Deaths

• Mr. Condon, Penn Fund, Retired
• Dr. De Craemer, Sociology
• Dr. Gaeffke, South Asia Studies
• Dr. Kozart, Ophthalmology
• Dr. Middleman, Social Work

Mr. Condon, Penn Fund, Retired

Mr. Andrew J. “Jerry” Condon, retired director of the Penn Fund, died on March 21 at the age of 64.

Mr. Condon, a native of Cincinnati,   earned his bachelor’s degree from Purdue University. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam where he flew 130 helicopter missions, Mr. Condon received his Masters in student personnel administration from Claremont Graduate University in California.

He joined Penn in 1969 as the first director of Student Activities, which became Student Life. He became assistant director of Annual Giving in 1982, a position he held until 1985 when he left Penn to work at the University of Delaware in the annual-fund office. He also was development director at the College of Physicians in Philadelphia before he returned to Penn in 1992. From then until he retired in 2001,  Mr. Condon was the director of the Penn Fund.

He is survived by his wife, Nancy; sister Nancy; brother, Jack; and five nieces and nephews.

Dr. De Craemer, Sociology

Dr. Willy De Craemer, associate professor emeritus of sociology, and former graduate group chairman, died on March 31 at the age of 79.

Born in Belgium, he received his B.A. from Berchmans College, Louvain, where he trained in philosophy and theology. He entered the Jesuit Order in 1944 and was ordained a priest in 1958. He taught pre-college students in the Belgian Congo, 1951-54. He completed his candidatures in political and social science at Louvain University in 1960. He received his M.A. in sociology from Fordham University in 1962. In Kinshasa, Zaire, he served as director of the Centre de Recherches Sociologiques, 1962-67; and as the director of the Centre d’Etudes pour l’Action Sociale, 1965-67. He received a Kent Fellowship from the Danforth Foundation, from 1969 to 1971.

From 1971to 1974 he was an assistant professor of sociology and anthropology at York University, Toronto, Canada. In 1974 after he received his Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard, he joined the  faculty at Penn. He also held a secondary appointment in religious thought.

Dr. De Craemer, the recipient of a 1990 Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, was cited for his “profound universalism and encompassing cross-cultural knowledge that enables him to identify with a very pluralistic array of students, and they with him. Intellectually and humanly, the impact…has been as enduring as it has been deep.” A former student noted his help with influential sources to finance education for himself and for ten other black Congolese to study in Belgium.

Dr. De Craemer, who became emeritus in 1991, authored two books, The Jamaa and the Church: A Bantu Catholic Movement in Zaire and The Emerging Physician, co-written with Dr. Renee C. Fox, professor emeritus of sociology.

Dr. De Craemer is survived by two sisters, Maria De Paepe and Godelieve Vantomme; and two brothers, Anton and Daniel.

A funeral mass will be held today at Old St. Joseph’s Church, 321 Willings Alley (4th and Walnut St.) in Philadelphia at 7:30 p.m.

Dr. Gaeffke, South Asia Studies

Dr. Hans Peter Theodore Gaeffke, professor emeritus of South Asia studies, died at home on March 30 from cancer at the age of 77.

Dr. Gaeffke was appointed as professor of Modern Indian Literature South Asian Regional Studies with a joint appointment in Oriental studies (now Asian Studies) in 1975. He retained this title until he became emeritus in 2001. He taught a variety of courses in South Asian literature and culture including “Literature East and West,” and “Muslim Culture in the South Asian Subcontinent.” Dr. Gaeffke also served on the Faculty Senate.

Born in Germany, Dr. Gaeffke received his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Mainz in 1951 and 1952 respectively. He then served as a resident scholar at the University of Calcutta, 1952-55 and on the Ministry of Education of State of Rheinland-Pfalz, 1955-62. Dr. Gaeffke worked as a Resident Fellow of the German Association for Pure Researches, 1962-64, before becoming a professor at the University of Utrecht in 1964 and at Penn in 1975.

