Friends
Strachan Donnelley, a philanthropist, philosopher, and trustee of the University of Chicago, died of stomach cancer July 12 in New York. He was 66. He worked at the Hastings Center, a bioethics research institute in Garrison, NY, from 1986 to 2002, serving as president for three years. As chair of the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation from 1992 to 2003, he gave away more than $50 million. In 2002 he cofounded the Center for Humans and Nature, an environmental organization in Chicago. Survivors include his wife Vivian; five daughters, including Inanna Hilst Donnelley, MST’93; a brother; a sister; and five grandchildren.
Katherine Selz Mayer, a philanthropist, died July 19 in Chicago. She was 97. A founding member of the University of Chicago Women’s Board, she also served on the women’s boards of the Art Institute, the Field Museum, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and she was a lifetime member of the Chicago Historical Society Board of Trustees. She is survived by two daughters; a son, Frank D. Mayer Jr., JD’59; a sister; eight grandchildren, including Gregory Charles Mayer, JD’93; and 16 great-grandchildren.
Faculty and Staff
Robert N. Beck, AB’54, SB’55, professor emeritus of radiology, died August 6 in Chicago. He was 80. A Navy veteran, he worked as an electronic technician aboard the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt. Two years after earning an undergraduate degree in mathematics, he became chief scientist at Argonne Cancer Research Hospital and was on the team that proposed using technetium-99m, an isotope, for medical imaging, a technique now widely in use. He joined the faculty as assistant professor of medicine in 1964 and became professor of radiology in 1976. Survivors include his wife Ariadne (Plumis) Beck, AM’69, and two sisters.
Carlos Diaz, laboratory manager for the undergraduate laboratories in chemistry, died May 26 in Chicago. He was 61. He had managed the undergraduate teaching laboratories, equipment, and chemical stockroom since 1973. He lived in the city’s Pullman Historic District.
Laurence H. Rubenstein, X’38, professor of surgery, died July 18 in Evanston, IL. He was 91. The fourth surgeon in the nation to be certified in thoracic surgery, he created a thoracic-surgery training program at Michael Reese Hospital and directed the thoracic-surgery center at the University of Chicago. Survivors include three daughters, a son, and six grandchildren.
Jack Schubert, SB’40, PhD’44, a chemist and professor, died June 21 in Pittsburgh. He was 90. A research chemist for the Manhattan Project, he was a senior scientist at Argonne National Laboratory from 1948 to 1958. In 1955 he published Radiation: What It Is and How It Affects You, which alerted the public to the dangers of radiation. He taught chemistry at the University of Frankfurt, University of Buenos Aires, University of Pittsburgh, University of Maryland, and Michigan State University. He is survived by three daughters and seven grandchildren.
1930s
Mary Ellen (Fulks) Caldwell, PhB’31, AM’33, died February 11 in Grand Forks, ND. She was 99. She taught English at the University of North Dakota from 1952 to 1979, when she retired as chair of the department. She continued to teach in the extension division until she was 91. She was predeceased by husband Robert A. Caldwell, PhD’38, and is survived by a daughter, Elizabeth Kaplan, AB’64, AM’66.
Gerald H. Lovins, SM’34, died July 7 in Santa Fe, NM. He was 97. A designer of scientific instruments, he began his career in Washington, DC, and it took him up the East Coast as far north as Massachusetts. In 1975 he retired to Santa Fe, where his photographs won several awards in local shows. He was predeceased by wife Miriam (Bloch) Lovins, PhB’34, AM’35. Survivors include a daughter, Julie B. Lovins, AM’70, PhD’73, and a son, Amory.
Irving Barkan, PhD’35, died August 15 in Skokie, IL. He was 99. Named principal of the South Side Hebrew Congregation’s school in 1935, he later oversaw the school of Congregation Rodfei Sholom and the High School of Jewish Studies. In 1970 he was named superintendent of the Board of Jewish Education of Metropolitan Chicago. He is survived by three daughters, including Paula Barkan Madansky, AB’59; five grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
Margot Bortlein Brant, AM’35, died July 19 in San Diego. She was 96. Born in Aschaffenburg, Germany, she immigrated to the United States at age 12. She served as an official court interpreter at the war-crimes trials in Nuremberg, Germany, where she met her late husband James Robert Brant. She is survived by a niece.
