The University of Chicago Magazine April 1995
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DEATHS

FACULTY

Benum W. Fox, X'40, a clinical associate professor of medicine, died November 7. He was 75 and a former president of the medical staff at Weiss Memorial Hospital, a retired gastroenterologist affiliated with several Chicago-area hospitals, and a WWII veteran. He is survived by four sons, including Steven H. Fox, MD'78, SM'78; a daughter; and a granddaughter.

George J. Metcalf, professor emeritus in Germanic languages and literatures, died November 21 in Sacramento at age 86. He joined the faculty in 1942, served as department chair from 1956 to 1969, and retired in 1973. Before coming to Chicago, he taught at Harvard College, the universities of Alabama and Kansas, and Washington University. Survivors include a son, Robert H. Metcalf, U-High'60.

Edward Shils, X'37, distinguished service professor emeritus of sociology and the Committee on Social Thought, died January 23 in Hyde Park. He was 84. An expert on intellectuals' role in forming public policy and exercising power, he also taught at universities in England and Europe. Shils founded and edited Minerva, an influential journal of the social, administrative, political, and economic problems of science and scholarship. In 1979 he delivered the eighth annual Jefferson Lecture, the highest national honor for scholarly achievement. Credited with bridging American and European sociology to create a more universal sociology, he received the 1983 Balzan Prize, an award for fields without Nobel Prizes. Shils came to the University in 1934, was named distinguished service professor in 1971, and retired in 1983. Survivors include a son, Adam, and a grandson.

Milton Singer, PhD'40, the Paul Klapper professor emeritus in the College and anthropology, died December 5 at the age of 82 in Hyde Park. A renowned scholar on India, he helped lead the Committee on Southern Asian Studies. A native of Poland, he joined the faculty in 1941, won the Quantrell Award for undergraduate teaching in 1948, and retired in 1979, although he continued to do research. He is survived by his wife, Helen, and a sister.

Sol Tax, PhD'35, anthropology professor emeritus, former chair of the department, and former dean of the University Extension, died January 4 in Chicago. He was 87. He organized the field as a global discipline and helped establish action anthropology, in which researchers work to solve social problems. Tax was an expert on Native American cultures and founded the journal Current Anthropology. He joined the faculty as a research associate in 1940 and was named professor in 1948; he also served as director of the Smithsonian Institution's Center for the Study of Man and in several governmental posts. He is survived by his wife, Gertrude; two daughters, Marianna Tax Choldin, U-High'59, AB'62, AM'67, PhD'79, and Susan Tax Freeman, U-High'54, AB'58; and three grandchildren, including Kate Choldin, AB'86, and Mary Choldin, AB'86.

1920s

Guy T. Buswell, MAT'16, PhD'20, an educator and author, died May 27 in Lincoln, NE. He was 103. He taught in Chicago's education department for many years before joining the University of California-Berkeley, retiring in 1958. Buswell wrote a series of elementary-school math and reading texts. Survivors include a daughter, Margaret Buswell Nelson, U-High'37, and a son, John.

William J. Friedman, PhB'23, a Chicago attorney, died December 5. He was 91. A partner with Friedman & Koven and counsel to Neal, Gerberg & Eisenberg, he took a leading role in the 1940s merger of the Chicago elevated and surface public transportation. He was vice president and director of the Combined Jewish Appeal and a Menninger Foundation board member. Survivors include his wife, Alicia; two daughters; and five grandchildren.

Rachel Marshall Goetz, PhB'25, MBA'27, died November 15 at age 90 in Alexandria, VA. The daughter of former GSB dean Leon Marshall, she was a research assistant at the University and taught a course in educational television. Goetz created the slogan "Window to the World" for Chicago's public television station and was a speechwriter for Adlai Stevenson during his 1956 presidential campaign. A Hyde Park activist, she funded several scholarships and a professorship in the GSB. Survivors include her daughter, Barbara Goetz Garner, AB'60, AM'63; a sister; and seven grandchildren.

Calvin S. Fuller, SB'26, PhD'29, a chemist and co-inventor of the solar cell, died October 28 in Vero Beach, FL. He was 92. Fuller worked for 37 years at AT&T Bell Laboratories. In 1954, he invented what was then called the solar battery-credited with making the space program practical. He was granted 33 patents. Survivors include his wife, Willmine; three sons; and eight grandchildren.

