Dr. Charagundla, Radiology
Mr. Gittis, Penn Law Overseer
Dr. Northrup, Wharton
Dr. Paul, SEAS

Dr. Sridhar R. Charagundla, assistant professor of radiology at HUP, passed away June 1 at age 35.

Dr. Charagundla was appointed to the faculty in the School of Medicine in 2005.

He is survived by his wife, Jyothsna; and his two daughters Mallika and Tejasvi.

The establishment of the Sridhar R. Charagundla Educational Fund is dedicated to the education of his two daughters. Contributions can be made to Charagundla Educational Fund, c/o Howard Butowsky, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Radiology Administration, 1 Silverstein Bldg., 3400 Spruce St., Philadelphia, PA 19104.

Howard Gittis, overseer emeritus of the Law School, died September 16 of heart failure in his home in Manhattan; he was 73.

Mr. Gittis, vice chairman of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc. in New York, had a long history of supporting the Law School and the University. He served on Penn Law’s board of overseers from 1985 to 2003. He was an emeritus member of the board at the time if his death. Mr. Gittis once said, “Penn Law has been the engine driving my career. It has meant everything to me.” In 1991, he provided funding for the Gittis Center for Clinical Legal Studies to house the Law School’s clinical education programs. In 2004, he donated $5 million to the school and in recognition of his gift, Penn Law named Gittis Hall in his honor (Almanac December 14, 2004).

Prior to joining MacAndrews & Forbes in 1985, Mr. Gittis was a senior partner at the Philadelphia law firm of Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen where he had served as chairman of the executive committee for three terms. In 1985, the National Law Journal listed Mr. Gittis among the 100 top attorneys in America.

A native Philadelphian, Mr. Gittis graduated from Penn Law in 1958. He also earned a BS in economics from Penn in 1955. Mr. Gittis had served on the board of trustees at Temple University, including five years as chairman.

He was the recipient of numerous awards including the Penn Law School Distinguished Service Award, the Temple University Russell H. Conwell Founders Award, the Temple University Hospital Auxiliary Acres of Diamonds Award, and the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanities Award.

Mr. Gittis is survived by his daughters, Caroline Werther, Hope Sheft, Marjorie Katz and Emily Lambert; seven grandchildren; and a sister.

Dr. Herbert R. Northrup, professor emeritus of management in the Wharton School, died October 22; he was 89.

Dr. Northrup served on Penn’s faculty from 1961 until his retirement in 1988. He was also the former chair of the Industrial Research Unit at the Wharton School. In addition, Dr. Northrup had held appointments at Cornell and Columbia.

Dr. Northrup was a noted scholar, labor economist, consultant to “Fortune 500” companies and author of 35 books and 250 articles. He authored the groundbreaking textbook, The Economics of Labor Relations, and many other scholarly multi-volume works that provided in-depth analyses and probing insights into race and employment relations across the business landscape from World War II until the end of the 20th century. His works analyzed many aspects of employment practices worldwide and also influenced Congressional actions affecting such areas as anti-discrimination and labor law legislation. Dr. Northrup was also an advisor to Secretaries of Labor James D. Hodgson during the Nixon administration and Drew Lewis during the Reagan Administration. In addition, he worked together with Justice Clarence Thomas 10 years prior to his nomination to the Supreme Court when Justice Thomas was chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Dr. Northrup received his BA from Duke University in 1939, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa; and his MA and PhD in economics from Harvard University in 1942.

Dr. Northrup is survived by his wife, Eleanor; children, James, Nancy Northrup-Black, Jonathan, David, Philo W; and seven grandchildren.

Donations can be made to the Bryn Mawr Hospital in memory of Herbert Northrup and to honor Dr. Henry Mayer.

Dr. Burton Paul, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering and applied mechanics at the School of Engineering and Applied Science, died on October 19 at the age of 76.

Dr. Paul earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Princeton University in 1953, his master’s degree from Stanford University in 1954, and in 1958 his doctoral degree from the Polytechnic Institute in Brooklyn.

Dr. Paul began his academic career in 1958 as an assistant professor of engineering at Brown University. He served as chief of Solid Mechanics Research at Ingersoll-Rand Research Center prior to joining the University of Pennsylvania faculty in 1969 as a full professor. In 1982 he was appointed the Asa Whitney Professor of Dynamical Engineering, the oldest scholarly chair at the University. Dr. Paul served as chair of the department of mechanical engineering and applied mechanics and held a secondary appointment in computer and information science.

Dr. Paul was a pioneer in applying computer-aided techniques to the analysis and design of mechanisms and machines. He made important contributions to the study of non-counterformal contacts between rigid bodies that help us understand the mechanics and failure mechanisms in rail-wheel interactions, which is very relevant to the design of high-speed rail. Dr. Paul’s students remember him for his talent for reducing the most complex concepts to the most basic principles. Nowhere is this clearer than in his book, Kinematics and Dynamics of Planar Machinery, a textbook for undergraduate students in which he incorporated principles of analytical mechanics, typically only taught in graduate level courses, using a unique approach making it accessible and relevant.

Dr. Paul is survived by his wife of 49 years, Lois; and two sons, Jordan and Douglas.