Roland Henry Peterson, SB’37, a chemist, died July 23 in St. Albans, WV. He was 92. He was a polymer-coatings research chemist at Union Carbide in West Virginia. Skilled with his hands, he built the family home in St. Albans. After his retirement, he enjoyed researching alternative energy technology. He is survived by a daughter, two sons, two grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Philip Rootberg, AB’38, an accountant, died June 25 in Chicago. He was 91. He was the founder of Chicago accounting firm Philip Rootberg & Co., which eventually grew to more than 100 partners and employees. He served as president of the Oak Park Elementary School District board. He is survived by his wife Myn, three daughters, a brother, five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
Elizabeth Hanson, AB’39, a social worker, died June 21 in South Bend, IN. She was 90. She worked at the St. Joseph County Department of Public Welfare and Bethany Home in Moline, IL. A member of South Bend’s First Presbyterian Church for more than 50 years, she served as elder, deacon, and church librarian. She is survived by a daughter, three sons, a brother, eight grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
Margaret B. Wright, AM’39, died August 8 in Kennett Square, PA. She was 97. She began her career as a medical social worker at the University’s Billings Hospital. In 1960 she became director of admissions for the School of Social Service Administration, later serving as its dean of students and director of alumni affairs. Survivors include daughter Anne L. Strozier, U-High’64; two sons, Robert M. Strozier Jr., U-High’57, AB’64, and Charles B. Strozier, U-High X’61, AM’67, PhD’71; stepdaughter Gretchen Wright, U-High’60; and stepson Stephen G. Wright, U-High’66.
1940s
Mary “Mimi” A. O’Bannon, U-High’35, AB’40, died July 25 in Tulsa, OK. She was 89. In 1940 she married Walter O’Bannon and moved to his hometown of Tulsa, where she was a member of Junior League and Investments Unlimited. Survivors include four sons, eight grandchildren, and a great-grandson.
Harold George Josif, AB’41, died June 19 in Washington, DC. He was 88. He was born in Moulmein, Burma (now Myanmar), to Baptist missionaries. A WW II Army Air Force veteran, he joined the Foreign Service in 1947. He served in Pakistan, Portugal, India, Iran, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), Somalia, and Libya before retiring in 1974. Survivors include his wife Sylvia, a daughter, a sister, and two brothers.
Alfred Kraus, MD’41, died July 22 in Memphis, TN. He was 92. In partnership with his wife, Lorraine M. Kraus, he was internationally known in the field of sickle-cell research. After serving in the Army Medical Corps, he began studying sickle-cell disease at the University of Tennessee in 1950. He served as chief of the hematology division at the University of Tennessee Medical Center until his 1981 retirement. He is survived by his wife, two sons, and two grandchildren.
Harold P. Green, AB’42, JD’48, a lawyer and professor, died July 19 in Evergreen, CO. He was 86. A WW II Army veteran, in 1950 he joined the Atomic Energy Commission’s general counsel, where he was asked to draft disloyalty charges against J. Robert Oppenheimer. Believing that Oppenheimer was being railroaded, Green resigned soon afterward, becoming a partner at a Washington law firm and teaching law at George Washington University. He was predeceased by his wife Pauline Green, AB’44; he is survived by his second wife Verneil English, two daughters, a son, and seven grandchildren.
John R. Tobin Jr., MD’42, a cardiologist, died July 29 in Oak Brook, IL. He was 91. He served as a battalion surgeon during WW II. In the 1950s, as a cardiologist at Cook County Hospital, he began the practice of storing donated blood in plastic bags, greatly reducing infection rates. From 1969 to 1982 he was chair of medicine at Loyola University Medical Center. Predeceased by his wife, Margaret (Callanan) Tobin, AB’36, he is survived by a daughter, a sister, and two grandchildren.
