UChicago News

Robert H. Malott, trustee emeritus, 1926-2018

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 14:00 -0500

Trustee Emeritus Robert H. Malott, former chairman and chief executive officer of FMC Corporation, who served as vice chairman of the University of Chicago Board of Trustees, died April 4. He was 91 years old.

Malott was elected a trustee of the University in 1976. He served as vice chairman of the Board of Trustees from 1988 to 1993, was elected a life trustee in 1993, and was named a trustee emeritus in 2007. Malott joined FMC in 1952 and was elected chief executive in 1971, moving the corporate headquarters to Chicago. He led FMC for two decades, retiring in 1991.

Malott’s civic leadership and philanthropic work ranged from higher education to scientific research to the arts. He served on the governing board of Argonne National Laboratory, which the University manages for the U.S. Department of Energy, and chairman of the board of overseers of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Malott was chairman of the board of the National Museum of Natural History and served on the boards of the Public Broadcasting Service, the National World War II Museum and the National Academy of Sciences. He was a life director of the Lyric Opera Company of Chicago and the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Malott was born in Boston. His father, Deane W. Malott, became chancellor of the University of Kansas where his son enrolled at age 16, studying chemistry and playing basketball. Malott enlisted in the U.S. Navy a year later and served on an electronics repair ship stationed in San Francisco. After World War II, he returned to the University of Kansas to finish his bachelor's degree. He earned an MBA from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration and attended New York University Law School. Malott served as assistant to the dean at the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration before joining FMC.

Malott is survived by his three children, Liza, Barb and Deane. Elizabeth “Ibby” Malott, his wife of 43 years, died in 2003. In keeping with UChicago board tradition, a memorial resolution in honor of Malott will be presented at the board meeting in May.

Brian Baldea, associate director of athletics and longtime baseball coach, 1955-2017

Fri, 08 Dec 2017 14:00 -0600

Brian Baldea, University of Chicago associate director of athletics and former head baseball coach, passed away Dec. 5 at the age of 62.

Baldea was in his 28th year serving within UChicago Athletics & Recreation. He spent 24 seasons leading the Maroons baseball team from 1991 through 2014.

At the helm of the Maroons, Baldea became the winningest baseball coach in the program’s 125-year history. His career record stands at 411-377-5. On April 28, 2007, he surpassed Amos Alonzo Stagg as the school’s all-time leader in baseball victories with 281. Baldea's teams compiled 14 winning seasons and nine campaigns with at least 20 wins.

UChicago’s greatest baseball success occurred under Baldea’s leadership. From 1996-98, the Maroons compiled three-straight 20-win seasons—a feat never before accomplished during the program’s previous 105 years of competition. His 2001 squad set a new school record for victories with a 26-8 mark. Over his final five years as a coach, the Maroons racked up 15 All-Region selections. Alumnus Mark Mosier was named to the all-America and academic all-America teams in 1997, and was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the Major League Baseball draft.

In his role as associate athletic director, Baldea worked alongside Athletic Director Erin McDermott on strategic initiatives. Baldea oversaw the fitness and wellness programs and personnel, including the FitChicago program, personal training, and strength and conditioning, as well as the sports information and promotions office. Additionally, he helped coordinate enrichment programming for student-athletes and managed athletic facilities rentals.

A Chicago native, Baldea attended Amos Alonzo Stagg High School in suburban Palos Hills. He earned his bachelor’s degree from North Park University in 1976, and his master’s degree from the University of Illinois in 1978.

Before his arrival on the Hyde Park campus, Baldea was an assistant baseball coach at Illinois State University for seven years. While at ISU, he spent five years as head coach of a franchise in a summer collegiate league sanctioned by the NCAA and financed by Major League Baseball for the purpose of developing and showcasing college players who exhibit professional potential. Baldea's clubs won four consecutive league championships, and he recruited and coached approximately 40 players who went on to sign professional contracts.

Visitation is scheduled for Dec. 9 from 4 to 9 p.m. at Thompson & Kuenster Funeral Home, 5570 W. 95th St. in suburban Oak Lawn.

