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Deaths

Sue Adams, New Bolton Center

Sue Adams, associate director of the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals at New Bolton Center, died on April 1, at the age of 65.  She worked for the University for 23 years before retiring in 2003 and then returned in 2004 and worked until recently.

She began her employment in 1979 as an administrative assistant for the Bovine Leukemia Lab and transferred to the Large Animal Hospital as an administrative assistant for the department of clinical studies. She later became business administrator where she oversaw the business operations of the hospital.  In 1988 she was promoted to Assistant Director of the Large Animal Hospital, and in 1998, was promoted to Associate Director.

During her career at New Bolton Center, Ms. Adams befriended many people, said Carol Sheets, a  colleague. “Her door was always open to all faculty, staff, and students; no matter how busy she was, she always made time for everyone,” Ms. Sheets added.

Ms. Adams is survived by her husband, Bill;  three children, Kimberly V. Friedman, Blake C. Wilms and Todd J. Wilms; and six grandchildren. Donations  can be made to the Faggs Manor Presbyterian Church Building Fund, 505 Street Rd., Cochranville, PA 19330.

Jean A. Cortner, Pediatrics

J. Cortner

Dr. Jean A. Cortner, former chairman of pediatrics at the School of Medicine and physician-in-chief of CHOP from 1974 to 1986, died May 31 of heart failure at his vacation home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He was 74.

Dr. Cortner was named to his position at CHOP in 1974 by its Board of Managers. He also was appointed the William Bennett Professor and Chairman of the department of pediatrics at the School of Medicine, as well as professor of genetics. He assumed his post when CHOP moved from its location in South Philadelphia to new quarters adjacent to the University.  

Dr. Alan R. Cohen, current physician-in-chief, at CHOP said, “Dr. Cortner was an incredible gentleman as well as a wonderful doctor. He arrived just as Thomas Kennedy and I were beginning our year as chief residents. He treated us with the same respect, and with the same concern for our views that he accorded the most senior faculty members. He could make tough decisions that always seemed fair, or at the very least, respectful of everyone’s point of view.

“His leadership combined wisdom, compassion, vision and a devotion to residents and medical staff. Dr. Cortner brought to a beautiful new hospital the intellectual resources that propelled Children’s Hospital into a new position of leadership. He foresaw the importance of developments in healthcare that became customary during the ensuing years, such as academic general pediatrics, hospitalists, who were virtually unknown 30 years ago, pediatric pharmacology, and the necessity of integrating research with clinical care. He expanded the faculty through the example of his own work in lipid research, and set the tone for significant research that was always directed toward the goal of improving the health of children,” Dr. Cohen said.

Dr. Patrick S. Pasquariello, senior physician and director of the Diagnostic Center at Children’s Hospital, recalled “an incident that marked the man. I went to see him about a child with a complex medical problem. While we were speaking, Dr. Cortner suddenly rose and said ‘why don’t we see the patient together?’ He was truly a pediatrician and remained so in my mind despite his expanding administrative, teaching and research responsibilities.”

In 1986, Dr. Cortner stepped down as physician-in-chief, and spent the next years in his laboratory at the hospital until he retired in 1999. He was chief of genetics, director of the Children’s Hospital Nutrition Center and director of the Lipid-Heart Center. In his honor, the department of pediatrics established the Jean Cortner Endowed Chair in Pediatric Gastroenterology. Dr. Virginia A. Stallings, a professor of pediatrics at the hospital, is the holder of the Cortner Chair, and is actively involved in clinical care, teaching and patient-oriented research, a reflection of Dr. Cortner’s own interests. “We all enjoyed his friendship, laughter and guidance,” she said.

Dr. Cortner came to Philadelphia from Buffalo, N.Y., where starting in 1967 he had served as professor and chairman of the department of pediatrics at the SUNY in Buffalo. He had been physician-in-chief of Children’s Hospital of Buffalo since 1970 and a consultant in pediatrics at the Roswell Park Memorial Institute in Buffalo. A native of Nashville, Tennessee, he became a Phi Beta Kappa and earned his undergraduate and medical degrees at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Cortner served his residency in pediatrics in New York at the Babies Hospital of Columbia University. He took fellowships at the Rockefeller Institute in New York City, at the Galton Laboratory of Human Genetics in London, and was a senior fellow at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the NIH.

Dr. Cortner was president of the National Board of Pediatrics in 1979, and served as an oral examiner for the Board, 1973-1989. Also, he chaired the Board’s committees on Long Range Planning and Research and Development.