Lenore Blackwood Schaefer, AB’43, of Grayslake, IL, died February 4. She taught language arts to fourth- and seventh-graders in Lake Villa, IL, for 25 years. She enjoyed traveling and taking courses in art, French, and pottery. Survivors include her husband Frederic and two daughters.
Stanley K. Derby, SB’44, a physics professor, died March 29. He was 87. In 1955 he joined the faculty of Western Michigan University, where he helped develop programs in spectroscopy, lasers, and holography. A WW II veteran, he later served in the Air Force Reserve, retiring with the rank of colonel in 1976; a year later he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal by President Jimmy Carter. He is survived by a daughter, a son, a brother, three grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
Daniel Goldberger, PhB’45, AM’50, a rabbi, died August 27, 2007, in Denver. He was 83. Leading two Denver congregations for more than 35 years, he was also a marriage and family counselor. Survivors include wife Ida Patinkin Goldberger, AB’46; two sons; a daughter; 14 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
Roberta H. “Pudge” Landau, SB’45, an educator, died July 22 in Clayton, MO. She was 82. She taught physics at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park (1975–98), and in the mid-1980s she served as the first director of education at the St. Louis Science Center. She is survived by her husband William M. Landau, AA’43; a daughter; three sons, including John Edward Landau, AB’78; a sister; 11 grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.
Jean (Milles) Daniel, U-High’46, AB’50, AM’54, a teacher, died October 26, 2007, in Oshawa, ON, Canada. She was 76. She taught French and English at Ottawa high schools, including the High School of Commerce. She and her husband Patrick Daniel, AM’53, also taught in China, bringing home a young Chinese student who became an unofficial son. In addition to her husband, survivors include a daughter, a son, and four grandchildren.
Hayden Carruth, AM’47, a poet, died September 29 in Munnsville, NY. He was 87. A WW II Army Air Force veteran, Carruth worked for the University of Chicago Press and spent much of the 1950s battling depression. In the early 1960s he moved from Connecticut to Vermont, where he held a series of odd jobs. In 1979 he joined Syracuse University’s faculty and was poetry editor of Harper’s Magazine from 1977 to 1982. Carruth received a 1992 National Book Critics Circle award for Collected Shorter Poems, 1946–1991, and in 1996 he won the National Book Award for Scrambled Eggs & Whiskey. Survivors include his wife Joe-Anne McLaughlin and a son.
Reid Bryson, PhD’48, died June 11 in Madison, WI. He was 88. During WW II he prepared weather forecasts for air missions over Tokyo and for the homeward flight of the Enola Gay, the plane that bombed Hiroshima. In 1948 he founded the meteorology department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. An early developer of computer modeling to study climate change, he became an outspoken skeptic of global warming. He is survived by his wife Frances and four children.
Paul Frenzen, SB’48, SM’51, PhD’64, a meteorologist, died July 10 in Port Townsend, WA. He was 84. An Army Air Force forecaster with the Air Weather Service in the mid-1940s, he spent more than 30 years in the Environmental Research Division at Argonne National Laboratory. From 1985 to 1990 he also taught in the University’s geophysical-sciences department. He conducted research in Australia, Barbados, and the Isle of Man. He is survived by his wife Helen (Aronson) Frenzen, U-High’47; four sons, including Paul David Frenzen, AB’75, AM’81, PhD’84, Christopher Frenzen, AB’76, and Jonathan K. Frenzen, AB’78, MBA’82, PhD’88; and four grandchildren.
Richard Gable, AM’48, PhD’50, a professor of political science, died February 14 in Davis, CA. He was 87. A WW II Army veteran, he taught at Ohio State University, Stanford, and the University of Southern California before spending 25 years at the University of California, Davis. He also lived in Tehran, Iran, and Lahore, Pakistan, where he helped establish public-administration schools. He is survived by his wife Myra Gable, X’48, a daughter, two sons, and three grandchildren.
Albert Laws Kidwell, PhD’49, a geologist, died August 16 in Scottsdale, AZ. He was 89. Beginning his career at the United States Geodetic Survey and the Missouri Geological Survey, he became a research geologist for several oil companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp. In 1948 he discovered an unknown mineral that, 30 years later, was named Kidwellite in his honor. He is survived by his wife Marian, two daughters, two sons, 11 grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.