—This story first appeared on the Athletics & Recreation website.

Daniel S. Follmer, director of College Admissions, 1982-2017

Wed, 08 Nov 2017 09:50 -0600

Daniel S. Follmer, deputy dean and director of College Admissions at the University of Chicago, died of cancer on Nov. 4 at the age of 34.

Follmer joined the University in 2008 and was highly regarded by colleagues, students and families alike. Those close to him said his work reflected a passion for increasing access to higher education for students from underrepresented communities, enthusiasm for the liberal arts and enduring curiosity.

“He will be remembered for his kindness, his integrity and his great respect for the humanity in every person,” said Follmer’s brother, Max Follmer.

Follmer was responsible for daily operations in College Admissions, and played a key role in designing and implementing strategy. That approach included a more personalized outreach to prospective students, expanded scholarship opportunities for low-income families and a comprehensive professional development program for admissions counselors.

In addition, through his personal admissions recruiting efforts in the Manhattan borough of New York City, Follmer built relationships with thousands of students, families, teachers and college counselors. His work contributed to the College’s dramatic increase in applications and the number of students who view UChicago as their first choice.

“Daniel was especially passionate about helping his staff establish long and successful careers in admissions and higher education,” said James G. Nondorf, vice president of Enrollment and Student Advancement and dean of College Admissions and Financial Aid. “He served as a friend and mentor to several cohorts of College Admissions counselors at UChicago. He leaves a formidable legacy, and we will miss him greatly.”

A lifelong resident of Hyde Park, Follmer was one of many family members with deep connections to UChicago. Survivors include his wife, Jessica Rhoades; his parents, Anita Samen and David Follmer, AM’66; brother, Max Follmer; and sister, Sarah Follmer, AB’05.

A memorial service will be held on campus in Daniel Follmer’s honor at 11 a.m. Nov. 8 in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel.

Tonya Gunn, longtime UChicago employee, 1970-2014

Mon, 14 Jul 2014 21:20 -0500

Tonya Gunn was known for managing three grills at a time at large family parties, cooking up steaks and her signature Southern-style smothered potatoes. She loved making sure that everyone left satisfied.

Her co-workers said Gunn carried that same generous spirit each day to her job at the University of Chicago, where she worked for 21 years, the last 13 as a customer service representative with Facilities Services.

“Tonya loved what she did; she loved helping people,” said Meachie Holman, Gunn’s supervisor and friend. “She always had a joke or a kind word, always had a smile on her face.”

Gunn, 44, was shot and killed early Monday, July 7, in the Morgan Park neighborhood where she grew up, during a get-together where she was cooking for relatives. A memorial service in her honor will be held at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, July 17 at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, 5850 S. Woodlawn Ave.

“We are all grief-stricken,” Steven Wiesenthal, senior associate vice president for facilities and University architect, wrote in an email to employees last week. “Tonya has been an important, respected and beloved member of the University of Chicago community. Her work ethic and good-humored manner were appreciated by clients and co-workers alike, and her contributions supported the University of Chicago campus community.”

Gunn attended Morgan Park High School and studied at Robert Morris University before joining the University of Chicago in 1993. Her work ethic began early: Her mother, Sandra Gunn, recalled that at age 10, Tonya secured a job as a cashier in her neighborhood grocery store and saved enough money to buy herself a new bike.

“She was very reliable, very dependable,” Sandra Gunn said. “She went to work every day, and always aimed to please.”

Tonya Gunn also was a lifelong musician who played drums, piano and guitar. “She was an all-around musician,” her mother said, noting that Tonya picked up the guitar at 2 years old and learned from her father how to play. “She loved all genres of music.”

Gunn was devoted to her 11-year-old daughter, Destiny Fields, an honors student and gifted basketball player. “Her mother always told her, ‘You can do anything you put your mind to,’” Holman said.

Gunn’s presence will be greatly missed in the Facilities Services office she has occupied for more than 13 years. “We all were like sisters,” Holman said. “We never argued. It was good spirit all of the time.”

Gunn is survived by her mother; her daughter; her brother, Loren Crump; and a large extended family.