He researched Medieval North Indian devotional literatures and authored several novels including Hindi Literature in the Twentieth Century. His publication Kabir in Urdu Literature, was featured in Proceedings of the Conference at the 600th Birthday of Kabir.

Dr. Gaeffke is survived by his wife, Rosemarie; daughter, Josephine; son, Guido; and four grandsons. A funeral service will be held on Saturday, April 9 at 10 a.m., at West Laurel Hill Cemetery from the Bringhurst Funeral Home, 225 Belmont Ave., Bala Cynwyd. Donations may be made to Vox Amadeus, PO Box 203, Gladwyne, PA, 19035.

Dr. Kozart, Ophthalmology

The following tribute was submitted by the Scheie Eye Institute, in memory of Dr. David M. Kozart, professor of ophthalmology, who died at the age of 66.

On March 16,  Scheie Eye Institute, the department of ophthalmology, lost a treasured colleague and a beloved friend, Dr. David M. Kozart, to leukemia.

Dr. Kozart was a distinguished member of the faculty since 1970. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1960 from Franklin and Marshall College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  In 1964, he received his M.D. from Penn’s School of Medicine. Following an internship at Philadelphia General, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute of Ophthalmology at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and a residency in ophthalmology at Penn.

He joined the Penn faculty in 1970 as assistant professor of ophthalmology and was promoted to associate professor in 1979. In 1990 he served as acting chair of the department of ophthalmology and in 1995 was appointed vice chair for Administration. 

During Dr. Kozart’s long and illustrious career as a member of the medical faculty, he held many important positions in the School of Medicine, at HUP and at the Presbyterian Medical Center.  Among these were serving as vice chair of the Medical Legal Committee at HUP, chair of the Internal Residency Review Committee at HUP, president of the Medical Staff at the Presbyterian Medical Center, and chair of the Medical Faculty Senate. He also served on the Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility of the School of Medicine and on the Search Committee for the chair of the department of anesthesia. 

Dr. Kozart developed an enormous practice in comprehensive ophthalmology and was revered by his patients, admired by his residents, and held in great esteem by his colleagues.  The faculty and residents at the Scheie Eye Institute looked forward to his enthusiastic participation each week in Ophthalmology Grand Rounds and were always astonished by the breadth and depth of his knowledge. He never let a questionable statement go unchallenged, and his penetrating questions were always intended to bring out the best in the resident presenting the case.   

Dr. Kozart and his wife, Elizabeth, raised three children, Michael, Deborah and Marjorie. A fervent handy-man, he excelled in furniture making, turning out pieces of his own design for his children, and for his four grandchildren, Freddy and Sophia Ludtke and Anna and Thea Volpp. He enjoyed gardening, classical music, opera and books. In addition to his wife, children and grandchildren, he is survived by his sister, Anne Karmatz, his sons-in-law, Fred Ludtke and Kevin Volpp and his daughter-in-law, Mary Barsony.

Dr. Kozart will be sorely missed by all those with whom he came into contact over the years.  The family has requested that any contributions be made to the David M. Kozart Memorial Fund at the Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania. For information contact Ann Sacks, director of development, at (215) 662-8774.

Dr. Middleman, Social Work

Dr. Ruth R. Middleman, former lecturer in social work, died on March 25 of emphysema at the age of 81 at the Quadrangle in Haverford.

Dr. Middleman, a Pittsburgh native, earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work from the University of Pittsburgh and her Ed.D. in educational psychology at Temple University.

From 1950 to 1968, Dr. Middleman taught at Peen’s School of Social Work. She then became a professor at the School of Social Administration at Temple for six years before joining the faculty at the Kent School of Social Work at the University of Louisville where she retired in 1994. She was awarded a Moses Distinguished Professorship at Hunter College, 1989-90. She returned to Penn as the Kenneth L.M. Pray Visiting Professor in 1990. Dr. Middleman was cofounder and past president of the American Association of Certified Social Group Workers and author of several books, including, A Study Guide for ACSW Certification. She won the NASW Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995.

She is survived by two sons, Karl and Phillip; a brother, Alfred Rosenbloom; four grandchildren; and former husband, Donald Middleman.