The Graduate School of Journalism mourns the passing on August 11 of David Klatell, a broadcast journalist and a professor and leader at the school for 26 years.

“He was a great teacher, leader, and innovator in journalism education who made deep contributions to the school across many years,” said Dean Steve Coll. “He was vice dean and academic dean until 2008, among other roles, and he has built and managed our excellent partnerships with journalism graduate schools in France, Spain and elsewhere. He was robust, lively, funny and active right up until very recently, which makes his departure all the more shocking.”

Professor Klatell was recruited to the Journalism School in 1993 and was tasked with redesigning the School’s broadcast curriculum, among other responsibilities. His years at the school saw great upheaval in the news industry, and he was at the forefront of training new journalists at the school and at institutes around the world in the changing ways of delivering information.

He ran the broadcast journalism program for many years and taught broadcast news reporting, digital reporting, new business models (especially focused on start-ups and mobile video platforms) in journalism, and ethics. His teaching in recent years has been on the disruption of the television news industry and on converging media and the business models needed to sustain them.

Most recently, he devised and taught a popular, oversubscribed class, “Reinventing TV News,” where students worked with CNN, NowThis and other broadcast and video enterprises on rethinking news formats, delivery systems and business models. In these classes, students were given confidential access (link is external) to news managers and producers as well as internal financial and other documents.

As chair of International Programs, Professor Klatell coordinated the Graduate School of Journalism’s growing list of international affiliations and collaborations, including Paris, Barcelona, Johannesburg, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo and Santiago.

In 2002, Columbia University President Lee Bollinger named Klatell Acting Dean of the Journalism School, as the search for a new dean began.

“David was for many years one of the Journalism School’s essential leaders, serving as a trusted administrator, admired teacher and inspiring mentor,” Bollinger said. “I turned to him, upon becoming Columbia’s president, to lead the Journalism School as interim dean while we continued the search for a new dean and a process for thinking about the future of journalism and journalism schools, and ours in particular. David handled that responsibility, as he did everything he devoted himself to, with extraordinary dedication, unerring judgment and good humor. He will be long remembered and deeply missed.”

When Nicholas Lemann was named dean in 2004, Professor Klatell served as Vice Dean, a position he held until 2008.

“For a quarter century, David Klatell was the soul of Columbia Journalism School,” said Lemann. “He was rare, maybe one of a kind, in being equally excellent at teaching and administration, equally interested in his home journalistic medium of broadcasting and broader concerns, and equally loyal to this institution and to the cause of better journalism education worldwide. He left us many gifts, and we will carry on his work.”

Professor Klatell was a recognized international expert on the development and management of journalism education and training programs. He has advised schools and professional organizations in more than 20 countries, including:

• Helping set up the Jordan Media Institute (link is external) with Her Royal Highness Princess Rym Ali, who is a graduate of the Columbia Journalism School and a former Baghdad correspondent for CNN. The Institute, established in 2010, offers a master’s degree in Journalism and New Media. It is known as a centre of excellence for journalism training in the Middle East; its programs strive to combine international journalism standards with the distinctiveness of Arab culture.
• Helping establish (link is external) a media and liberal arts school that will be part of Bennett University, a new university established by the Times of India Group. Bennett University opened this summer in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
• Helping build a curriculum for a new master’s degree (link is external)in multimedia journalism at Aga Khan University’s Graduate School of Media and Communications in Nairobi.
• Providing support for the establishment of a graduate program in journalism to the Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (ESPM) in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
• In 1999, he was course director of a new class on advanced modern journalism (link is external) taught at the Central European University in Budapest. The course was in many ways revolutionary for the region, defining “modern” in post-Communist terms to mean nonideological – honest, factual, reliable, ethical – in a word professional.

Prior to joining Columbia, Professor Klatell was Program director, department chair and Director of the School of Journalism at Boston University. He served there from 1974 to 1993.

After graduating from Wesleyan University with a degree in Film and Asian Studies, Professor Klatell became a broadcast journalist. He won awards as an editor and producer of news and public affairs programs for WCBV-TV in Boston and as an independent documentary producer. He is the co-author of two books about the business relationships between television and sports, and his articles about television have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post and other major newspapers and magazines. He served for many years as chairman of the jury for the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards in broadcast journalism.

As a professional consultant, he advised the development of television news organizations in Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and China. He also served as director of international station development for New York Times Television and Video News International. In addition, he was a consultant to broadcast media in the U.S. East Coast, including WNET.org, WLIW TV and NJTV.

Professor Klatell died in New York City just days after being diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer. He was a beloved professor and mentor to many Journalism School alumni and faculty. As Professor LynNell Hancock said: “The outpouring of tributes are flooding my email and my phone from students and colleagues. It’s overwhelming, and they all say similar things: David brought me here to the school, he mentored me, he was my trusted advisor on all things, a wise, crabby, authentic, extremely kind teacher and a loyal friend.”

Professor Klatell is survived by his wife, Nancy Lauter, two daughters, Jenna and Devon, and three grandchildren. The family wishes that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to a memorial scholarship fund. Details of this, as well as of a memorial service at the Columbia Journalism School, will be announced soon.