In addition to the UChicago memorial service, a public viewing will be held on Tuesday, July 15, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Angelus Memorial Chapel, 8243 S. Ashland Ave. A wake will be held at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, July 16 at Beth Eden Baptist Church, 11121 S. Loomis St., followed by a funeral service at noon.

Alumnus George Anastaplo, 88, taught for nearly six decades at Graham School

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 14:54 -0600

George Anastaplo, AB’48, JD’51, PhD’64, who sacrificed a promising legal career by defending his First Amendment rights before the McCarthy-era Illinois Bar and eventually the U.S. Supreme Court, died Feb. 14 after teaching nearly six decades in the University of Chicago Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies.

The son of Greek immigrants who operated a restaurant in Carterville, Ill., Anastaplo pursued his bachelor and law degrees from the University of Chicago after serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, navigating B-17 and B-29 bombers.

Anastaplo was denied admission to the Illinois Bar in 1950 after refusing on principle to answer whether he was a member of the Communist party—calling questions about political affiliation and religion irrelevant. The Committee on Character and Fitness, which routinely interviewed Bar applicants, also asked if Communist Party members should be allowed to practice law in Illinois.

“I should think so,” replied Anastaplo, who then went on in his characteristically polite yet pithy manner to defend the right of revolution, if justified, as established in the Declaration of Independence.

Anastaplo argued his own case before the Illinois and U.S. Supreme Court. He lost the federal case in 1961 by a 5-4 decision. Justice Hugo Black, comparing Anastaplo to Clarence Darrow and other brave lawyers, wrote a dissenting opinion famously asserting, “We must not be afraid to be free.”

With his unblemished record, Black wrote, “the very most that can fairly be said against Anastaplo’s position in this entire matter is that he took too much of the responsibility of preserving that freedom upon himself.”

As the case went through appeals, Anastaplo worked on his doctorate in the Committee on Social Thought at the University under the guidance of mentor Leo Strauss. In 1957, he joined the Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults faculty and continued to teach through December 2013. He also taught at Dominican University (then Rosary College), and later at the Loyola University School of Law, frequently riding his bike from Hyde Park to Loyola until he was nearly 80. He also authored scores of books and hundreds of articles on topics ranging from political science to philosophy to religion to classic literature.

Anastaplo was the “heart and soul” of the Basic Program, said former chair Cynthia Rutz. “He inspired everyone around him—students and fellow faculty alike—to always continue learning and never be afraid to pose difficult questions,” she said. She noted that longtime Hyde Park alderman Leon Despres, PhB’27, JD’29, perfectly dubbed Anastaplo the “Socrates of Chicago” for his tireless role of good-natured gadfly, poking and prodding ideas, whether he was in a courtroom, classroom or elsewhere.

Anastaplo’s unwavering commitment to free thought earned him many admirers. In 2005, he was the inaugural recipient of the Graham School’s Excellence in Teaching Award, and received the school’s Distinguished Service Award in 2012. But the Bar interview wasn’t the only time his devotion to the ideal rendered him an outsider.

Keith Cleveland, AB’64, AM’69, JD’79, also a former chair of the Basic Program who taught with Anastaplo for 45 years, recalled that Anastaplo was kicked out of Russia in 1960, while driving through Europe on vacation with his family after defending a group of fellow tourists handing out American literature. He also was expelled from Greece in 1968, for asking some embarrassing questions of the right-wing military junta in power. Recalling these events and Anastaplo’s case against the Illinois Bar, political scientist C. Herman Pritchett wrote: “As W. C. Fields might have said, any man who is kicked out of Russia, Greece and the Illinois Bar can’t be all bad.”

Although Anastaplo never became a lawyer, his legal training served him well in academia, Cleveland said. “George brought his extraordinary cross-examination skills to the classroom,” he said, “not in a hostile manner, but to open up and explore ideas and pursue them in an interesting and intelligent way.”

Larry Arnhart, AM’73, PhD’77, a former student of Anastaplo’s who teaches political science at Northern Illinois University, said he tries to live up to his mentor’s patient intellectual prodding at the podium.