R. Kennedy Gilchrist, SB'26, MD'31, surgeon emeritus at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center and professor emeritus at Rush Medical College, died in Evanston on November 13. He was 90. A gastrointestinal and cancer specialist, Gilchrist was a longtime board member of the medical college. He is survived by a son, a daughter, a sister, and three grandchildren.

Ruth E. Fizdale, PhB'27, a leader in the effort to make social work a profession, died October 30 in New York. She was 86. While executive director of the Arthur Lehman Counseling Service in Manhattan, Fizdale developed a fee-for-service system for private agencies and wrote the standard-setting Social Agency Structures and Accountability. She was an adjunct professor emeritus in community medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Ruth Atwell Zoll, PhB'28, of Hinsdale, died November 28 at age 88. She was a writer and a teacher in the Evanston elementary schools. Survivors include her husband, Clifford A. Zoll, MBA'29, and two nephews. Sara Laurie Newberger Ostrowiak, PhB'29, of Fort Lauderdale, FL, died October 27. Survivors include her husband, Sander.

1930s

Phyllis R. Osborn, AM'31, died October 8. She was 91. Survivors include a cousin, Marian Osborn Vogel, PhB'49.

Barbara Salditt, AM'30, PhD'32, a professor emerita of German at Wellesley College, died November 6. She was 91. She taught at Wellesley from 1932 until her retirement in 1968. Salditt was also among the first teachers at the Boston Center for Adult Education, where she taught for 20 years. She is survived by a sister, Klara, and several nieces and nephews.

Herman L. Taylor, JD'32, a Chicago lawyer, died November 20 at age 91. He spent much of his career as a partner with McCulloch Veatch & Taylor. He was active in Flossmoor village government and social and charitable organizations. Survivors include his wife, Berniece Pollock Taylor, JD'31; a daughter; a son; a sister; and four grandchildren.

Merton M. Gill, PhB'34, MD'38, professor emeritus of psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago's medical school, died November 13. An expert on psychoanalysis, he was 80. Before joining the UIC faculty (1971-89), he was in private practice in Berkeley and a professor at SUNY-Downstate. He is survived by his wife, Ilse Judas; two daughters; three sons; two brothers, including Norman N. Gill, PhB'32; and five grandchildren.

Perry E. Gresham, X'34, president emeritus of Bethany College, died September 10 in Advance, NC, at age 86. Serving as Bethany's president from 1953 to 1972, he was also a distinguished professor of humanities at the college. He is survived by his wife, Aleece; a son; and two grandsons.

Constance V. Kazmierczak, SB'34, a retired Chicago high-school teacher, died December 23. Survivors include a niece, Diana.

Meyer Lipschultz, PhB'34, JD'35, a former attorney for the Veterans Administration, died October 26 in Chicago. A past president of the West Rogers Park unit of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, he was honored by the national organization in 1986 with its Man of the Year Award. He is survived by his wife, Miriam; three daughters; a sister; and five grandchildren.

James W. Moore, JD'34, the Sterling professor emeritus of law at Yale University, died October 26 in Hamden, CT. Moore, who was 89, taught at Yale for 37 years, specializing in bankruptcy law, corporate reorganization, and the rights of debtors and creditors. The author of Moore's Federal Practice and Moore's Manual: Federal Practice and Procedure, he is survived by his wife, Etta; a son; a daughter; and six grandchildren.

Max S. Perlman, X'34, a former social worker and director of public welfare programs for the homeless, died November 3. He was 87. From 1945 to 1971, Perlman was assistant director of the Federation of Jewish Charities of Chicago. During WWII, he aided Jewish refugees. He is survived by his wife, Helen Harris Perlman, the Samuel Deutsch distinguished service professor emerita in the SSA; a son, Jonathan H. Perlman, MBA'65; and a grandson.

Fred Karush, SB'35, PhD'38, professor emeritus of microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, died July 2 in Woods Hole, MA. An immunologist, he joined the Penn faculty in 1950. He received a research career award from the NIH, and in 1992 was awarded a Professional Achievement Citation by the U of C Alumni Association. He is survived by his wife, Sally; three sons; and seven grandchildren.