Seth Gelbum died in his sleep at home in New York City on August 8, succumbing to the cancer that was first diagnosed in 1999. He was way too young. Seth, the third child of the late Morris and Sylvia Gelblum, grew up in Abington, Pennsylvania and Chapel Hill, graduating from Chapel Hill High in 1971. He joined his brothers, Rob and Peter, at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, which was also his father’s alma mater, and graduated in 1975. After living in New York for several years working for various film producers, Seth graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1982, and embarked on what was to become an extraordinary law career. Starting at the boutique firm of Frankfurt Garbus Klein & Selz, and ending at Loeb & Loeb LLP, he became one of the leading attorneys for the Broadway theater, representing the top ranks of actors, directors, designers, producers, and investors. In 2013, he became the first attorney to be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from New Dramatists, a leading developer of new playwrights, where he served as Board Chair for 20 years. Earlier this year, he became the first attorney to receive a Tony Honor, given by the American Theater Wing to people working in areas not eligible for Tony Awards. In addition to New Dramatists, Seth served for over 25 years on the Board of Directors of Lawyers for Children, which provides free services to children in foster care. He was also one of the founders and Board members of the Canavan Foundation, which supported research that identified the gene that caused the disease that ended the life of his daughter, Morgan, making it possible to develop an accurate carrier test. The Foundation continues to educate the public about the carrier screening available for Canavan disease and similar life-threatening genetic diseases. In addition to lending his energy and considerable talents to organizations, Seth was extraordinarily generous with his time, money, advice, and career help to individuals, particularly with his nieces and nephews and other young people. Among many other gifts, he and his wife, Orren Alperstein, hosted an astonishing number of friends and relatives at their home in New York City, often for months at a time and at least once for several years. Seth’s family was by far the most important aspect of his extremely full life. He is survived by Orren, his two surviving children, Madeleine (Ravi) and Aidan, his brothers Rob (Mary Lou) and Peter (Michele), his sister, Laura, of Carrboro, his sisters-in-law, Leigh (Richard), and Cory, his nieces and nephews Emily (Meghan), Reuben, Morris, Sophie, Jack, Sam, Sacha, Elianna, Miranda, and Olivia, two aunts, and 19 first cousins. We all miss him terribly. As one of the playwrights at New Dramatists said, “He left a legacy of good works and adoration. We should all hope for that kind of life.”

Paula Blank, a professor in William and Mary’s English department, died unexpectedly at her home in Williamsburg Sunday, according to a message sent to the campus community Monday.

“With deep sorrow I share the sad news,” wrote Provost Michael Halleran. “Professor Blank, who had been at William & Mary since 1992, touched many lives on and off campus through her work as a scholar and teacher.”

Blank specialized in Shakespeare, Renaissance poetry and poetics, linguistics and literature, Renaissance gender and sexuality. She was the recipient of fellowships from the National Humanities Center, the Folger Shakespeare Library and the American Council of Learned Societies, the message stated.

In 2010, she received a Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence, an honor given annually by the college in recognition of exemplary achievements in teaching, research and service. Blank served as a longstanding member and former chair of both the personnel and undergraduate program committees within the English Department.

Nancy Myron Crown, the devoted and fabulous mother of Molly and Sam, died suddenly on June 11, 2016. In addition to her children, Nancy is survived by her very close family; Jane Crown of Charlotte, NC, Susan Crown and Greg Toto and their children Katherine and George of Piedmont, CA and Mary Crown and William Ellis and their children Corson and Simon of Wellesley, MA, along with her 96-year old aunt, C. Elizabeth Crown of Media, PA. Nancy and her three sisters had a profound bond, facilitated by constant group texting and frequent calls. Their deep love and support to each other and their families has helped them deal with what ever challenges came their way. Nancy was born in Evanston, IL in 1962 to Joseph and Mary Lou Crown, and reared in Poughkeepsie, NY. She graduated from Wesleyan University and Northwestern University Kellogg School of Business. She began her career in Chicago with National Westminster Bank and later at First Chicago and the City of Chicago Department of Housing before moving to Charlotte in 1997 to work for Nation’s Bank / Bank of America. Since then Nancy had her ideal job at Bank of America Community Development Corporation where she developed affordable housing in cities around the country. The impact on these communities will be one of her lasting legacies. Nancy had a fixed moral compass and a great and genuine interest in others. She was generous with her time, serving on multiple committees at her church, Holy Comforter, and on the boards of several community organizations, including the Charlotte Housing Authority. Just recently, her frustration with the divisive political climate in the country drove her to found, with her sisters, a grassroots effort to encourage civil political discourse and increased bipartisanship and compromise named Bridge the Political Divide. A voracious reader, Nancy could always be counted on for a good book recommendation. She had a wonderful sense of humor, loved Diet Coke, her dog Marty, but most of all, Nancy loved being a mom to Molly and Sam, who were, without a doubt, the greatest joy of her life. Nancy somehow helped everyone to be a better version of his or herself. Her large group of friends from the many times and aspects of her life is testament to this. Nancy was loved by many, will be missed by those who knew her well, and her passing is a great loss to those who had not yet had the privilege of knowing her. It was always a gift to be in her presence.. In lieu of flowers, please consider signing the petition at BridgeThePoliticalDivide.com. Charitable donations can be made to Loaves and Fishes, Charlotte, NC.

Sarah Rachel Nazimova-Baum died on March 2, 2016, after an eight-month struggle with ovarian cancer, bringing to an untimely close 52 years of a life that fused creativity, spiritual discernment, intelligence, and caring service to others. Her love extended to a constellation of family and friends, and focused on the centers of her life: her husband, Mark, and her son, Raphael.

Sarah’s creative impulse was manifest in every facet of her life, from her accoutrements-homemade jewelry, a bag with her knitting-to the inviting posters she crafted for family occasions. Sarah’s affect was just as welcoming: warm, direct, with a wry sense of humor and a complete lack of pretention, like the home that she shared in Brooklyn Heights with Mark and Raphael.

A native Brooklynite, Sarah attended Stuyvesant High School and Wesleyan University, where she majored in art history and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. Combining her interests in psychology and art, she earned a master’s degree in art therapy at NYU, and practiced at North Central Bronx Hospital and other programs in New York, often focusing on geriatric populations.