“Sometimes, you ask a provocative question and there’s silence,” Arnhart said. “George always said if students don’t respond, don’t just resume lecturing and let students get away with being so passive. Wait, and wait some more until someone shares their thoughts. Soon enough, students discover that a class organized around stimulating discussion is more interesting,” he said.

Michael Allocca, current chair of the Basic Program, said Anastaplo had a “hard-core” following of people who would sign up for every course he taught, and he was known for never having missed a session.

“During the last week of autumn semester in December, when he called to say he wouldn’t be well enough to make it in,” Allocca said, “he asked if we could set up a phone in the classroom so that he could lead the discussion from home via telephone.”

Miriam Redleaf, Anastaplo’s daughter and a professor of otolaryngology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, said his family wasn’t surprised by his efforts to finish the semester despite prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.

“He was proud of teaching all the way till the end,” Redleaf said. “He never considered missing a class.”

Anastaplo is survived by his wife of more than 65 years, Sara Prince Anastaplo; his daughters, Helen Newlin, Miriam Redleaf and Theodora Anastaplo; his son, George Malcolm Davidson Anastaplo; and eight grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at Bond Chapel on the University of Chicago campus on Friday, June 6. More information about the memorial service will be published on this website when it becomes available.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The George Anastaplo Basic Program Lecturer Fund, Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies, the University of Chicago, 1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL. 60637.

Prof. Emeritus J. Terry Ernest, pioneer of cell transplantation for eye diseases, 1935–2013

Fri, 10 Jan 2014 15:40 -0600

A physician-scientist who broke new ground in cell transplantation for eye diseases, J. Terry Ernest, the Cynthia Chow Professor Emeritus and former chairman of Ophthalmology and Visual Science at the University of Chicago, died on Dec. 26, 2013, in Chicago after a long illness. He was 78.

Ernest’s seminal work on ocular blood flow influenced a generation of researchers studying the retina and glaucoma. Late in his career, Ernest turned to the study of macular degeneration and its potential treatment by cell transplantation. His work in this area helped establish underlying concepts for stem cell therapy and has had an impact on numerous other fields of medicine.

In 1997, Ernest led a team that performed the world’s first fetal retinal pigment epithelial cell transplantation, an experimental procedure that aimed to treat age-related macular degeneration. His efforts to develop innovative therapies for the disease, which affects millions around the world and is the major cause of blindness in the elderly, led Time magazine to declare him a “Hero of Medicine” in the fall of that year. Although the procedure did not become a standard therapy, it greatly influenced future treatments for macular degeneration.

“Dr. Ernest was a remarkably versatile and visionary ophthalmologist who impacted a broad range of ophthalmologic subspecialties,” said Mark Greenwald, professor and interim section chief of Ophthalmology and Visual Science at the University of Chicago. “His work on macular degeneration provided one of the sparks that set off a true therapeutic revolution, inspiring his co-investigators to play a pioneering role in the development of a new class of drugs that inhibit abnormal blood vessel growth in the eye, which now provide enormous benefit.”

The first commercially available drug of this class (anti-VEGF), pegaptanib (Macugen), was developed in large part by Terry’s colleague and collaborator Samir Patel, co-founder and president of Ophthotech Corporation and a former associate professor of ophthalmology and director of the retina service at the University of Chicago.

“Terry was a role model, mentor and a great friend. He influenced so many of us by his enthusiastic spirit, love for science and patients and a genuine passion for teaching,” Patel said. “His unwavering support was instrumental and the main reason behind my decision to take a leave of absence and move into industry. It allowed me to become the co-founder of the company that developed the first anti-VEGF and FDA-approved therapy for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

“Today, millions of patients globally use the second-generation drugs from innovative companies targeting VEGF and hence prevent blindness in the elderly citizens of the western world. My role with the team that was responsible for introducing the era of pharmacotherapy for wet AMD would not have been possible without Terry. I am forever indebted and grateful.”

In addition to Patel, Ernest collaborated with or nurtured nearly all of the prominent eye and vision researchers who were associated with the University of Chicago in the late 20th century, including Albert Potts, Alex Krill, Ramesh Tripathi, Joel Pokorny and Vivianne Smith, as well as two who remain active at the University of Chicago, Steven Shevell and Rima McLeod.

