The Old Guard | 1920s | 1930s | 1940s | 1950s | 1960s

1970s | 1980s | 1990s | Faculty and Staff

1920s

Aaron C. F. Finkbiner, Ed'23, Newtown Square, Pa., retired Philadelphia general agent for the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.; March 8. He was a former president of the Philadelphia Association of Life Underwriters.
Morgan C. Housel, W'23, Lighthouse Point, Fla.
Richard M. Johnson, W'23, Madison, Ind., August 28, 1997.
Irvin E. Selman, W'24, Shaker Heights, Ohio, a retired partner in the Schreiber-Wallach large-size dress company; March 9. He retired five years ago, at the age of 90 years.
Lucius C. Hunt, W'26, Toledo, Ohio, January 25, 1997.
Armande Lesser, C'28, New York City, a retired attorney; August 26, 1995.
Louis L. Schaffer, WEv'28, Cleveland.
Dr. Jules G. Delvecchio, D'29, Mamaroneck, N.Y., 1997.
Louis Edelstein, W'29, Atlantic City, N.J., a retired attorney; September 8, 1997.
Simon Kaplan, W'29, Winchester, Mass., retired head of a furniture company; February 27.

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1930s

Max A. Kirshnit, W'30, West Hartford, Conn., retired owner of the Latimer Laundry in New Britain; March 17. In 1968, he sold the business and briefly embarked on a career in teaching. He was a past director of the Hartford County March of Dimes. In 1992, at the age of 83, he realized a lifelong dream of traveling to Israel and becoming a bar mitzvah at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem; his original bar mitzvah at 13 years was postponed owing to a death in the family.
Katharine E. McConnell, G'30, Wynnewood, Pa., March 5.
Dr. Samuel A. Corson, G'31, Columbus, Ohio, retired professor of psychiatry and biophysics at Ohio State University, known as the pioneer of pet-assisted therapy; January 27. An internationally recognized expert in the study of the effects of stress on dogs, he had kept his research subjects in his laboratory in the university's psychiatric hospital. Once, a severely withdrawn teenage patient heard the dogs barking and asked to see them; he was taken to visit their kennels and then was allowed to take one for a walk. This young man, who had barely spoken to the hospital staff, became so enthused and communicated so volubly that his therapist immediately started using the dog in therapy. Dr. Corson and the hospital's other psychiatrists began systematic experiments using dogs with other patients, sometimes with stunning success: In one case, a 19-year-old psychotic, who was unresponsive to traditional treatment and spent his time lying mutely on his bed, opened up so quickly when a dog was brought into his room that he was soon released as cured.
Dr. Eleanor Stoker Boll, Ed'32, Gr'53, Fern Park, Fla., former professor of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania; February 23. She had also served as dean of liberal arts at Post College, in Waterbury, Conn.
Dr. Paul A. Clutz, M'32, Binghamton, N.Y., a retired physician; February 6.
Wayne D. Deysher, WEF'32, Gilbertsville, Pa., January 22.
Martin L. Fetterman, WEF'32, Zephyrhills, Fla., September 21, 1997.
Morris Cohen, Ed'33, Palm Beach, Fla., January 31, 1997.
William H. Ogden, WEv'33, Vero Beach, Fla., October 9, 1993.
Odello M. Leiter, W'34, Cross Junction, Va., November 25, 1997.
Richard I. Schwarzschild, W'34, Richmond, Va., retired senior vice president of Central Fidelity Bank; March 9. He was treasurer of his family's jewelry business. And he had served on the Richmond School Board.
Samuel Fessenden, L'35, Chevy Chase, Md., a retired attorney who had served with the Philadelphia law firm of Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads; April 13, 1997.
Peter P. Oreszko Jr., CCC'35, Philadelphia.
Harry P. Snyder Jr., W'35, Houston, October 31, 1997.
Robert N. Cron, W'36, Littleton, Colo., February 28.
Dr. John R. Kilgallen, D'36, Northport, N.Y.; a retired dentist.
Robert S. Regenstein, W'36, Sandy Springs, Ga., former head of his family's Atlanta department store; March 9. He served as chair of the Fulton-De Kalb Hospital Authority for 15 years.
Dr. Philip H. Gerlach, V'37, Milford, Conn., a retired veterinarian; March 9.
Norman S. Gorson, W'37, Bal Harbour, Fla., January 26.
Cornelius J. McGarity, L'37, Philadelphia, February 21, 1997.
Newman W. Page, W'37, Tiburon, Calif., February 6.
Donald L. Young, WEF'38, Reading, Pa., April 13, 1993.
P. Russel Bulman, WEv'39, Pungoteague, Va.
Paul C. Fedders, WG'39, Buffalo, N.Y., December 6, 1997.
Dr. David J. McMurray, C'39, GM'48, Chapin, S.C., former chief of eye, ear, nose, and throat at Beaufort Naval Hospital; March 3.
James F. Orr, WEv'39, San Diego.