Sarah began to add an explicitly spiritual thread to her braid of creative arts and psychology, studying chaplaincy and interning as an interfaith hospital chaplain, before running the New York Intern Program, an AmeriCorps service program at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Harlem. There she supervised and mentored recent college graduates in a program combining social services, spiritual growth, and intentional community. One of her interns noted that Sarah “touched so many others. She encouraged, nurtured, challenged, and loved me at such a vulnerable and important time in my own life-and shaped me in ways that I’m sure I’ve yet to become aware of.” Later, at the time Sarah was diagnosed with cancer, she was counseling people experiencing life crises for LifeNet, at the Mental Health Association of NYC.

Sarah continued deepening her spiritual life, earning a second master’s-this time in spiritual direction-at the General Theological Seminary; becoming a spiritual director; and beginning the aptly named Spiritual Arts Practice with Lindsay Boyer, an enterprise cut short by her illness. Drawing upon many of her interests, the practice invited people to make art with prayer and to pray through making art.

For Sarah, creativity was a window onto the world and into God. Writing and drawing, like the silence she practiced at Quaker worship, when done with the right intention, could “open us to God broadly, deeply, and transformationally.”

Sarah is deeply mourned by her son Raphael, her husband Mark, her brother Mark and his partner Ghada, her mother Barbara, her in-laws Robert and Marian, Meg and Sandy, and Irwin, by the extended Baum, Nazimova, Goldberg, Wygod, Lessig, Scherer, Capich, and Nazimowitz families, by her Quaker community at the Brooklyn Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, and by the Jewish community she and her family belonged to at Brooklyn Heights Synagogue.

Donations in Sarah’s memory can be made to the Mental Health Association of New York (www.mhaofnyc.org/donate).

Published on NYTimes.com from Mar. 3 to Mar. 4, 2016

Nicholas “Klaus” Warren Waltner passed away on Saturday, August 6, 2016 as a result of complications from an auto accident. Nick is survived by his loving wife of 19 years, Silvia; three children, Olivia, Alex and Maggie; brother, Charles, and his wife, Christine; mother-in-law, Olga; a large extended family; and many dear friends. His love, larger-than-life presence, and boundless spirit will be dearly missed by all who knew him. Nick was born and raised in Bothell, Washington, on a humble 6-acre thoroughbred horse farm, complete with dogs, cats, turkeys, an assortment of other animals, and vegetable gardens. Nick excelled at cleaning horse stalls and any of the other labors required on the farm. He learned the values of hard work from his father, Frank, who grew up during the Great Depression, and nurturing and care from his mother, Grace, who was a nurse. He was the best friend to his younger and only brother, Charles. He attended St. Brendan’s Catholic grade school in Bothell, and then went to Blanchet High School in Seattle, where he was an outstanding student and athlete in wrestling and football. He went on study at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where he majored in German and Physics. After college, Nick never ceased to be an active and enthusiastic student. He was exceptional in his aptitude and passion for both math and languages. He was fluent in German, Japanese and Spanish. In high school and college, he worked summers in his father’s construction company and also ran his own firewood business, cutting and delivering alder wood from his family’s property on the Jordan Road near Granite Falls. After graduating from Wesleyan, he started a very successful career in investment banking, working first for Paine Webber for two years before attending the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

After business school, Nick joined the famed investment bank, Salomon Brothers, where he spent much of his career. Later on he also worked for Citigroup and Banc of America. His career took him around the world and he lived in New York, Zurich, and Tokyo. In his many travels throughout his life, Nick made countless great friends who now circle the globe. In his 20s and 30s, Nick was an avid endurance athlete. In college he became a competitive swimmer and was a member of the Wesleyan swim team, specializing in distance events. He went on to complete ultraendurance swims around New York’s Manhattan Island and along the entire length of Seattle’s Lake Washington. He also biked alone across the country, completing the trip in less than 30 days, as well as completing a 24-hour bike race in Scandinavia. And he raced in multiple triathlons, including the renowned Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon. On August 10, 1995 while on a ski trip to South America, Nick met the love of his life, Silvia Coxe, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Nick proposed to her in Venice, Italy, June, 7, 1996. They married April 19th, 1997 in New York City. They have three wonderful and amazing children, Olivia, Alex, and Maggie, all born while they were living in Japan. In 2002 Nick and his family moved back to Seattle, where they have lived in the Denny Blaine neighborhood. Nick was known as the Mayor of Denny Blaine for his hard work in organizing the neighborhood patrol and his active outreach to plan events or for simple chats about any topic of the day. While living in Seattle, Nick, Silvia and the family cared for his widowed mother, who lived with him until she passed away in December 18, 2004. During the last years of his life, Nick led several real estate and investment ventures, studied for his degree in computational linguistics at the University of Washington, and served as a dedicated member of the Catholic Church, the Crozier Society, and the Knights of Malta. Nick’s life and his journey to the God he held so near to his heart will be celebrated with a Vigil on Friday August 12th, and a Mass and burial on Saturday, August 13th. The Vigil will take place on Friday at 7:00 p.m. at St. Joseph’s Parish, 732 18th Ave. E., Seattle, Wash. During the Vigil, we will pray the Rosary, and we will have an opportunity to share brief, personal reflections. The Mass will also take place at St. Joseph’s the following morning at 10:00 a.m. There will be a reception after the Mass in the Church’s Social Hall. Immediately following the reception, we will lay Nick to rest at Anderson Cemetery on Pioneer Highway in Stanwood, where Nick will join his parents, Grace and Frank, in eternal peace.

Nick would ask any donations in his name be made to the Catholic Community Services www.ccsww.org.