“It is hard to think of a contemporary who had impact in a broader range of ophthalmologic subspecialties,” Greenwald said. “It is an interesting twist of fate that Terry’s groundbreaking research on stem cell transplantation impacted other areas in medicine more than our own, while Judah Folkman's contemporaneous work on angiogenesis at Harvard has benefited patients with eye disease, including macular degeneration, much more than the cancer patients who inspired it. I believe Terry's stature and legacy will only grow over time.”

J. Terry Ernest was born on June 26, 1935, in Sycamore, Ill., the younger of two sons, to Abigail and Edward Terry. His father was a farmer and raised sheep; he also moonlighted as the local mailman. His mother, a Swedish homemaker, encouraged her children to learn only English. Ernest’s elder brother, Thomas, remained in the Sycamore area his entire life and passed away 14 years ago.

Ernest was a basketball star in high school and was known for his love of horses and motorcycles. When he left home at age 17 to pursue a bachelor’s degree in biology at Northwestern University, he rode his motorcycle to the dorms.

He was a member of the University of Chicago community for the majority of his life, earning his MD in 1961 and his PhD in visual science in 1967. He trained with Frank Newell, the first chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, as a resident, and with Albert Potts, an internationally respected pioneer in ophthalmic research, as a PhD student.

“He always would joke that he chose the eye during medical school because he thought the eye was so small. How complicated could it be?” recalled Bill McMahon, Ernest’s son-in-law. “Of course, little did he know, he would say, how wrong he would be, how the eye is one of the most complex organs and so difficult to perform surgery on. From the beginning he wanted to do research and be a leader. He devoted himself to the field.”

After a year as chief resident in ophthalmology at what was then known as the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics, Ernest joined the faculty as instructor. He served as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Medical Corps during the Vietnam War and was based at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Maryland from 1967 to 1970.

Ernest returned to the University of Chicago in 1970, first as an assistant professor and then as associate professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science until 1977, when he left to serve on the faculties of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Indiana University Medical School (where he was the Coleman Professor and chair of ophthalmology) and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

In 1985, he re-joined the University of Chicago for good as professor and Chairman of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, a position he would retain until 2004. Ernest’s interest in fetal cell transplantation led him to advanced study of medical ethics, including a sabbatical from 2004 to 2005 devoted to medical ethics and the law at the University of Manchester in England.

“Terry Ernest was one of the first faculty from the Medical Center to join us and work closely with the ethics center,” said Mark Siegler, the Lindy Bergman Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Chicago, founding director of the University of Chicago's MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, and executive director of the Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence.

“When Terry began thinking of ways to treat macular degeneration using transplanted cells, he came to the MacLean center and requested a ‘Research Ethics Consultation.’ This was an approach to new, cutting-edge research ideas that we had launched at the University a few years before and that became a national standard in later years. Terry was a pioneer in using the Research Ethics Consultation and remained involved in the activities of the ethics program until he retired. He was a wonderful, caring physician, a gentleman and a great colleague,” Siegler said.

In 2002, Ernest was appointed the first Cynthia Chow Professor and held that title until 2011. He continued to see patients in clinic until 2007.

McMahon said his father-in-law modeled his career after Newell and Potts. “It was his goal to be chairman of the department, and he lived his dream,” he said.

Ernest received numerous awards during his career, including a Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health, a Heed Ophthalmic Foundation Award and an Honor Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He was included in Chicago magazine’s “Best Doctors” list in 2001 and was a member of many societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Ophthalmological Society.

Ernest also was a prolific author. With Newell, he co-authored the widely used textbook Ophthalmology: Principles and Concepts, beginning with the third edition (1974). He edited the popular compendium The Year Book of Ophthalmology from 1982 to 1988 and was editor of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, one of the leading journals for eye and vision research, from 1983 to 1987. He played leadership and oversight roles in the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and the National Eye Institute. Among the many funders who supported his work were the National Institutes of Health and Research to Prevent Blindness.

