenore F. Coral, AB'61, AM'65.
Dorothy Bobisuthi Thompson, PhB'35, a teacher, homemaker, and volunteer, died May 27, 1998, in Beverly Hills, MI. She was 87. A Chicago-area schoolteacher (1930-38), she moved to Detroit in 1939. An elder in her local Presbyterian church, she volunteered at the Cranbrook Institute of Science in Bloomfield Hills, MI. She is survived by two daughters.
John Newdorp, MD'37, of Malvern, PA, a retired hospital administrator and funds director, died December 19. As a retiree, Newdorp volunteered as a guide at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Survivors include his wife, Eloise, and two daughters.
Marshall R. Urist, SM'37, an orthopaedic surgeon who identified a bone-mending protein, died February 4 in Los Angeles. He was 85. After serving in the Army Medical Corps during World War II, Urist briefly taught at Chicago; in 1954 he joined the University of California, Los Angeles, becoming a full professor in 1969. The author of some 400 papers, Urist identified BMP, the protein that stimulates the regenerative mechanism of bones. Survivors include his wife, Alice; a daughter; a son, Marshall M. Urist, MD'71; and eight grandchildren.
John W. Chapman Jr., X'39, a longtime civil servant with the General Services Administration (GSA), died March 7 in St. Petersburg, FL. He was 80. Chapman worked for the Veterans Administration after Army service in WWII, later transferring to the GSA. Appointed Midwest administrator in 1955, he was the GSA's deputy administrator under President Nixon. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; a daughter; two sons; a stepdaughter; two stepsons; and nine grandchildren.
William J. Tallon, AB'39, AM'51, died March 18 at age 84. Tallon, who was an instructor at Triton College in River Forest, IL, had lifelong interests in Celtic archaeology, painting, and sculpture.
1940s
Seymour K. Coburn, SB'40, a corrosion engineer, died January 4 in Pittsburgh. He was 83. At the time of his death, he was in active practice with Corrosion Consultants of Pittsburgh. Survivors include three daughters, two sons, two brothers, and a grandson.
Richard S. MacNeish, AB'40, AM'44, PhD'49, an agricultural archaeologist in Andover, MA, died January 16 in Belize. He was 82. MacNeish was most famous for his 1962 discovery of tiny ears of corn in a cave in Mexico's Tehuacán Valley-ancestors of today's staple crop. From a 1990 discovery of remnants of 9,000-year-old cultivated rice along the middle Yangtze he theorized that rice was first domesticated in China, not Southeast Asia, as had been thought. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, in the early 1980s he taught at Boston University and then established the Andover Foundation for Archaeological Research. He is survived by his wife, Phyllis; two sons; and a granddaughter.
Aaron Grossman, MD'41, a pediatrician and researcher, died March 7 in Chicago. He was 90. Grossman began his teaching career at the Chicago Medical School and was later a professor at the Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical School, retiring in 1990. An expert on child medical issues, particularly kidney disease, he appeared frequently on television, advising parents of the need for children's vaccinations. He is survived by three daughters, a son, and six grandchildren.
Joseph Ransohoff, MD'41, professor and neurosurgeon, died January 30 in Tampa, FL, at age 85. From 1961 to 1992 Ransohoff was professor and chair of neurosurgery at the NYU School of Medicine, and he served as director of neurosurgical services at Bellevue Hospital Center, organizing one of the world's first intensive-care neurosurgery units. An Army neurosurgeon during World War II, he was a medical consultant for the 1960s TV series Ben Casey. He is survived by his wife, Lori; two daughters; two sons; and five grandchildren.
Bernard Weissbourd, SB'41, JD'48, a researcher, attorney, and developer, died November 2, in Evanston, IL. He was 78. Weissbourd studied chemistry as an undergraduate, then interrupted his law training at Chicago to enlist in the Army during World War II. He was soon recruited for the Manhattan Project, inventing equipment to detect elements. He then returned to the Law School; after ten years in a Chicago law practice, Weissbourd was asked to take over a development company for which he had served as counsel. Under his leadership, Metropolitan Structures became the nation's largest commercial real-estate firm. He is survived by his wife, Bernice Targ Weissbourd, X'45; a daughter, Ruth Weissbourd Grant, AB'71, AM'75, PhD'84; two sons, including Robert M. Weissbourd, JD'79; and 11 grandchildren.
Murray J. Edelman, AM'42, a retired political-science professor, died January 26 in Madison, WI. He was 81. Edelman, who taught at the University of Wisconsin (1966-1990), studied the symbolic nature of political developments. Among his works of postmodern political science were The Symbolic Uses of Politics (1964) and Politics as Symbolic Action: Mass Arousal and Quiescence (1971). He is survived by his wife, Bacia; three daughters; and five grandchildren.
Herbert N. Friedlander, SB'42, PhD'47, an industrial chemist, died October 17 in Gulfport, FL, at age 78. After working for the Manhattan Project, Friedlander spent 25 years in research and technology-transfer positions with firms including Standard Oil Company (Indiana), Amoco Chemical Corporation, and Monsanto. From 1984 until 1997 he was president of Friedlander Consultants, supplying technology transfer services and research and development to industrial and academic clients. In retirement he volunteered and taught Hebrew. He is survived by his wife, Sophie Thoness Friedlander, AA'43; a daughter; two sons, including Ira R. Friedlander, AB'75; and eight grandchildren.