Children’s author, illustrator, and educator Anna Dewdney, whose toddler-centric picture books starring wildly expressive Baby Llama are multi-million-copy bestsellers, died at her home in Vermont on Saturday, September 3, after a 15-month battle with brain cancer. She was 50.

Dewdney was born December 25, 1965 in New York City. She grew up in nearby Englewood, N.J., and attended high school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. before graduating from the Putney School in Putney, Vt. In 1987, Dewdney received a bachelor’s degree in art from Wesleyan University.

Before she fulfilled her dream of becoming a full-time author and illustrator, she supported herself working as a waitress, a rural mail carrier, and a daycare provider. She also taught art and history to middle-school boys at a boarding school for many years.

Her children’s book career began in earnest with her artwork for The Peppermint Race by Dian Curtis Regan (Henry Holt, 1994). Dewdney went on to illustrate a number of other children’s chapter books in the 1990s. Then, in 2005, Viking published the first picture book she both wrote and illustrated: Llama, Llama Red Pajama. The humorous tale of Baby Llama’s struggles to get to sleep at bedtime received critical praise and became a hit with kids, parents, librarians, teachers, and booksellers. The series now contains more than 10 titles and has sold more than 10 million copies combined. Netflix is producing an animated Llama Llama series that is due out in 2017.

Dewdney did many school, library, and event appearances, where she spoke passionately about her work and children’s literacy. In her role as a literacy advocate, Dewdney wrote a 2013 opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, emphasizing that “empathy is as important as literacy” when it comes to educating children. “When we read with a child, we are doing so much more than teaching him to read or instilling in her a love of language,” she wrote. “We are doing something that I believe is just as powerful, and it is something that we are losing as a culture: by reading with a child, we are teaching that child to be human. When we open a book, and share our voice and imagination with a child, that child learns to see the world through someone else’s eyes.”

In a release from her publisher, Jen Loja, president of Penguin Young Readers, said, “The entire Penguin Young Readers family is heartbroken. And as we grieve, we also celebrate Anna’s life, in dedicating ourselves to carrying forward her mission of putting books into as many little hands as possible. We will miss her so, but consider ourselves so lucky to be her publishing family and her partner in her legacy.”

Additionally, Ken Wright, VP and publisher of Viking Children’s Books, shared these thoughts: “Anna was an extraordinary talent. But much more than that, she was a dear, dear friend to so many of us at Viking and Penguin, and she will be deeply and personally missed by her entire Penguin family.”

Dewdney had recently completed a new picture book, Little Excavator, which is scheduled for June 2017 publication from Viking.

She requested that in lieu of a funeral service that people read to a child instead. Dewdney is survived by her partner, Reed Duncan, and two grown daughters.

Kitara Chartes Bingham LCSW, passed away unexpectedly on August 9, 2015 in Newark, Delaware at the age of 38.

Kitara is survived by: her daughter, Sanaa; her mother, Tessie; her maternal grandmother, Sally; her aunts, Irma and Bennie Mae; uncles, Michael, Johnny and Henry; a very special friend, Dan; and Kitara’s childhood friend, Sherp; along with a host of cousins and friends who loved her dearly.

Kitara was born on January 17, 1977 in New York, New York. She attended Central Park East High School, Wesleyan University, and Fordham University School of Social Work where she obtained her Masters of Social Work and her license in Clinical Social Work.

While residing in New York, Kitara’s career path through her employment included her working with and serving others at Incarcerated Mother’s, Harlem Children’s Zone and Sister’s Place. Kitara moved to Newport, Delaware in 2012 and began working for the Homeless Planning Council. She then became Program Director of LifeLines Independent Living Program at West End Neighborhood House.

Kitara lived her life to serve others and she did it with grace, kindness, and tough love. She lived, she achieved, she sparkled!