Ernest’s greatest legacy, however, may be through his teaching.

“As a clinician, he was a true role model for approximately 50 outstanding physicians who trained under his leadership,” Patel said. “Terry worked tirelessly with clinical hours every weekend. Never rushed, always focused and ready to sacrifice for the best interest of his patients. His infectious sense of humor has touched all of us who trained under him.”

“He was a guiding light for me in entering this amazing field of ophthalmology,” said Chris Albanis, clinical associate of Ophthalmology and Visual Science at the University of Chicago, who served as a resident during Ernest’s tenure as Chair.

“He not only taught me diagnostic skills, but how to be a good doctor: Sit at eye level, listen to the patient, try to be the last one to leave the room as the patient will always have something to share as they leave. These are some of the many things he taught me, along with the importance of hard work. Even as chairman, he continued to have clinic every single Saturday of the year,” Albanis added.

Ernest is survived by his daughter, Sarah Ernest McMahon, and granddaughters Sadie, Malley and Kimberly. He was preceded in death by another daughter, Kimberly. His memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 25, in Bond Chapel, followed by a reception from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Quadrangle Club.

Shannon Delaney, Career Advancement Administrator: 1977–2012

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 12:16 -0600

Shannon Delaney was a tireless supporter of the students, staff and alumni at the University of Chicago in her role as associate director of administration and planning in the office of Career Advancement. Delaney, 35, died of natural causes at her home in Chicago on Friday, Nov. 9.

Delaney came to the University in 2010 and embraced the Career Advancement mission of helping students and alumni prepare for professional success across all fields.

“Higher education was Shannon’s passion, and she was incredibly dedicated to helping the students be as successful as possible,” said Meredith Daw, director of the office of Career Advancement. “She cared a lot for the people in our office, and loved supporting the students in multiple ways.”

Delaney was originally from the rural town of Boxford, Mass., and felt drawn to helping young people even in high school, when she volunteered as a Big Sister to vulnerable children. As an undergraduate at Goucher College in Baltimore, when she worked in the office of student activities, she discovered that she was particularly well-suited to working with college students. Delaney pursued a Masters of Higher Education Administration at the University of Delaware, and interacted with hundreds of students as a director in the on-campus residence life system.

Her former classmate and friend Joanne Legler, who now works as associate director of admissions at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, said it was a perfect fit for a woman who loved to guide and mentor young people as they experienced the changes of college life. “We interacted with the students in so many ways, from programming activities to crisis management,” Legler said. “Shannon really found her niche there.”

Delaney moved to Chicago in 2006, and quickly created a rich community of friends in her new home. Legler recalls that Delaney would arrange Sunday brunch every week with a group of five girlfriends, and often organized trips to outdoor concerts, movies and events around the city.

“She was a natural hostess, and planned Thanksgiving dinner with her adopted family of friends in Chicago every year,” Legler said. Delaney had plans to again host a group of friends, including her boyfriend of two years, for Thanksgiving dinner at her home next week.

Delaney was an avid runner and raised money for the American Cancer Society through the Chicago Half Marathon, motivated by the loss of a close friend to cancer at a young age. “Cancer research is a cause that was near to Shannon’s heart,” said her mother, Christine Delaney.

When Delaney joined Career Advising and Planning Services (now Career Advancement), her talents with students quickly made her an integral part of the program.

“Shannon was a considerate and thoughtful colleague, and her diligent work behind the scenes was crucial to the programming and support that students receive from Career Advancement,” said Daw.

Delaney would often bring in treats for the staff on particularly busy days, Daw recalled, and celebrated the successes of everyone in the office.

“Shannon loved her job, and she loved Chicago,” her mother said.

Funeral services are planned for Monday, Nov. 19 in Topsfield, Mass. The University will hold a memorial service in Delaney’s honor at a date to be determined.

Morris Philipson, former director of University of Chicago Press, 1926-2011

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 15:26 -0500

Morris Philipson, director emeritus of the University of Chicago Press and a leading figure in academic book publishing, died Thursday, Nov. 3. Philipson, 85, was a resident of Chicago.

