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Deaths

Faculty and Staff

Jeanne Buiter, MBA’86, former director of the U of C Alumni Association, died of cancer February 23 in Oak Park, IL. She was 61. A graduate of Calvin College and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she served as executive director of the University of Chicago Alumni Association, heading the alumni-relations program from 1988 until 1995. An artist who taught for several years at the U of C Laboratory Schools, Buiter opened her own business after leaving the University and most recently worked as a senior academic adviser at the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She was an accomplished potter, seamstress, and gardener. Survivors include five brothers and three sisters.

Anne Carr, AM’69, PhD’71, professor emerita of theology in the Divinity School and the College, died February 11 in Chicago. She was 73. A member of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Divinity School’s first permanent female faculty member, she believed feminist ideas could coexist with traditional Christian teachings. In 1997 she received the John Courtney Murray Award for Excellence in Theology from the Catholic Theological Society of America; she retired in 2003. Her publications include A Search for Wisdom and Spirit: Thomas Merton’s Theology of Self (1988) and Transforming Grace: Christian Tradition and Women’s Experience (1996). She is survived by two sisters.

Joseph J. Katz, PhD’42, distinguished senior scientist emeritus at Argonne National Laboratory, died January 28 in Chicago. He was 95. Part of a Manhattan Project team that identified the chemical properties of plutonium, he later joined Argonne and cowrote more than 20 books on radioactive-element chemistry. A recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Rumford Prize and the American Chemical Society’s Midwest Award, he edited the Journal of Inorganic and Nuclear Chemistry for more than 25 years and also researched photosynthesis and memory. Survivors include his wife Sonia Weiner Katz, AB’43, AM’46; two daughters, Elizabeth Kessler Neugarten, U-High’65, AB’69, MD’73, and Anna Lieblich, U-High’65; a son, Abram E. Katz, U-High’71; and four grandchildren.

Anthony J. Tuzzolino, SM’55, PhD’57, senior scientist at the University’s Enrico Fermi Institute, died January 9 in Lincolnwood, IL. He was 76. A recipient of the NASA Public Service Medal, Tuzzolino designed and built more than 40 space-probe instruments, including particle detectors that became the first to visit Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and the moon. During his five decades at the Fermi Institute’s Laboratory for Astrophysics and Space Research, he helped launch 35-plus space missions and also developed new tools to study cosmic dust particles. He retired in 2006. He is survived by a daughter, a son, and a sister.

Joseph M. Williams, professor emeritus in English, died February 22 in South Haven, MI. He was 74. A cocreator of the University’s Little Red Schoolhouse writing course, he drew on cognitive science, decision theory, and risk theory to develop an innovative approach to writing pedagogy that emphasized the reader’s perspective. Joining the Chicago faculty in 1965, Williams, winner of a 1987 Quantrell Award for undergraduate teaching, wrote, cowrote, or edited more than ten books, including Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace (1981) and The Craft of Research (1995). The founder of communications-consulting firm Clearlines, he also worked with law firms, corporations, and government agencies, and he won a 2006 Golden Pen Award for lifetime contributions to legal writing. Survivors include his second wife Joan Steck; a daughter; four sons, including David Steck, U-High’84, and Oliver Steck, U-High’86; a brother; and seven grandchildren.

1930s

Edward B. Espenshade, SB’30, SM’32, PhD’43, a geographer and editor, died January 26 in Evanston, IL. He was 97. Advocating a more scientific approach to map design, he introduced mathematical and statistic models to geography. As an intelligence specialist with the Army Corps of Engineers during WW II, he followed Allied forces throughout Europe after D-Day, collecting Axis maps. In 1945 he returned to teach at Northwestern University, where he chaired the geography department for nearly two decades and retired professor emeritus in 1978. A frequent speaker before the National Academy of Sciences and the Association of American Geographers, he edited Rand McNally Goode’s World Atlas from 1949 to 1994. He was preceded in death by his wife Dorothy Barrows Espenshade, U-High’33, AB’39; survivors include two daughters.

Maurice M. Shapiro, SB’36, SM’40, PhD’42, an astrophysicist, died February 27 in Rockville, MD. He was 92. A group leader at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project, he chaired the Association of Los Alamos Scientists in 1946 and advocated international control of atomic energy. In 1949 he joined the nuclear-physics division of the Naval Research Laboratory, where he started a cosmic-ray laboratory. Before retiring in 1983 as chief scientist emeritus, he founded the International School of Cosmic Ray Astrophysics in Erice, Italy, and continued to serve as its director until his death. Survivors include his wife Ruth Auslander; three daughters, including Raquel Kislinger, AB’78; two sons, including Joel N. Shapiro, AB’66, JD’84; a brother; two sisters; 11 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Morris Leon Goldman, SB’37, a clinical bioanalyst, died September 27 in Los Alamitos, CA. He was 91. After earning a bachelor’s in bacteriology, he worked for several medical laboratories. Goldman traveled extensively with his late wife Josephine, played golf and tennis up to age 90, and enjoyed music, art, reading, and crossword puzzles. Survivors include two daughters.