HAROLD L. HODGKINSON “Bud” A renowned lecturer, writer and analyst of demographics and education, Bud Hodgkinson died peacefully in his sleep on March 4, 2016 from Alzheimer”s disease. He spent over 25 years producing demographic reports and lecturing four days a week to leaders of elementary and secondary schools, school districts, colleges and universities, state legislators, local, state and federal agencies and numerous corporations and private foundations about the changes taking place in the American population. He was admired for his wit and pithy phrases which have become commonplace. For example: “The baby boom of 70 million people born between 1946 and 1964 moved through the education system like a very large mouse through a very small snake.” Or “It literally costs about seven times as much to have somebody at the state pen as it does to have somebody at Penn State.” He wanted educators and employers to realize that this increasingly diverse population by race and nationality necessitated structural changes throughout educational institutions and the workplace. He was famous for showing numerous transparencies of tables, data and other pictures about these issues with humor and great impact influencing thousands of people over several decades. Two of his reports were instrumental in broadening thinking about education and social services: All One System: Demographics of Education, Kindergarten Through Graduate School (1989) and The Same Client: The Demographics of Service and Delivery Systems. In his capacity as Director, Center for Demographic Policy at the Institute for Educational Leadership he was commissioned by several state agencies to produce 28 state profiles and numerous profiles of metropolitan areas. He also produced profiles on Asian Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American Indians. Bud Hodgkinson was born on February 27. 1931 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He attended St. Louis High School. He has a bachelor”s degree from the University of Minnesota (1953), a master”s degree from Wesleyan University (1955) and a doctorate in education from Harvard (1958). During his earlier career, Dr. Hodgkinson was an educational administrator, teacher, and researcher. He was dean of the School of education at Simmons College (1958-62), Dean of Bard College (1962-68), Associate Professor and Project Director, University of California, Berkeley (1968-74), Director, national Institute of Education appointed by President Gerald Ford (1974-1977), Director, American Management Association (1977-79), President, National Training Laboratories (1979-83), Fellow, American Council on Education (1985-1987), and Director, Center for Demographic Policy, Institute for Educational Leadership (1987-2004). He was elected president of the American Association of Higher Education in 1971. He is author of 12 books, three of which received national awards. He has authored hundreds of articles for which he was honored by the American Press Association. He was editor of several journals, including Harvard Educational Review and Journal of Higher Education. Bud”s received 12 honorary degrees, including Ottawa University, Hofstra University, Loretto Heights College Hartwick College and Northern Michigan University. Om 1989, he was one of three Americans awarded the title of Distinguished Lecturer by the National Science Foundation. Bud had a wide range of consulting assignments, including over 600 colleges and universities, numerous public and private schools and school systems, state and federal agencies, as well as many corporations including Bank of America, 3M, Federal Express, IBM, General Motors, Texas Instruments, Association of American Publishers, Ladies Home Journal, Burger King, ARCO, Honeywell, Hyatt and Hilton hotels, Johnson and Johnson, Hallmark and Washington Post. Bud loved music and sang in the National Cathedral Choir for several years. He also served on many boards, including E.M. Kaufmann Foundation Youth Board, The Newspapers of America Foundation, Walden University, Ottawa University, Hartwick College, Excelsior University, Fielding Institute, and Elderhostel. He is survived by his beloved wife of 35 years, Virginia Ann Hodgkinson, three daughters from his previous marriage: Anne Hodgkinson (Mitchell Sandler), Edith Bruce (David), and Christina Hodgkinson; Virginia”s two daughters from a previous marriage: Heather Hernan (Jon) and Sharon Chehade (Hamid), and their adopted family John and Unity Abrahams, nine grandchildren, his sister Molly Taylor, several nephews, nieces, cousins and his former wife, Barbara Hodgkinson. A memorial service to celebrate his life will be held at the Mount Vernon Unitarian Church on May 20 at 3 p.m. Donations may be made, in his name, to Mount Vernon at Home (mountvernonathome.org) or Friends of Homeless Animals (foha.org) .A memorial service to celebrate his life will be held at the Mount Vernon Unitarian Church on May 20 at 3 p.m. Donations may be made, in his name, to Mount Vernon at Home (mountvernonathome.org) or Friends of Homeless Animals (foha.org) .

Stowell Symmes, 82, passed away at his home in Williamsburg on Thursday, February 25, 2016, after a long illness.

Stowell was the fifth of nine children born to Elizabeth and Russell Symmes. His life began on February 15, 1934, in Winchester, Mass., where he lived at Symmes Corner, attended local schools and developed a love for sports, nature, music and learning.

Stowell was named after his grandfather, a local farmer and town historian. He was a proud descendent of Zechariah Symmes who landed in Boston with his family on the emigrant ship Griffin in 1634.

He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Janice; daughter, Stephanie MacArthur (Alan) of Gaithersburg, Md.; sons, Jeffrey (Susan) of Huntsville, Ala., Gregory (Jill) of Glenwood, Md., and Jonathan (Irene) of Sammamish, Wash.; 13 grandchildren, Robert, James and William (Gaithersburg), Lauren, Priscilla and Marshall (Huntsville), Alexander and Elena (Glenwood) and Courtney, Margaret, Keegan, Samuel and Kenneth (Sammamish); and siblings: Kenneth (Norma) Symmes, Deborah (Charles) Walsh, Priscilla (Robert) Klein, Roger (Margaret) Symmes and Elizabeth Smathers.

Stowell graduated from Amherst College with honors in economics and received a master’s degree from Wesleyan University. Before moving to Williamsburg, he and Jan lived in Middletown, Conn., and North Plainfield, N.J. After teaching at Watchung Hills Regional High School in New Jersey, he began a long career as an economic educator at the Joint Council on Economic Education in New York City, where he headed a national program to improve teaching of economics for grades K-12 and authored several books. Like all great teachers, Stowell delighted in telling the apt story whenever he found the right audience.

During his early years, Stowell’s sports interests focused on baseball (pitcher) and basketball at Winchester High School and Amherst College. He was a starter on the Winchester High School basketball team that won the 1952 state championship and played on the parquet floor at the Boston Garden. Later, tennis became his major sport, one shared with Jan as a doubles partner for many years. He was well known for switching to his left hand to reach impossible shots and his use of unexpected spins. Attending the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament was a favorite annual event. Stowell was a loyal fan of W&M basketball and football.

As president of Trailblazers in Ford’s Colony, Stowell teamed with residents in developing and organizing a walking trail for the community. Other major interests included volunteering at Kimball Theatre in Colonial Williamsburg for 20 years, classical music at Symphonia, courses at Christopher Wren, pinochle and birdwatching. Most of all, he was a loving husband, father, grandfather and friend who enjoyed his retirement in Williamsburg.

A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 12, at St. Bede’s Catholic Church in Williamsburg.

Donations may be made to the Williamsburg United Methodist Church Respite, 500 Jamestown Road, Williamsburg, VA 23185; or Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church Respite Care, 7479 Richmond Road, Williamsburg, VA 23188.