He was a lion in the publishing world and served as director of the Press from 1967 to 2000. During his tenure — the longest of any director in the Press’s 119-year history — he raised the bar in academic publishing to unprecedented heights, promoting the intellectual revolutions in culture, scholarship and the arts that characterized the period.

His judgment and taste earned him a reputation for making bold choices that resulted in pioneering works that defined their fields.This vision was exemplified by such monumental projects as The Works of Giuseppe Verdi, The Lisle Letters and Yves Bonnefoy’s Mythologies.

Other outstanding publications included John Boswell’s Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality, a 1980 American Book Award winner that broke new ground in gender studies; several editions of the Chicago Manual of Style, the definitive reference for any writer; and Norman Maclean’s best-selling A River Runs Through It. Philipson was also an innovator in paperback publishing, expanding the Press’s commitment to reissuing classic works by provocative writers including André Malraux, Isak Dinesen, Anthony Powell and Paul Scott.

Philipson took great pride in establishing the Press as one of America’s leading publishers of translations, forging fruitful partnerships with French and German publishers in particular. Philipson and his editors introduced to an American audience works by Jacques Derrida, Paul Ricoeur, Claude Lévi-Strauss and Thomas Bernhard, among others. A translation of essays and letters by the German publisher Kurt Wolff, who as an émigré founded Pantheon Books, was for Philipson “an occasion to make conscious the fact that the character of a press is determined by the publisher making selections on the basis of his conceptions of art and serious thought,” he told Publishers Weekly in 1991.

In recognition of his extraordinary contributions, the French government in 1984 awarded Philipson the Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his service to French letters, and in 1982 he became the first director of a scholarly press to win PEN American Center’s Publisher Citation. Shortly before retiring in 2000 Philipson also received the Association of American Publishers’ Curtis Benjamin Award for Creative Publishing.

Philipson was born in New Haven, Conn., and received his AB (1949) and AM (1952) from the University of Chicago. Abroad, he pursued studies at the Sorbonne and as a Fulbright scholar at the University of Munich. He received a PhD in philosophy from Columbia University where, under the mentorship of Jacques Barzun, he concentrated on aesthetics. As an advocate for the pursuit of “the best that has been said and thought in the world,” he inspired the next generation by teaching courses in philosophy, cultural history and literature at the Julliard School of Music, Hunter College and the University of Chicago. Before returning to his alma mater to assume the directorship, he established his distinctive editorial style at Random House, Alfred A. Knopf and Basic Books during the golden age of New York publishing.

His passion for publishing was reflected not only in recognizing the potential in other authors, but in realizing his own literary aspirations. He was the author of five acclaimed novels — Bourgeois Anonymous (Vanguard, 1965), The Wallpaper Fox (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1976), A Man in Charge (Simon & Schuster, 1979), Secret Understandings (Simon & Schuster, 1983) and Somebody Else’s Life (Harper & Row, 1987) — as well as short stories and works of nonfiction.

Novelist Cynthia Ozick praised his work as comprising “lucid and engaging prose, incisive social insight, high wit, ironic brilliance, narrative urgency, the puzzlement and poetry of human life.”

Philipson and his late wife, Susan, shared their love of books and ideas by making their home a salon, where they entertained a diverse spectrum of writers, thinkers and artists, including such luminaries as Hugh Trevor-Roper, Jack Fuller, Wendy Doniger and Bill Russo.

He is survived by his children Nicholas, Jenny and Alex, and a granddaughter, Rachel.

Alice Chandler, University employee for more than 75 years, 1918-2011

Fri, 13 May 2011 14:53 -0500

Update: "Remembering Alice: A Celebration of the Life of Alice Chandler" will be held on Wednesday, June 15, at 4:30pm in the Cloister Club of Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 E. 59th St. A reception will follow at 5:30pm, also in the Cloister Club.

Alice Chandler, a widely treasured colleague, whose University career of more than 75 years included serving as the office manager for the President and Provost’s offices, died Thursday, May 12 at the age of 93.

Chandler, a native of Chicago, began working for the University at the age of 16, after she graduated from high school.