Peter M. Kelliher, AB'35, JD'37, a Chicago attorney, real-estate developer, and labor arbitrator, died November 9. He was 81. A founding member and past president of the National Academy of Arbitrators, Kelliher was former counsel for the city of Chicago and served as a U.S. Conciliation Commissioner. He is survived by his wife, Virginia; a daughter; a son; and three grandchildren.

Elsie Rubin Orlinsky, PhB'35, a Hyde Park activist and former teacher, died November 23 at age 80, the victim of a carjacking and beating. Active in Congregation Rodfei Zedek, she was a board member and chief archivist of the Chicago Jewish Historical Society. A fundraiser for the Misericordia Home, Orlinsky had taught in the Chicago public schools and at La Rabida. She is survived by three sons: Peter, Joel, and Gary.

Thomas S. Turner, AB'35, AM'36, a retired professor of music at Iowa State, died in April 1994 at age 80.

Ruth Balderston Cope, X'36, of Syracuse, NY, died November 17. She was 82. Active in the Religious Society of Friends, she volunteered for many organizations, including the Chicago Settlement House and the American Friends Service Committee. Survivors include her husband, Alfred H. Cope, X'40; a daughter; a sister; and two grandchildren.

George V. Myers, AB'36, former president and board member of Amoco, died in Glenview on December 1 at age 78. He worked as controller of Westinghouse Air Brake and served as an FBI agent before joining Amoco in 1953; in 1974, he was named the oil company's president. He is survived by his wife, Christine; three daughters; a sister; and five grandchildren. Gerald R. Parrish, AB'37, of Washington, DC, died September 14. Survivors include his wife, Rose.

Harryette Nightingale Cohn, SB'38, of Chevy Chase, MD, died December 24 at age 78. A promoter of the arts, she was a docent at the National Museum of American Arts for 22 years. She is survived by her husband, Marcus Cohn, AB'35, JD'38; a son; and a daughter.

Mary E. Rall, X'38, a retired supervisor of social workers at United Charities, died November 10 in Kennett Square, PA. She was 93.

1940s

Gertrude Feder Jennings, AB'40, editor in chief of bibliography with the R. R. Bowker Co., died September 4 in New York. She was 75. Survivors include her husband, Francis.

Evelyn Geiger Jones, AB'41, of Boise, ID, died November 10 at age 73. She was a corporate secretary with Alan Co. Survivors include her husband, Clair; a son; and five grandchildren.

Jeanette Tregay Musengo, AA'42, of Chicago, died in November. Active in prison reform, she was 73. Survivors include a sister and a brother.

Robert H. Strotz, AB'42, PhD'51, former president and chancellor of Northwestern University, died November 9. The Wilmette resident was 72. Strotz was a professor of economics and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences before being named president (1970-85) and chancellor (1985- 90). He had edited Econometrica and chaired the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. He is survived by his wife, Margaret; four daughters; a son; three stepdaughters; a brother, Loren J. Strotz, PhB'47; and 13 grandchildren.

Richard H. Custer, AM'43, of West Hartford, CT, died November 25 at age 76. For 32 years he managed towns in Connecticut, Maine, Wisconsin, and Ohio. After retiring in 1978 he did consulting and was an arbitrator for the state of Connecticut. The WWII veteran was past president of the International City Management Association. He is survived by his wife, Alice; two daughters; a son; a brother; a sister; and six grandchildren.

George E. Schroeder, PhB'45, SB'46, died June 22 at age 73. Survivors include his wife, Madeline Sohn Schroeder, SB'45.

Lee O. Mead, AB'47, a retired administrator and technical information specialist with Argonne and Lawrence Livermore laboratories, died September 4 in Sequim, WA. He was 83. As a student he worked for the Manhattan Project. He is survived by a brother, Sidney E. Mead, AM'38, PhD'40.

Henry L. Stern, PhB'47, JD'50, died October 30 in San Diego. He was 70. A native of Germany, he immigrated to America in 1937 and joined the U.S. Army during WWII. Stern worked for the Securities and Exchange Commission and at several law firms before joining the Dallas-based Holly Oil and Gas Corporation in 1980, retiring in 1989 as senior vice president and general counsel. He is survived by two sons, including Roger D. Stern, JD'89; a sister; and two grandchildren.

Michael J. Clarke, PhB'48, AM'53, a former English teacher in the Chicago city colleges, died in December. He was 68. Survivors include his wife, Janice Ferguson Clarke, AB'48, and three children.