Mary Connie Lyon Comfort died May 21, 2016 at home in Essex Meadows, Connecticut at age 81. Mary Connie was born in Huron, South Dakota; her family left the Dakota dust bowl for the state of Washington shortly after she was born, completing the Lyon family’s participation in the slowing westward immigration of the 20th century. As a farm child in Centralia, Washington, Mary Connie was an active 4-H Club member, winning a trip to the International 4-H Club Congress held at Chicago in 1951. She studied drama at the University of Washington where she received her BA degree in 1953. Hired at KING-TV after her graduation, she served as “Talent Secretary” to the roster of newly emerging TV personalities on the local scene. She married William Wistar Comfort of Haverford, Pennsylvania, in May, 1957. They moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts where Wis was a Peirce Instructor in Mathematics at Harvard. Mary Connie secured a position as an assistant to Dr. James Gamble, who was doing research on the early returns of the birth control pills from trials underway in Puerto Rico. While in Cambridge, she also worked part-time as social secretary to Lily Saarinen, sculptress and local celebrity. After two children arrived, the couple moved to Rochester, New York where Mary Connie participated as director and actor in the Blackfriars Community Theater. There she established a travelling Punch and Judy puppet show booked frequently into outdoor park venues and children’s birthday parties. When Wis accepted a position at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Mary Connie enrolled as a graduate student in Theater at Smith College. She found part-time work with the Amherst Weekly newspaper writing theater reviews of local productions. In subsequent years, when living in Middletown, CT; Montreal, Canada; Athens, Greece; and Florence, Italy, Mary Connie taught English literature and drama. Most notably: she was part of a feminist collective, establishing the first family planning clinic in Middletown and serving as its first director. She also served as a corporator for Middlesex Memorial Hospital and as the president of the Parent-Teachers Association for the Independent Day School. In Higganum she established “The Hopping Birds” 4-H Club; in 1981 she ran the East Lyme Marathon in under four hours. A “convinced Friend”, Mary Connie was active in Quaker Meetings in Rochester, New York; Amherst, Massachusetts; Vassalboro, Maine and Middletown, Connecticut. She served for many years as a board member of the American Friends Service Committee of New England Regional Meeting and as a member of the Permanent Board of the New England Yearly Meeting. For two decades she served as a career counsellor to a wide range of Wesleyan undergraduates, specializing in pre-medical advising. Off campus, she was a technical advisor to the Connecticut Council on the Humanities. In her last years with Wesleyan she directed the Honors College, supervising the Wesleyan Prose and Poetry reading series housed at the Russell House. Moving to Old Lyme in 2004, Mary Connie established a Film Series at the Phoebe Noyes Griffith library. With a sustained membership of over 100, the club brought documentaries and classic movies to the library on a regular basis for several years. She and Wistar moved to Essex Meadows in 2011, where Mary Connie was instrumental in starting a documentary movie series. Also while at Essex Meadows she administered an active Theater Club, arranging for transportation and tickets for fellow theater goers. She is survived by her husband of over 59 years, William Wistar Comfort II, and by their two children, Martha Wistar Comfort and Howard Comfort III; by her grandchildren, Laura Elsbeth Coffin, William Peyton Coffin, Henry Wistar Comfort, and Samuel Garrett Comfort; and by her siblings: Nancy Lavona Westberg of Kalispell, Montana; Freeman James Lyon of Centralia Washington; and Susan Jane Wold of Lucy Creek, South Carolina. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Middletown Friends Meeting, c/o Holder, 29 Long Lane, Middletown, CT 06457.
Published in The Hartford Courant from May 25 to May 26, 2016

Dr. David Kew, 62, died quietly on Sept. 8, 2016, surrounded by his family.

David, an 11th-generation Cape Codder, was born May 14, 1954, in Barnstable, the eldest child of Adele (Wiles) (Kew) Hildick and Harold Kew. David graduated from Nauset Regional in 1972 and went on to obtain an S.B. from MIT in 1976 and a Ph.D. from Wesleyan University in 1984.

David spent the past 32 years in the Worcester area working as a biologist and high school teacher. He maintained close ties to his Cape Cod roots, spending his spare time at the cottage his grandfather built on Great Pond in Wellfleet. His life obsession was genealogy, and his website, capecodhistory.us, is the result of countless hours of research and cataloging. His further pursuits included woodworking, Cape Cod and maritime history, birding, puttering in the garden, and a general quest for quiet. In recent years David found a second home volunteering at Broadmeadow Brook, the Audubon Reserve in Worcester. David was supportive, creative, and had a knack for thoughtful questions and advice. He instilled a strong sense of independence in his children, as well as an eagle scout’s love of camping, an appreciation for New England in all seasons, and an attachment to the smell of old books.

David is survived by his children, Abigail Newby-Kew of Anchorage, Alaska, Nathanael Newby-Kew of Boston, and Juliana Kew of Pasadena, Calif.; his siblings, Dana Kew of Harmony, Maine, Susan Brueckner Long of Hudson, N.H., and Cynthia Baker of Lebanon, Conn.; his aunt Marjorie Sayre of Miami, Fla.; his uncle James Kew of Las Vegas, Nev.; his former spouses, Laurel Newby of Somerville, and Susan Chase of Worcester; his girlfriend Gail Anastas of Marlborough; and numerous beloved nieces, nephews, and grandnieces and nephews.

An open memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. on Sept. 24, at the Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

In lieu of flowers, we suggest a donation to the Wellfleet Historical Society, Massachusetts Audubon, or Old Sturbridge Village.

If you didn’t know Bill MacDermott, chances are you’ve never played football in the Edmonton area.

Coach Mac – as he is affectionately referred to by the members of his family, players and fellow coaches alike – died of congestive heart failure in Edmonton on Thursday, just nine days shy of his 80th birthday.

“We’ve been joking that he really never wanted to be 80,” MacDermott’s son-in-law, Mike Hamm, said in an interview on a Friday that certainly had its share of tears – though they couldn’t stop more than a few smiles from creeping across some faces whenever a new memory came to mind.

And you can bet there is no shortage of stories when it comes to someone whose coaching career spans more than 50 years.
Especially when you’re talking about the coach who coached a young centre and tight end by the name of Bill Belichick, long before a sleeveless hoodie ever made an appearance on an NFL sideline.

Following his own college career at Trinity in Hartford, MacDermott began coaching in 1966 as an assistant at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., where he went on to become head coach from 1971-86.