Lindsay W. Leach, AB'43, a stockbroker for more than 50 years, died April 2 in Oak Park, IL. He was 79. A Navy lieutenant during WWII, he was a vice president with Howe Barnes Investments. An avid golfer, he belonged to the Midlothian Country Club for 48 years. He is survived by a son, a brother, a sister, and a granddaughter.Laurence H. B. Reich, PhB'44, died March 25. He was a member of the telecommunications staff of the New York law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.
Tressie Masocco Kozelka, AM'45, died August 2, 2000, at age 81. A teacher and counselor in Illinois public schools for 40 years, she was an active volunteer with her undergraduate alma mater, Eureka College. She is survived by her husband.
1950s
Lawrence P. Maillis, PhB'47, SB'50, MD'52, a physician, died April 6 at age 72. An Air Force flight surgeon based in Okinawa, Japan, he then practiced in California before returning to Chicago. One of the first doctors on staff at the Skokie Valley Hospital, now Rush North Shore Hospital, he was president of the house staff in 1989 and 1990. Maillis also maintained a solo practice from which he retired this past fall. He is survived by two daughters, three sons, and a grandchild.
John H. Reynolds, SM'48, PhD'50, a physicist, died November 4 in Berkeley, CA. He was 77. Reynolds refined a number of techniques, including mass spectrometry and potassium-argon dating, to help determine the age of meteorites and primordial rock formations, such as continental drift. He joined the University of California, Berkeley in 1950, chairing its physics department in the 1980s and assuming emeritus status in 1993. In retirement he continued research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Center for Isotropic Geochemistry. Survivors include his wife, Ann; three daughters; and two sons.
Peter C. W. Gutkind, AM'52, an anthropologist, died February 17 in England. He was 75. Born in Berlin and emigrating to England in 1939, he came to the U.S. in 1946. A past president of the African Studies Association of the United States, Gutkind studied labor forces in Africa, including the rise of urban migration in Kampala and the boat people of the Ghana coast. After 23 years as an anthropology professor at McGill University, he returned to England and did research at the University of Warwick. He is survived by his wife, Alice; three daughters; and a son.
Mildred Reinke Dordal, AM'53, a clinical social worker, died April 7 in her Hyde Park home. She was 72. In 1949, as part of a work camp run by the Lutheran World Federation, she helped to build a Lutheran church in Bavaria and assisted disabled persons in the same area, returning in 1999 to celebrate the church's 50th anniversary. Dordal was with Lutheran Social Services of Illinois for more than 30 years, including work in the student counseling office at the Lutheran School of Theology. Survivors include her husband, Erl Dordal, AB'52, MD'56; a daughter; two sons, including Peter L. Dordal, SM'78; a brother; and seven grandchildren.
Olga Kucera Skala, AB'56, died July 17, 2000, in Sooke, British Columbia. She was 87. Skala, who earned her master's degree at age 75 from Mundelein (now Loyola University of Chicago), had worked as a secretary, a teacher, and a technical editor at Argonne Laboratories. She is survived by her son, Gregory L. Skala, AB'69.
1960s
Carl E. Horn, AM'60, MBA'60, a retired telephone executive, died March 11 in Evanston, IL, of complications from lung disease. He was 63. After rising to the position of vice president for state regulations for AT&T in New York, he joined Illinois Bell as vice president of finance in 1983. At the time of his 1987 retirement, he was Ameritech's senior vice president of strategy. A music lover, he funded a teaching scholarship at Ravinia's Steans Institute with his wife, Carol Jenkins Linne, AB'66. He is also survived by two stepsons and a sister.
John F. Dwyer, AM'61, a former professor of English, died March 23 in Buffalo, NY. He was 65. Dwyer was a professor of English at Buffalo State College for 28 years, chairing the department from 1980 to 1989 and retiring in December 1999. He is survived by his wife, Cynthia; a daughter; two sons; and two brothers.
Louis W. Kolb, MD'62, an orthopaedic surgeon and sports physician, died April 15 in Chicago of complications from a hereditary blood vessel disorder. He was 63. In the early 1970s he left the U of C's orthopaedic-surgery group to join the practice of the Chicago Bears' team doctor. In 1975 he entered private practice and soon became the Chicago Blackhawks team doctor, a post he held until 1997. He retired from private practice in December. Survivors include his wife, Judith; a daughter; two sons; and three granddaughters.
William Simon, PhD'67, a sexuality expert and professor of sociology at the University of Houston, died July 21, 2000, in Houston. He was 70. After several years with the Institute for Sex Research (the Kinsey Institute) and the sociology department at Indiana University, he directed studies of youth at Chicago's Institute for Juvenile Research, joining the University of Houston in 1975. In 1973 he published the classic work in the sociological study of sexuality, Sexual Conduct, written with John H. Gagnon, AB'55, PhD'69. Survivors include his wife, Lynn; three sons, including Jonathan Simon, U-High'77, and Adam Simon, U-High'80; two brother; two sisters; and seven grandchildren. (This corrects information in the December/00 issue.)
Stephen B. Vance, AB'69, a schoolteacher, died March 8 in San Francisco of Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome. He was 54. Baird, who loved teaching English literature and creative writing, is survived by his wife, Ruth, and two daughters.
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