His professional and scientific affiliations included the Society for the Study of Inborn Errors of Metabolism, the Association of Medical School Pediatric Chairs, which he led for a number of years, the Society for Pediatric Research, the national and Philadelphia Chapters of the American Pediatric Society, and the American Federation for Clinical Research. Dr. Cortner was a fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

Dr. Cortner is survived by Jeanne, his wife of almost 50 years; daughter, Ruth York; son, Stephen; and five grandchildren. Contributions may be made to The Children’s Hospital Foundation, 34th St. and Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19104, specifying the Cortner Endowed Chair in Pediatric Gastroenterology.

Richard Frost, Real Estate Center

Richard Frost, former coordinator of the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center, died on May 26, while sculling on the Schuylkill at the age of 65. Mr. Frost earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1961 from Penn. The same year, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps. Reserve.

Mr. Frost worked as an engineer for DuPont Co. before taking a job at Truck Parts & Equipment Corp. After Mr. Frost became president of the firm, he expanded the business to seven locations. Mr. Frost sold the company and retired in 1989.

In 1997, Mr. Frost senior staff person at the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center, until his retirement in 2003. He was still working part-time with the Center until his death.

Mr. Frost loved the outdoors. He hiked and used to go kayaking with his wife near their summer home on Seal Cove Pond in Maine. An oarsman for 30 years, Mr. Frost was a member of the University Barge Club.

Mr. Frost is survived by his wife, Susan; a son, David; a daughter, Amian Kelemer; five grandchildren; and a brother.

Contributions in his memory may be made to either The Richard Frost Award (checks made payable to The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, and addressed to the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center, Suite 1400, Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall, 3620 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104) or to Friends of Acadia (43 Cottage St., P.O. Box 45, Bar Harbor, ME 04609).

Robert “Dusty” Rhodes: Gazette

Robert M. “Dusty” Rhodes, former editor of the Pennsylvania Gazette, died May 24, from pneumonia after suffering a fall. He was 81.

Mr. Rhodes was the Gazette’s editor from 1960-71 during which time the magazine covered sit-ins and anti-war protests, transforming the alumni publication.

In March 1964, the Gazette published Mary Ellen Marks’ first professional assignment—photographs of six students in the College for Women (among them, Candice “Cappy” Bergen). “For the first time in my life, I have found something I am excited about and which provides me with the very important feeling of accomplishment,” she told then-editor Robert “Dusty” Rhodes.

He was influential in the founding of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

He had previously served his alma mater, the University of Arkansas, as head of Alumni Relations and editor of their magazine and as editor of Lehigh University’s alumni magazine.

He left Penn in 1971 for Brown University, where he was the editor of the Brown Alumni Magazine (then still known as the Brown Alumni Monthly) for 22 years until he retired in 1993. Under his leadership, BAM was selected as one of the top-ten university magazines 18 times, and Newsweek editors named it the Robert Sibley Magazine of the Year three times—in 1973, 1975 and 1976.

Mr. Rhodes is survived by his daughter, Meredith Pecci, and two grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to Barrington Presbyterian Church, 400 County Road, Barrington, MA 02806.

George Rochberg, Music

G. Rochberg

Award winning composer  George Rochberg, the former chairman of the music department, and the Emeritus Annenberg Professor of the Humanities, died May 29 following complications from surgery at the age of 86.

At last month’s stated meeting of the Board of Trustees, President Amy Gutmann said, “By any measure, George Rochberg was a musical giant whose influence on his students, protégés, and modern music cannot be exaggerated.” She noted that, “Rochberg also composed a monumental body of quartets, symphonies, and concertos that continue to be performed at concert halls all over this world. Works like his Third String Quartet and the Music for the Magic Theatre revolutionized and reinvigorated  contemporary music.”

Described by Dr. Jeffrey Kallberg, music department chair, as “one of the most influential composers of the second half of the 20th century,” Professor Rochberg’s Violin Concerto was performed by Isaac Stern nearly 50 times between 1975 and 1977. His Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra premiered in 1996 by the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Wofgang Sawallisch. Professor Rochberg published nearly 100 works including six symphonies and a full-length opera, The Confidence Man, and concertos.

Professor Rochberg described his music as a reflection of his “deep concern for the survival of music through a renewal of its humanly expressive qualities.”

Professor Rochberg taught at Penn from 1960 until he became emeritus in 1983. He was chairman of the music department from 1960 until 1968. In 1976 he was designated University composer-in-residence. In 1979 he became the first Annenberg Professor of the Humanities.