But as woven into the very fabric of North American football as MacDermott would become, he grew up in a wide world of sports.

“Still, I’ll hear stories about something he did, like I didn’t know he was a pitcher in college,” Hamm said of MacDermott, who was also a one-time wrestling coach. “Things like that, just these many, many lives that he’s had. He just packed his life full.”

Then again, football – or sports for that matter – for as important as they were, only made up one-half of MacDermott’s life. And not the more important half, either.

That belonged solely to his wife, Kathleen and their daughters Jessica, Alexandra, Tiffany and Stephanie, not to mention their two grandchildren.

“Apparently someone wrote an article about him at one point and said that football is his life,” Hamm said. “He read it and was so mad. He said to Kathleen, ‘It’s not true. My girls are my life. Football is my job.’ ”

Even though it never once felt like work.

“It never did to him,” said Kathleen, whose been right by her husband’s side since he was admitted to hospital six weeks ago. “It didn’t ever feel like that to him. He’d been very sick for quite a few months but still went into work every single day.”

It got to the point where he had his wife call Golden Bears head coach Chris Morris at the U of A, where he was coaching the offensive line, and let him know MacDermott wasn’t feeling well enough to make it to practice.

“I called Chris and said I’m taking Mac to the emergency room,” Kathleen said. “Chris said, ‘I’ll be there in five minutes.’
“He came over and came with us. Chris will tell you he loved Mac like a father. He’s known him for 25 years and he was his first coach.”

But as close as those ties bind, it was always family first for MacDermott.

Two years ago in September, MacDermott proudly walked Stephanie, his youngest at 26, down the aisle.

“I am just to grateful every day that he got to walk me down the aisle,” Stephanie said. “My dad was a man of few words. In his speech, he got up and quoted Bret (The Hitman) Hart: ‘Best there is, best there was, best there ever will be,’ and pretty much just dropped the mic and walked off the stage.

“I’ve never seen a dad cry so hard walking his daughter down the aisle, he just had this sensitive, soft heart. A heart of gold.”

MacDermott’s softer side was part of a well-rounded character whose toughness never came into question.

Even when doctors told him that today would likely be his last, he hung on for five more just to prove them wrong and say one last good-bye.

“He was a tough, tough guy,” Hamm said.

Which is to be expected of anyone born in the Great Depression, in Providence, R.I., on May 14, 1936. Yet it was MacDermott’s ability to relate to anyone, regardless of age, that not only stretched out his time as a coach, but made it so impactful.

“We could talk about movies and stuff just as if I was talking to someone my own age,” said Hamm, 30. “He was so young at heart and just knew what was going on. He talked about a Quentin Tarantino movie or whatever, loved him.”

Which is why, even in the latter part of his career, MacDermott was able to make a connection with young players at the beginning of theirs, whether it be with the Edmonton junior Huskies, high school players in Spruce Grove, or, most recently, the Bears.

“He was relating to his 19-year-old players the same week he was admitted to hospital,” said Stephanie, his youngest at 26. “He was going into work every single day, going to practices right up until the day before he went into the hospital.

“Even if he couldn’t walk around the field because he wasn’t able to move around as well, the players would pick him up in the chair and carry him out into the field. He was very loved.”

MacDermott first came to the CFL as an assistant with the Toronto Argonauts in 1990, before taking over the Eskimos offensive line in 1992 – a position he held until 1996 while winning a Grey Cup championship in ’93.

A couple more stops with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and NFL’s San Diego Chargers later, and MacDermott found himself back with the Green and Gold from ’99-2006 for two more Grey Cups.

And wherever his career took him after that, Edmonton had officially become home.

“Fifty-six years doing the same thing and doing it well,” Kathleen said. “Going out onto the field when he could barely walk because he was determined to get there, he’s a pretty amazing man and we’ll miss him.

“He was the love of my life and always will be and I can see why he’s so loved by everyone else too.”

A memorial will be held at the MacDermott residence (991 Burrows Cres., Edmonton) from 2-6 p.m. on Coach Mac’s birthday, Saturday, May 14, for anyone wishing to attend. The family can be reached at (780) 432-1355.

gerry.moddejonge@sunmedia.ca
twitter.com/SunModdejonge

William J. Barber, Andrews Professor of Economics, Emeritus, died on Wednesday at the age of 91.

Bill arrived at Wesleyan in 1957 after receiving his B.A. from Harvard University and completing a Rhodes Scholarship and earning a B.A., M.A., and D. Phil. from Oxford University.  He taught at Wesleyan for 37 years before retiring in 1994.  Bill was actively engaged in the leadership of the University throughout his time here.  He was a founding member of the College of Social Studies, served as chair of the economics department and faculty secretary, and was appointed by the Board of Trustees as Acting President for three months in 1988 until President Chace assumed the office.

Bill was a productive scholar who published widely, including A History of Economic Thought, which after its release in 1967 became a standard in the field of economics for decades and was translated into seven languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Swedish and Farsi.  He published eleven other books as author or editor, and hundreds of articles on economic trends and developments in the United States, Africa, Britain, Europe, India, and other areas of Asia.  He was the recipient of many honors and awards throughout his distinguished career, including the George Webb-Medley Prize in Economics from Oxford in 1950 and a Ford Foundation Foreign Area Fellowship for study in Africa from 1955-57, and he was twice appointed a research associate of the Brookings Institution.  In 2002 he was honored as a Distinguished Fellow of the History of Economics Society and in 2005 received a Doctor of Letters (Hon.) from Wesleyan. Bill served as the American Secretary for the Rhodes Scholarship Trust from 1970 to 1980; during this tenure he was instrumental in opening the Rhodes Scholarship to women and his service to the Trust was recognized by the British Government through his appointment as an honorary member of the Order of the British Empire.