Roy Dubisch, SB’38, SM’40, PhD’43, a mathematician, died January 20 in Sedona, AZ. He was 90. A professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of Washington, he also taught at other colleges and universities, including Fresno State College, where he served as department chair. A two-term board member of the Mathematical Association of America, he was editor of the association’s Mathematics magazineand wrote several journal articles and books, including Introduction to Abstract Algebra (1965). He spent two years developing mathematics-education programs in Ethiopia and worked with other organizations in Africa and in India to improve mathematics education. Survivors include a daughter, Jill Dubisch, AM’67, PhD’72; two sons; two grandsons; and three great-granddaughters.

Harvey M. Karlen, AB’39, PhD’50, a political scientist and philatelist, died February 9 in Oak Park, IL. He was 89. A political-science instructor for 41 years, he pioneered teaching courses on open-circuit television. After teaching for four years at City College of New York, he began a long career at Wright Junior College in Chicago. An expert on Chicago postal history, he was inducted into the Philatelic Writers Hall of Fame in 2004 and wrote ten books and some 100 articles on the topic. Survivors include his wife June; two sons, including David Karlen, AB’68; two stepdaughters, including Caron Atlas, AB’79, AM’80; a sister; and five grandchildren.

1940s

Harriette Kemp Kaye, AB’40, a civic activist, died March 27 in Fort Lauderdale, FL. She was 88. Founder of the Broward chapter of the Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge, a nonprofit that teaches youth about the responsibilities of citizenship, she served as its president for six terms. A volunteer at several local charities, she was an active member of the Coral Ridge community.

Anthony M. Solomon, AB’41, an economist, died January 18 in New York City. He was 88. An international economic adviser under presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Jimmy Carter, he helped determine federal monetary policy. After selling his processed-soup company to General Foods in 1961, he taught at Harvard before being appointed deputy assistant secretary of state for Latin America (1963–65). Other posts included directing Yugoslavia’s International Investment Corp. (1969–72) and serving as president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank (1980–84). He went on to chair investment bank S. G. Warburg Inc. He enjoyed art, chairing New York’s P.S.1 modern-art museum and serving on the board of the Andy Warhol Foundation. Preceded in death by his wife, he is survived by a daughter, a son, and two grandchildren.

Wilhelmina Jashemski, PhD’42, a historian and archaeologist, died December 24 in Silver Spring, MD. She was 97. A scholar of ancient Pompeian gardens who spent 16 summers digging in the region, she helped establish the academic discipline of garden archaeology and wrote several books, including A Pompeian Herbal: Ancient and Modern Medicinal Plants (1999). She joined the University of Maryland’s history department in 1946 and continued to write and lecture following her 1980 retirement. Preceded in death by her husband Stanley A. Jashemski, SB’43, she is survived by a brother and a sister.

Richard C. Reed, AB’43, JD’48, an attorney, died January 7 in Mercer Island, WA. He was 86. A WW II veteran, he joined the Seattle law firm Reed McClure after law school, becoming a senior partner early in his career. Former president of the College of Law Practice Management, he chaired the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Management Section and cowrote five books for the group. In 1989 he retired from Reed McClure to become a law-office management consultant. During 54 years of marriage, Reed and his late wife Darelyn traveled to more than 50 countries. Survivors include a daughter, two sons, and four grandchildren.

Lucille Adams, AB’45, an accountant, died November 23 in Palo Alto, CA. She was 86. After stints at Chicago advertising agencies, she moved with her husband Victor W. Adams, SB’43, to Redwood City, CA, where they started a family. Following her husband’s death she returned to accounting, working for Stanford University and Marotta Money Management. A member of the American Association of University Women and the Palo Alto Historical Association, she enjoyed the arts, literature, travel, and nature. Survivors include two sons, a sister, and two grandsons.