Before coming to Penn he taught at the Curtis Institute of Music, 1948-1954. For his 80th birthday, the Pinkas/Hersh piano duo performed, George Rochberg: A Life in Music, at the Curtis Institute. In celebration of his 60th birthday, A Festival of the Chamber Music of George Rochberg was held at the Penn Museum.

He studied at Montclair State College, and at the Mannes School of Music in N.Y. During World War II he served as an infantry lieutenant in Normandy. He then studied at the Curtis Institute of Music, and at Penn where he received his M.A. in 1949. In 1950-51 he received a Fulbright Fellowship and an American Academy in Rome Fellowship, enabling him to study in Italy. He published the first study of twelve-tone music. When he returned in 1951, he became the publications director to the music publishers, Theodore Presser.

Among his numerous awards, he received two Guggenheim Fellowships, in 1956 and 1966. He received honorary doctorates from the Philadelphia Musical Academy (now the University of the Arts) in 1964, University of Michigan in 1980, Penn in 1985 and the Curtis Institute in 1988. He became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1985 and was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1986. 

He is survived by his wife, Gene, and his daughter, Francesca. Contributions may be made to the long-established Paul Rochberg Scholarship Fund at Penn’s Music Department, named in memory of his son.

Michael Tarnopol, Trustee

M. Tarnopol

Michael “Mickey” Tarnopol, W ’58, Charter Trustee and Board Vice Chair, died on May 23 at the age of 68. President Amy Gutmann said, “Mickey was heroic in fighting his illness through the last several years and he remained a strong and active Penn leader to the end. All those who knew him recognized that Mickey was a very special person. They also knew how much he loved Penn. And he was equally loved by us.”

Trustee Chairman James Riepe said, “We find it hard to imagine a meeting of the trustees or indeed, any major Penn event without Mickey. His loyalty and devotion to Penn have enriched the University for over 30 years. His commitment of time and energy to Penn will benefit students and faculty for generations to come.”

Mr. Tarnopol’s involvement at Penn over the years reflected the breadth and depth of his commitment. At the time of his death, he was a member of the Trustee Executive, Nominating, Development, Budget and Finance, and Compensation Committees. His focus on raising resources for Penn impacted the University in many ways. For the last several years he was particularly focused on planning Penn’s next capital campaign.

A  long time member of the Board of Overseers of the Wharton School, Mr. Tarnopol co-chaired Wharton’s Campaign for Sustained Leadership, which surpassed its original $350 million campaign goal to raise $445.7 million. He and his wife, Lynne, were founders of the Penn Club of New York and provided important impetus to the creation of this New York presence. As a team, they also provided support for student financial aid and for faculty.

Mr. Tarnopol was vice chairman of Bear Stearns & Co., Inc. which he joined in 1975, and was admitted to partnership in 1976, and became a senior managing director in 1985 at the time of the firm’s incorporation. Mr. Tarnopol headed the firm’s International Department, 1975-1985, when he was appointed head of the Mergers & Acquisitions Department. In 1988, he became chairman of the Investment Banking Department and became vice chairman of the firm in 1997. Prior to joining Bear Stearns, he was a senior managing director and a member of the Board of Directors of Lehman Brothers, Inc., responsible for institutional sales and trading.

His civic and professional leadership positions were extensive. He served on the boards of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the U.S. Polo Training Foundation, Cap CURE, Prep for Prep, and the Robert Steel Foundation. He was also a member of the President’s Council of the Guggenheim Museum. He was the 1996 recipient of the American Jewish Committee’s Herbert H. Lehman Human Relations Award and the 1995 Man of the Year Award from Prep for Prep.

He was also a member of the International Committee of the Securities Industry Association, NASD’s District #12 Committee, and the NYSE Advisory Committee on International Capital Markets.

He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Lynne, CW ’60, and daughters, Lori, C ’83 and Lisa, C’85, his son-in-law, David Moore, and four grandchildren, Nicholas, Jamie, Lucy, and Jack.

Memorial donations may be made to the University of Pennsylvania, Development Office, c/o John H. Zeller, 3451 Walnut Street, Room 627, Philadelphia, PA 19104, or Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, Box E, Attn: Barbara McLaughlin, Development, New York, NY 10021.

To Report A Death

Almanac appreciates being informed of the deaths of current and former faculty and staff members, students, and other members of the University community.

However, notices of alumni deaths should be directed to the Alumni Records Office at Room 545, Franklin Building, (215) 898-8136  or e-mail record@ben.dev.upenn.edu.

 

 



 
  Almanac, Vol. 52, No. 1, July 12, 2005

ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS:

Tuesday,
July 12, 2005
Volume 52 Number 1
www.upenn.edu/almanac

 

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