Bill’s friend, Richard Miller, said: “Bill was a valued friend and colleague for over half a century. He provided guidance, counsel, and support to me and to many others. The economics department and the University have been immeasurably stronger for his contributions and his leadership.”

Born a Midwesterner and having survived World War II as an infantry soldier, Bill found in Wesleyan his intellectual and emotional home.  He loved the classroom as well as the intellectual freedom that the University offered.  He was devoted to his family and is survived by his wife, Sheila, who herself has long been an active member of the Wesleyan community, and his sons, Charles, John, and Tom, their wives, and six grandchildren.

Memorial contributions in Bill’s name may be made to Middlesex Hospital Hospice and Palliative Care at 28 Crescent Street, Middletown, CT 06457.  A memorial service on campus is planned. –By Joyce Jacobsen, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Andrews Professor of Economics

Elmer Swanson passed away on August 12, 2016, after a brief illness. He was surrounded by the love and warmth of family and friends in the preceding days. Elmer was born to the late Nettie Mae (Freeman) and John Elmer Swanson on October 2, 1923. He grew up in Detroit, where he began his double sport scholar athlete career hurdling at Northeastern High School. He continued his education at the University of Michigan, where he competed as a catcher and first baseman for the baseball team and as a hurdler on the track team. He won major titles for the Wolverines, including the 1944 Big Ten hurdles and Purdue Relays. His collegiate career was interrupted by a stint with the Marine Corps. Upon his honorable discharge, he finished his degree and earned a Master of Arts. Elmer was drafted in 1946 to play professional baseball with the Detroit Tigers, competing in Williamsport and Hagerstown for three seasons. He then began his illustrious coaching career as assistant track and field and cross-country coach at Michigan, helping garner nine Big Ten Championships. In 1963, he was named head coach of the track and cross-country teams at Wesleyan University, and he and his family moved to Connecticut. Known for his laidback coaching style, Elmer guided the men’s and women’s teams to Little Three, NESCAC and New England championships. He coached several All-Americans, Olympians, and nationally prominent runners. Elmer was named 1993 NCAA District I Division III Cross Country Coach of the Year, President of the New England Division III Track and Field Coaches Association, and CT Intercollegiate Conference. He was a field judge, referee, meet director, and member of executive committees for NCAA Division III. In July of 1993, Elmer was conferred as a Professor Emeritus of Physical Education. He was subsequently recognized for 50 years of continuous coaching and was inducted into the Portland, Wesleyan, and Middletown Sports Hall of Fames. He spent fun-filled summers working at Camp Michigama and was a loyal member of Zion Lutheran Church. Elmer loved to golf and was a fixture of the senior golf league until he was over 90. He enjoyed over 40 years of friendship with the “Friday Night Group,” and had an active social life with Wesleyan and local friends. Elmer’s quick wit and sharp sense of humor, as well as his effervescent smile, were prominent through his final days. Elmer was predeceased by his loving wife, Patricia Ann Swanson. They met in college and remained loyal Michigan alums for life. Pat and Elmer celebrated 61 years of marriage before her passing, and he is undoubtedly smiling as they are reunited. Elmer’s memory will be cherished by his family: his daughter, Kristen, and husband, Andy Cohen, of Oak Hills, CA; his son, Jay, and wife, Martha, of Portland, CT; his grandson, Dr. Chris Swanson, and wife, Maggie, of Jacksonville, FL; his granddaughter, Ingrid, and husband, William Moss, of Glastonbury, CT; his great-grandson, Callum Elmer Moss; his sister-in-law, Emma Jane Shaner of Bellevue, NE; two nieces – Leslie and husband Bryan Slone of Omaha, NE; Kim and husband Dennis Briggs of Trinity, FL. Funeral services will be Tuesday, August 16th at 10:00 a.m. at Zion Lutheran Church, 183 Williams Street, Portland. Burial will follow in the Swedish Cemetery. Friends may call on Monday evening, August 15th, from 5:00 -7:00 p.m. at Doolittle Funeral Home, 14 Old Church Street, Middletown. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Zion Lutheran Church Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 202, Portland, CT 06480, or Wesleyan University Cardinal Fund for Athletics, give2athletics.wesleyan.edu. Messages of condolence may be sent to the family at www.doolittlefuneralservice.com

Published in middletownpress on Aug. 15, 2016

Jelle Zeilinga de Boer passed away on Saturday, July 23, 2016 after a long, stoic battle with pancreatic cancer. He was a loving father, husband and grandfather. Jelle was a kindred spirit and passionate teacher who taught for more than 40 years at Wesleyan University. His love of nature and the earth sciences offered him adventure and extensive travels throughout the world. From the Galapagos Islands to Delphi, Greece and from Costa Rica to diving two miles below the Atlantic in the submersible Alvin. His enthusiasm was contagious and his influence on those he met and taught throughout his career was profound. He will be well remembered by those he touched and for his contributions to the scientific community. Jelle passed quietly, in his home surrounded by his immediate family. He will be forever loved and deeply missed by his wife Felicité, his son Bjorn, daughters Byrthe and Babette, their spouses, and his four grandchildren, Cheyne, Indiana, Braedon and Marino. His family is very appreciative of the support and well wishes of friends, coworkers, doctors, hospice care and local community. Jelle, in typical humble fashion asked only that he be remembered for his work and to continue his legacy by supporting education and the teachers who provide it. Donations in his honor may be made to the Wasch Center for Retired Faculty, Wesleyan University, 51 Lawn Avenue, Middletown, CT. Services will be private. Biega Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. To share memories or express condolences online please visit www.biegafuneralhome.com

Published in middletownpress on July 26, 2016