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1940s 

Dr. William A Kase, CCC'40, GM'47, Haddonfield, N.J., December 14, 1997.
Eli Viener, W'40, Silver Spring, Md., January 25.
Stanley C. Wells, C'40, Princeton, N.J., December 1997.
 Hon. Paul M. Chalfin, L'41, Philadelphia, retired judge of the Common Pleas Court, who had earlier served as city controller; February 25. In 1974 he threw out the theft portion of the Pennsylvania crime code declaring it was too vague. And in 1980, he ruled the Philadelphia School Board had acted illegally when it met in secret to approve a raise and extend the contract of the superintendent: he found the contract violated both state law and the board's own policy. He was a trenchant city controller, firing city employees for fraudulent overtime and absences. After retiring from the bench in 1984, he joined a panel of judges of the National Arbritation & Mediation Corp., and was still working till late last year, when illness forced him to stop.
Avery C. Hand, W'41, Sarasota, Fla., March 12, 1997.
Dr. S. Sturgis Poorman, M'41, Ardmore, Pa., a family physician who saw patients in his home for 42 years, before retiring in 1988; March 7. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for medical work under pressure during the Battle of the Bulge in the Second World War.
John E. Benjamin Jr., W'42, Winter Haven, Fla., February 23, 1997.
Dr. Anna M. Brady, Ed'42, Philadelphia, a retired head of orthopedic surgery at Frankford Hospital; February 24. Serving in the U.S. Army Reserve, she headed a medical detachment in the Vietnam War, 1968-69.
Dr. Wallace J. Downhill, V'43, Plainville, Mass., a retired veterinarian; October 29, 1997.
Margaret F. Williams, Ed'43, Claymont, Del.
Carl Ziegler, C'43, Glenside, Pa., April 13, 1997.
John T. Gordon, W'44, Severna Park, Md., October 8, 1997.
Dr. George J. Shelly Jr., D'46, Quakertown, Pa., associate professor of operatic dentistry at both the University and Temple University, from 1969 to 1986; February 27.
Milton L. Albert, W'47, New York City, December 24, 1997.
Claude C. Taylor, W'47, Wyomissing, Pa., November 26, 1997.
Mervyn H. Thal, W'47, Miami, February 9.
Zena Adler, FA'48, Philadelphia, October 12, 1996.
Florence Kirmse Alder, Ed'48, Drexel Hill, Pa, October 30, 1997.
Dr. Alfred Cope, Gr'48, Syracuse, N.Y., August 16, 1997.
Constance Hillegass Grant, CCC'48, Silver Spring, Md., September 6, 1990.
Dorothy Neff Iseminger, Ed'48, Stevensville, Pa., February 17.
Joyce Kirkman Lattin, Ed'48, Greenville, N.C., a retired teacher; December 27, 1997.
Melva Long Mueller, CW'48, G'49, L'54, Los Olivos, Calif., an attorney; January 21, 1997.
Paul M. Stark, Ar'48, Old Greenwich, Conn., January 1995.