Ernst Jaffé, SB’45, MD’48, SM’48, a hematologist, died February 16 in Port Washington, NY. He was 83. A leading researcher on a form of hereditary anemia commonly known as blue baby syndrome, he joined the faculty of Albert Einstein Medical College of Yeshiva University in 1955, teaching there for more than 35 years and twice serving as interim dean before being named senior associate dean. Recipient of a 1981 Distinguished Service Award from Chicago’s Division of Biological Sciences Alumni Association, Jaffé was president of the American Society of Hematology and the Society for Experimental Biology in Medicine. While chairing the American Red Cross blood-service committee in 1988, he spearheaded an agreement with the Food and Drug Administration to screen Red Cross blood products for AIDS, hepatitis, and other diseases. He retired from Einstein as professor emeritus in 1992. Survivors include his wife Jane, a daughter, a son, and four grandchildren.

Jean Rae Moskowitz, PhB’47, X’50, an elementary-school teacher, died January 17 in San Francisco. She was 80. After working as a schoolteacher in Chicago and New York, in 1971 she moved to San Francisco, where she helped put out a newsletter for the city’s Office of Economic Development. Later working part time as a social researcher at the mutual fund Working Assets, she wrote a local-restaurant directory. An avid antiques collector, particularly of fine china, she showed her pieces at Bay Area exhibitions and enjoyed traveling to Japan and Europe. Survivors include a daughter and a son.

Edward Ching-Te Chao, PhD’48, a geologist, died February 3 in Fairfax, VA. He was 88. A native of Suzhou, China, he came to the United States in 1945 to teach Chinese to American troops. From 1949 to 1994 he worked at the U.S. Geological Survey, where he discovered two new forms of silica and helped NASA design a lunar sampling program. A fellow of the Geological Society of America, the Meteoritical Society, and the Mineralogical Society of America, Chao received several awards during his career, including a Department of the Interior Meritorious Service Award and NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, and he had an asteroid named in his honor. Survivors include his wife Yong-Sil, two daughters, a son, three stepchildren, two brothers, and six grandchildren.

Thomas E. Van Dam, SB’48, SM’49, an educator, died October 13 in Olympia Fields, IL. He was 84. A WW II veteran, he earned part of his bachelor’s degree via correspondence courses while stationed on a navy tanker in the Atlantic. Van Dam received his doctorate in education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, teaching at Chicago’s Roosevelt University before becoming superintendent of South Holland School District 151 and then serving as a principal in the City of Chicago School District. A volunteer fireman, he belonged to the Crawford Countryside Civic Association and the Masters Gardner Club. Survivors include his wife Anne, five children, and seven grandchildren.

Robert O. Buehler, X’49, former mayor of Galena, IL, died May 22, 2006, in Chicago. He was 103. After working at Victor Adding Machine, in 1931 Buehler founded the Neighborhood Boys and Girls Club, a nonprofit athletic program for children, based at Chicago’s Paul Revere Park. He also made time for his nieces, nephews, and their families, organizing annual family gatherings, and he served on Loyola University Chicago’s board of trustees for nine years. Moving to Galena in the 1960s, Buehler was mayor from 1968 to 1974; he then returned to Chicago to run his father’s meat company, now called Peer Foods. In 2002 he sold the company to his employees.

1950s

Henry M. Lawicki, SM’52, a high-school science teacher, died November 27 in Roselle, IL. He was 84. A WW II Marine Corps veteran, he taught science for 35 years, serving as chair of the East and West Leyden High School science department. After retiring, he worked as a consultant for the Wheaton Mosquito Abatement District. Survivors include his wife Dolores; two daughters, including Joy Lawicki Joyce, MST’75; three sons; and six grandchildren.

Elmer W. Johnson, JD’57, an attorney and civic activist, died February 19 in Wickenburg, AZ. He was 75. In 1956 he joined Chicago law firm Kirkland & Ellis, where he was a managing partner from 1971 to 1993. During the 1980s he also worked as an attorney and executive for General Motors, prompting him to later write a treatise questioning Americans’ reliance on the automobile. Coauthor of a 1998 blueprint commissioned by the Commercial Club of Chicago, he outlined a vision for the city’s future that advocated less car use and led to the creation of the planning organization Chicago Metropolis 2020. An avid reader of philosophy, theology, and public policy, he served as president of nonprofit leadership organization Aspen Institute from 1999 to 2002 before joining law firm Jenner & Block. Survivors include his wife Constance, two daughters, a son, and four grandchildren.

Frederick Ronald Oberman, AB’59, died July 30, 2005, in Fairfax, VA. He was 68. The former head of the human-factors branch at Naval Sea Systems Command, he later became a human-systems integration specialist at the Carderock division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center. Survivors include his wife Elaine K. Oberman, AB’61.