Robert J. Schlegel, PhB'49, MD'55, a retired pediatrician and professor, died December 10. He was 66 and lived in Palos Verdes Penin, CA. In 1993 he became professor emeritus at Drew University of Medicine and Science and at UCLA. He volunteered at a social service agency in Watts. He is survived by his wife, Lois Gustafson Schlegel, X'49; a son; two daughters; a brother; and two grandchildren.

Lorence S. Stout, AM'49, of Sun City, AZ, died May 3. He was 75. Survivors include his wife, Leona.

1950s

Richard S. Ablin, AB'50, AM'53, PhD'60, a senior economist in the Bank of Israel's research department, died December 4. He was 63 and had published works on economic, cultural, and political topics relating to Israel. He is survived by his wife, Batya Shapira Ablin, MCL'60; a son; a daughter; a sister, Lois Ablin Kriesberg, AM'53; and a brother-in-law, Louis Kriesberg, PhB'47, AM'50, PhD'53.

Charles O. Hucker, PhD'50, professor emeritus in Chinese and history and the Williams professor emeritus at the University of Michigan, died November 14 at his home in Odessa, TX. He was 75. In 1986, Michigan honored him by establishing the Charles O. Hucker professorship in Asian languages and cultures. Hucker also taught at the University of Arizona and Oakland University. He is survived by his wife, Myrl; a brother; and a sister.

Luther H. Foster, Jr., AM'41, PhD'51, of Alexandria, VA, died November 27 at age 81. A former president of Tuskegee Institute (1953-81) and a board member and former president of the United Negro College Fund, at the time of his death, he was chair of the Academy for Educational Development. He is survived by his wife, Vera Chandler Foster, AM'50; a daughter; a son; his mother; two sisters; and five grandchildren.

Donald G. Rendleman, AB'53, an emergency-medicine physician, died at his home in Elgin on February 2, 1994. He was 64. A WWII veteran, he was a former Chicago social worker. He is survived by a daughter, a son, a sister, and two brothers.

Conrad L. Zwolinski, AB'55, of Phoenix, died in June. He worked in the pharmaceutical industry, primarily with G. D. Searle. Survivors include a sister, Alice Zwolinski De Fratus, AB'55, AB'57.

Richard A. Cooley, AM'56, an educator and environmentalist, died November 18 in Santa Cruz. The WWII veteran was 69. He taught at the University of Washington and served in conservation posts in Alaska before founding and leading the environmental-studies program at UC-Santa Cruz (1971-91). He is survived by his wife, Alice; two sons; a brother; and three grandsons.

1960s

Maurice B. Stein, MBA'60, owner of Camp Echo Lake in upstate New York, died October 31 in the American Eagle plane crash near Roselawn, IN. He was 58. A past president of the American Camping Association, he and his wife, Amy, expanded the camp and founded a scholarship program for underprivileged children. He is survived by his wife and three sons.

Brigitte C. G. Pampel, AM'67, an adjunct professor of German at Loyola University Chicago, died December 19 at age 52. Survivors include her husband, Lee; a daughter; and a son.

1970s

John J. Lannon, MBA'70, of Naperville, died November 12 in the crash of his private airplane. He was 57. Until his retirement last May he was CFO of Northern Illinois Gas. Survivors include five children.

William P. Leslie, MST'74, a Chicago musician, teacher, and school administrator, died November 16 at age 69. He is survived by his wife, Maxine; three daughters; a son; and three grandchildren.

Michael I. Miller, AM'68, PhD'78, former provost for academic affairs and chair of the English department at Chicago State University, died November 10 of complications from AIDS. He was 53. Miller was an expert in local dialects and published in linguistics and etymology. He also organized graduate programs at the universities of Taiwan and Krakow. He is survived by his companion, Donald R. Beck; his mother and father; three sisters; and a brother.

1980s

Lisa D. Eret, AB'87, of Burbank, IL, died September 8 in a car accident in Poland. She was 28.

1990s

William E. Parker, AM'66, PhD'94, a Chicago psychotherapist, died of a brain tumor November 9 at age 53. A longtime board member of the Alliance Francaise De Chicago, Parker worked with the Chicago Police Department's counseling office and Northwestern's counseling psychology program. He is survived by his mother, Alice, and two brothers.


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