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1950s

William B. Shannon, C'50, Englewood, Colo., a retired salesman; February 15.
Benjamin G. Zimmerman, C'50, East Berlin, Pa., a retired systems analyst with NASA; April 25, 1997.
Paul M. Eyster, L'51, Allentown, Pa., an attorney; October 22, 1997.
Charles A. Popeney, W'51, Houston.
Dr. Leonard S. Schonberger, C'51, Pound Ridge, N.Y., a physician with the Bronx VA Medical Center; March 12. Earlier, he had been in private practice in Mount Kisco.
Emily Hamon Silverman, SW'51, Upper Darby, Pa., a retired special education and middle-school teacher; March 3. She had been a social worker in Philadelphia for 31 years, changing careers in 1976. She retired as a teacher in 1989.
Ruth Childs Baldwin, G'52, Newtown Square, Pa., November 18, 1994.
A. Balfour Brehman Jr., W'53, L'58, Berwyn, Pa., an attorney who later went into the fast-food business, owning and operating two Hardee's restaurants in Chester, Pa., and Newark, Del., for almost 20 years; March 6.
Dr. Wilfred A. Kolman, C'53, Gr'62, a physician; Jenkintown, Pa.
Dr. Edward L. Beckman, GM'54, Edmonds, Wash., a physician; June 6, 1994.
Clair W. Burket, W'54, Broomall, Pa.
Dorothy Young Oldham, G'54, Annapolis, Md., a retired attorney who had served with the Social Security Administration and Medicare in Philadelphia and Baltimore; December 18, 1997.
Sara L. Werstler, Nu'54, Bryn Mawr, Pa., July 7, 1995.
Thomas H. Sholler, Ar'56, Thompson, Conn., a consultant architect in Conn., and a project architect for the State Department; March 7.
Albert H. Kobert, C'57, Hollywood, Fla., a certified public accountant in New Jersey and Florida for 36 years; January 2.
William Hundermark, WEv'58, Harleysville, Pa.
Hanna M. B.. Parker, SW'58, Fountain Hills, Ariz., April 9, 1997.
John R. Thompson, GEE'59, Florissant, Mo., February 16.

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1960s

Charles F. Love, L'63, Riverton, N.J., a Philadelphia trial attorney who specialized in personal-injury litigation and maritime law, especially labor and union disputes; February 25; he was found shot dead in his office. He had been a partner with the Philadelphia firm of Freedman & Lorry for more than 20 years, before starting his own practice in 1991.
Col. Melvin E. Richmond, WG'63, St. Petersburg, Fla., September 23, 1997.
Dr. Helen M. Garrison-Peace, GNu'64, Camp Springs, Md., a retired consultant on psychiatric nursing with the National Institute of Mental Health; March 7. She was instrumental in establishing hospice programs in Maryland. She had taught at the University of Pennsylvania.
Michael D. Leach, WG'65, Houston, president and CEO of CES/Way International, a provider of energy-savings performance contracts; February 20. His company posted an obituary on its Web site: www.cesway.com/memoriam.htm.
 
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1970s

Dexter V. Gould, C'70, Darnestown, Md., June 29, 1997.
Christine K. Petropoulos, Nu'72, Narberth, Pa., August 21, 1996.
Colleen C. Blue, GNu'75, Waterbury, Vt., October 24, 1996.
Dolores Boyle Harle, Nu'75, Charleston, S.C., a registered nurse with the local VA medical center; October 16, 1997.
S. Andrew Kolliner, G'75, WG'78, Hudson, Ohio, October 17, 1997.
Craig G. Pattani, WEv'76, Ardmore, Pa., November 11, 1997.
Alyce Collier Higginbotham, C'78, Philadelphia, a family therapist who served as senior counselor and assistant director of the Penn Women's Center at the University; March 12.
Marie Blair, WEv'79, Pilesgrove, N.J., March 31, 1997.
 
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1980s

David T. Eames, L'80, New York City, an attorney, January 1998.
Mary A. Van Order, ChE'81, Disputanta, Va., June 7, 1997.
Dr. John M. Baar, C'84, San Francisco, a psychiatrist who specialized in alcohol and drug-abuse treatment; June 9, 1997.
Dr. Ramchandran Jaikumar, Gr'85, West Newton, Mass., professor of technology and operations management at Harvard University, who specialized in computer-aided manufacturing; February 10, of a heart attack while mountain-climbing near Quito, Ecuador. In recent years, he had focused his research on the "minimalist" design of the operating systems of factories. An avid climber, he had been a mountain guide in the Himalayas when a university student, and last year, climbed a previously unscaled mountain in Greenland, earning the right to name it -- which he did, Minarjnik, after his wife and two sons.

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Faculty & Staff

Dr. Eleanor Stoker Boll. See Class of 1932.
Dr. Helen M. Garrison-Peace. See Class of 1964.
Alyce Collier Higginbotham. See Class of 1978.
Jerre Mangione, Hon'80
Dr. George J. Shelly Jr. See Class of 1946.
  

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