Sherwin Harold Rubenstein, SB’59, SM’61, died January 24 in Chicago. He was 70. Starting at the Chicago Department of Health in 1965, Rubenstein held posts as the virology-research director and director of food-inspection services. In 2001 he received a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Chicago’s Adler School of Professional Psychology, and he practiced for several years. A member of the Guilde of St. George, which reenacts historical scenes at the Bristol Renaissance Faire, Rubenstein also contributed to ToneCluster, a politics, technology, and music blog run by his son Jason. Survivors include his wife Judith, a daughter, two sons, and three grandchildren.

1960s

Jacob Towber, SM’56, PhD’64, a mathematician, died in January in Skokie, IL. A professor emeritus of mathematics at DePaul University, Towber studied representation theory and later quantum groups, for which he was awarded a National Science Foundation grant. A paper he co-wrote defining a quantum group’s key property became the theory’s standard definition. A staunch advocate for faculty rights, he wrote a constitution for DePaul’s math department. Survivors include his wife Diane Rodenberg-Towber.

Miriam Schocken, SB’66, a health researcher, died of breast cancer February 6 in Los Angeles. She was 62. After earning her doctorate from the State University of New York, Stony Brook, and a master’s of public health from the University of California, Los Angeles, she directed the UCLA branch of the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation, a longitudinal project examining the health of middle-aged women. Survivors include her husband Gerald, two daughters, two sons, a stepdaughter, a stepson, two sisters, a grandson, and four step-grandchildren.

Allan Berube, X’68, a historian, died of stomach-ulcer complications December 11 in Liberty, NY. He was 61. A gay-rights activist, in the early 1970s Berube founded the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian History Project, and he was a founding member of the project’s successor, the Gay and Lesbian (now GLBT) Historical Society. His 1990 book, Coming Out Under Fire, won a Lambda Literary Award and inspired a documentary of the same name. Berube, who wrote for several GLBT and progressive publications, received a 1996 MacArthur “genius grant.” Moving to New York City in the 1990s and then to Liberty, Berube co-ran a bed and breakfast and an antiques shop while working on an early–20th-century history of gay men in the Marine Cooks and Stewards Union. Survivors include his partner John Nelson, his mother, and three sisters. [This corrects information printed in the March–April/08 issue.—Ed.]

1980s

Jacque M. Ducharme, MBA’80, a commercial real-estate professional, died December 20 in San Francisco after a sudden illness. He was 58. Joining brokerage Studley Inc. in 1972 Ducharme, named company chair in 1996 and president four years later, helped grow the Chicago branch to the Midwest’s largest tenant-representation firm. In 2001 he became vice chair of the western region, moving to San Francisco to build the firm’s northern-California business. A lover of travel, art, and history, he was a board member of the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society. Survivors include his wife Mary Prchal, his mother, two brothers, and a sister.

Jorge Liderman, AM’86, PhD’88, a composer, died February 3 in San Francisco after being struck by a train. He was 50. First schooled at Jerusalem’s Rubin Academy of Music, the Buenos Aires native joined the composition faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1989. Orchestras such as the American Composers Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic have performed his works; they include the opera Antigona Furiosa, awarded a 1992 Munich Biennale International Prize in Composition, and a chamber piece, “Yzkor,” which won the Argentine Tribune of Composers’ Prize. The recipient of a 2003 Guggenheim Latin American and Caribbean Fellowship Award, he made more than a dozen recordings. In November Berkeley’s Cal Performances dedicated a concert to Liderman to celebrate his 50th birthday, and his chamber concerto Furthermore premiered February 4, the day after his death. He is survived by his wife Mimi, his mother, and his sister.

1990s

Christos George Kosmidis, AB’99, an attorney, died March 1 in Boston of natural causes. He was 31. A graduate of Boston University School of Law, he clerked with the Rhode Island Superior Court before joining law firm Littler Mendelson as a labor and employment lawyer. Survivors include his mother, father, and a brother.

2000s

Judith Toliver Neely, MPP’00, a community activist in Sewickley, PA, died in a car accident December 17. She was 58. A graduate of St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD, she worked briefly at Volunteers of America in New York before returning to her hometown of Aliquippa, PA, where she served as seed director for a community-revitalization project. She later worked as a family therapist while serving on the Quaker Valley School Board and creating the Greater Aliquippa Image Network to rehabilitate area neighborhoods. Survivors include two daughters, two sons, her father, three brothers, three sisters, and five grandchildren.

Timothy Aher, AB’04, a law student, died of unknown causes February 17 in London. He was 25. Aher, who earned his bachelor’s in linguistics, was a second-year at the University of Notre Dame Law School with plans to practice poverty law. A musician who managed campus radio station WHPK and wrote about music for local newspapers during his undergraduate years, Aher spoke Russian, French, German, and some Central Asian languages. Survivors include his parents and one brother.