Dorothy (Babich) Rathman, AM’49, a teacher, died July 25 in New York. She was 90. She taught for more than 30 years, including nearly 25 years in the Oak Park (IL) public-school system. Survivors include a daughter; a son, Keith Rathman, AB’80; a brother; two sisters; and two grandchildren.
David Hugo Romeis, PhB’49, a minister, died May 16, 2007, in Walnut Creek, CA. He was 82. A WW II Coast Guard veteran, he was ordained in 1958 and served as pastor of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Walnut Creek until 1980. He then became pastor at the city’s Hope Lutheran Church from 1984 until his 1999 retirement. He is survived by his wife Maria, a daughter, a son, eight grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
1950s
Robert Saxon Milnikel, AB’50, JD’53, an attorney, died February 28 in Des Plaines, IL. He was 81. A partner in Peterson, Ross, Schloerb & Seidel and other law firms in Chicago, he headed the Cliff Dwellers Art Foundation for many years. He is survived by his wife Viriginia, a daughter, a son, and two sisters.
Eleanor (Wood Twomley) Anderson, AM’53, a teacher and social worker, died August 5 in Juneau, AK. She was 87. A public-school teacher in Elgin, IL, and later a social worker in Charlotte, NC, she enjoyed hiking and kayaking. Survivors include two daughters, two sons, three grandchildren, and five step-grandchildren.
Anneke Jans (Saunders) Davis, AB’53, a naturalist, died September 11 in Baltimore. She was 77. A leader in local and statewide environmental organizations, as well as a nature photographer, Davis was the first president of the Baltimore Environmental Center. Survivors include two sons, including Benjamin Davis, AB’80, and four grandchildren, including Eleanor Pearson Davis, ’12.
Oliver E. Overseth, SB’53, a physicist, died July 17 in Key West, FL. He was 80. A high-energy experimental physicist who was on the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, faculty from 1961 to 1992, he worked on experiments at the University of California, Berkeley; Brookhaven; Fermilab; and CERN. After retiring as professor emeritus from Michigan, he divided his time between Geneva, Switzerland, and Key West. Survivors include his wife Ludy, two daughters, and five grandchildren.
James F. Davidson, PhD’54, a political-science professor and administrator, died June 5 in Blacksburg, VA. He was 83. Spending three years in the Naval Reserve, he taught for several years at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville before becoming an assistant dean and moving on to posts as dean at Concord College in Athens, WV, and Tulane University in New Orleans. He is survived by two daughters, two sons, and three grandchildren.
Jerome Holtzman, X’54, a baseball writer and historian, died July 19 in Evanston, IL. He was 81. A WW II Marine Corps veteran, he covered baseball for Chicago newspapers including the Daily Times, the Sun-Times, and the Tribune. His seven books on baseball include No Cheering in the Press Box (1974). In 1999 he was appointed the first official historian for Major League Baseball. Survivors include his wife Marilyn, four daughters, one son, and five grandchildren.
Harry Lopas, AB’56, MD’60, a physician, died August 8 in Evanston, IL. He was 74. A native of Belgium, he spent his childhood in hiding from the Nazis, coming to America at age 14. An Army veteran, he practiced medicine at Michael Reese Hospital and later became a partner at Associates in Internal Medicine in Chicago. He conducted research on bone-marrow transplants and blood transfusions. He is survived by his wife Joyce Everett Lopas, U-High’54, AB’59, AM’62; two sons; a sister; and five grandchildren.
Theodore “Ted” Solotaroff, AM’56, an editor, writer, and critic, died August 8 in East Quogue, NY. He was 79. In 1967 he founded New American Review, a literary journal that published writers such as E. L. Doctorow and Gabriel García Márquez, as well as an early excerpt from Portnoy’s Complaint, written by classmate Philip Roth, AM’55. He was a senior editor at Harper & Row from 1979 to 1991. He is survived by his wife Virginia, four sons, five stepchildren, a brother, and 13 grandchildren.
