DEATHS


Stanley "Steve" Brody, Gerontology and Public Health

Stanley J. Brody (known as "Steve" to family and friends), an emeritus professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation who was especially influential in the field of geronotolgy, died of a stroke at the age of 79 on September 11 in La Jolla, California. In 1939, Steve Brody graduated with a J.D. from Columbia University, but never practiced. Instead, he decided to pursue a master's degree in social work, which he earned in 1941 from the University of Pittsburgh. During World War II, Professor Brody was in the Navy for four years, serving in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters.

Professor Brody joined the University in 1969 as associate professor of social planning in the then-department of community medicine, with a joint appointment in psychiatry. He became a full professor of rehabilitation medicine in 1974. Later he was professor of health care systems, and he became chair of the graduate group in 1978. After becoming emeritus professor in 1986, he continued to teach iin the College of General Studies. In addition to serving on the faculty he held a number of federal and state roles including that of southeast regional director of the Pennsylvania State Department of Public Welfare.

Professor Brody is survived by his wife, Elaine Breslow Brody, to whom he was married for 54 years; his son, Peter; his daughter, Laurel Karpman; and his four granddaughters.

 

Dr. Mary Watanabe, Lecturer and Promoter of Japanese Culture

Dr. Mary Ishimota Watanabe, a former lecturer in what is now AMES, died of cancer on Spetember 12 at the age of 76.

Dr. Watanabe was a volunteer for more than 40 years for Japanese organizations and groups that promoted social services and civil rights for immigrants and the needy. She had taken her bachelor's degrees in chemistry and biology from San Jose State College in 1942 when she and her family were interned at relocation camps in California and Wyoming. Released in 1943 through the efforts of the American Friends Service Committee, she enrolled at Radcliffe and Harvard, completed her doctorate in biology, and worked as a biochemist with the Army Quartermaster Corps in South Philadelphia.

In 1954, Dr. Watanabe enrolled in a Japanese language course at Penn. She joined the Asian Studies department as a lecturer of Japanese in 1961. Five years later she left to join the Pacific/Asian Coalition, where she was national president for three years in the the late 1970s. Until illness forced her to slow down her work four years ago, Dr. Watanabe spent her time promoting Japanese culture, raising funds for the Japanese House and Garden in Fairmount Park and helping Asian students acquire loans.

Dr. Watanabe is survived by her husband of 48 years, a brother and a sister. A memorial service will be held later.


Return to:Almanac, University of Pennsylvania, September 23, 1997, Volume 44, Number 5