Carlisle L. Rast, AM’57, a teacher and trainer, died June 19 in San Francisco. He was 80. An Army veteran, he taught at Hyde Park High School before taking a yearlong sabbatical to travel the Middle East, then moved to San Francisco, where he became a principal player in Baymart. Predeceased by his wife Peggy C. Rast, AM’58, he is survived by two sisters.
Robert Berger, AB’57, died June 23 in Morristown, NJ. He was 72. He worked primarily in the real-estate industry, both for shopping centers and retailers. In 1991 he formed a consulting firm, Retail Advisory Group. He remained active in his fraternity, Phi Gamma Delta, attending his 50-year reunion last year. Survivors include a daughter; three sons, including Adam Berger, AM’91; and seven grandchildren.
Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman, X’57, an artist and collector, died August 22 in Chicago. She was 94. In the late 1940s she began acquiring artwork by Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, and Alexander Calder. In 1980 she bequeathed the works to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, deciding to complete the gift before her death. Her bequest greatly bolstered the Met’s collection of Abstract Expressionism. She is survived by five grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.
Fred Hugo Pollak, SM’59, PhD’65, a physics professor, died June 19 in New Brunswick, NJ. He was 73. He taught at Brown and Yeshiva University before joining Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of City University of New York. He was also president of Semiconductor Characterization Instruments. Survivors include his wife Carol, a son, a brother, and two grandchildren.
1960s
Louis J. Cantori Jr., AM’62, PhD’66, a political-science professor, died May 12 in Baltimore. He was 73. A Middle East scholar, he taught at the University of Maryland–Baltimore County for more than three decades. He also held visiting professorships at the U.S. Military Academy, Air Force Academy, and McCormick Theological Seminary, among others. Survivors include his wife Barbara Joan, a daughter, two sons, two sisters, and nine grandchildren.
Louis B. Jennings, PhD’64, a philosophy professor, died November 18, 2006, in Towson, MD. He was 89. He taught at Marshall University in Huntington, WV, and at Ohio University. An ordained minister of the United Church of Christ, he was the author of The Bibliography and Biography of Shirley Jackson Case (1949) and The Function of Religion: An Introduction (1979). He is survived by two daughters, a brother, two sisters, and two grandchildren.
Frederick Douglass Jefferson Jr., AM’68, PhD’73, a theologian and professor, died July 2 in Rochester, NY. He was 79. An Army veteran, in 1969 he was one of four African American professors hired at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School after student protests demanding the hiring of black faculty canceled classes for three weeks. He also served as pastor of Trinity Emmanuel Presbyterian Church in Rochester. He is survived by his wife Ruby, a daughter, two sons, and six grandchildren.
1970s
Isaac Beverly Pendergraff, AM’71, DMN’74, an Army chaplain and social worker, died of a heart attack June 8 in Louisville, CO. He was 61. An ordained Baptist minister, he served as a chaplain at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, GA. After earning a master’s in social work, he worked for 20 years as a school social worker in Colorado. He is survived by his wife Sandra D. Pendergraff, AM’71; a daughter; his mother; and a sister.
George Gardner, MST’75, a climbing guide and teacher, died July 19 while solo-climbing the Grand Teton in Wyoming. He was 58. Working for Exum Mountain Guides in Grand Teton National Park for 28 years, he was a veteran of the Himalayas and taught a Himalayan semester for Sterling College in Vermont. Survivors include his wife Colleen, a daughter, a son, his mother, a brother, and two sisters.
1980s
Joanna B. Sloan, MD’86, a chemical engineer and doctor, died May 29 in Mercer Island, WA, after a long illness. She was 54. In her first career, she earned a PhD in chemical engineering from Yale and became a senior research engineer at General Motors. In 1982 she entered the Pritzker School of Medicine, specializing in dermatology. She moved to Seattle in 2000 and began a solo private practice with a satellite clinic in Juneau, AK. She is survived by her father.
2000s
Asher Goldman, ’09, was found dead in his Hyde Park apartment September 8. He was 21. A philosophy major and music minor, Goldman worked in a range of genres, from jazz piano to computer music, and he played the oud in the University’s Middle East Music Ensemble. Survivors include his parents, a brother, a sister, and his grandparents.