“Alice has been a vital part of the President’s office and this institution for generations,” said President Robert J. Zimmer. “Her quiet and unshakeable dedication to the University inspired all who worked with her, and is one of many gifts she has left to us. We will miss her deeply.”

In recognition of her dedication, the annual staff service recognition ceremony will be named the Alice W. Chandler Staff Service Recognition Ceremony.

“She was very devoted to her work,” said Ingrid Gould, Associate Provost for Faculty and Student Affairs. “She knew how to do everything. There just wasn’t any problem that flummoxed her.”

Gould said Chandler routinely arrived at the office by 7am and drove herself to work, even in her later years. She described Chandler as the consummate caretaker, a “mother hen” who cared deeply about solving the problems of people, inside and outside the workplace.

“There were people whom she adopted temporarily,” said Gould. “She was there to get your life on track through the way she lived. She was a shining example of how to live well, how to build a community, how to care about people.”

Chandler loved to travel and go on cruises with her late husband, her son and her daughter-in-law. Her noontime routine included crossword puzzles, which she would squeeze into the morning if she had a lunch scheduled. She also loved cats and had a soft spot for strays.

“People just gravitated to her,” said Gould, who added that Chandler embraced life.

“She would say, ‘I have had a wonderful life. I did not wait to live.’ “

The Alice Chandler Staff Service Recognition Ceremony will be held Tuesday, June 14.

Melvin Griem, radiation therapy pioneer, 1925–2011

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:22 -0600

A leader in the early days of radiation therapy for cancer, Melvin L. Griem, professor emeritus in radiation and cellular oncology, died of pneumonia Feb. 7 at The Grove at Lincoln Park in Chicago. He was 85.

Griem was a pioneer who helped to establish radiation oncology—the use of radiation to treat cancer—as a separate field from radiology, which focused on diagnostic imaging. He was among the first to work with heavy particle emitters instead of X–rays, and he helped create the neutron therapy unit at the University of Chicago in the 1970s. He performed important studies on the long–term consequences of radiation exposure in a therapeutic setting.

He was a member of a small group of Chicago radiologists who successfully lobbied for a separate journal, specialty board and professional society for the emerging field, which culminated in formation of the American Society of Therapeutic Radiation Oncology.

Griem combined “a background in physics, a medical education, a concern for patients with cancer, broad vision, unbridled enthusiasm and energy,” said Harold Sutton, professor emeritus of radiation oncology, who came to UChicago as a surgical resident but was converted to radiation oncology by Griem’s enthusiasm for the field. “He was a special man who met the multiple opportunities and challenges of a rapidly evolving specialty with great creative energy and vision.”

“He was a visionary, ahead of his time,” said Ralph Weichselbaum, the D.K. Ludwig Professor and chair of radiation and cellular oncology.

“He was charming and truly imaginative, a clinician who was genuinely interested in research,” said Leslie DeGroot, professor emeritus of medicine. “He had different ideas from most people, but some of his ideas were extremely good.”

“Mel Griem was a hard–working, reliable, honest person who could be depended upon and always ready to be helpful,” recalled Alvin Tarlov, former professor and chairman of medicine. “I respected him greatly as a clinician.”

An innovator in radiation therapy

In the late 1950s, Griem and colleagues studied how various drugs or hormones could enhance the effects of radiation therapy for certain types of cancer. In the 1960s, he performed clinical studies of interstitial radiation therapy, implanting radioactive chromium “seeds” into cancerous tissue to deliver high doses to tumor cells but reduce the damage to nearby health cells. This approach produced “favorable” responses and a few lasting successes. A similar technique is now widely used for treatment of prostate cancer.

In 1975, he helped launch a neutron–therapy unit for cancer treatment at UChicago, one of the first four such facilities in the United States and, at the time, the only one based at a hospital. He also was known internationally for innovative treatments such as total skin irradiation for mycosis fungoides, a form of lymphoma that produces tumors of the skin.

Griem also studied the long–term consequences of therapeutic radiation. In a 1994 study—a marvel of after–the–fact detective work—he showed that gastric irradiation, used from the 1930s to the 1960s to decrease stomach acid in patients with recurrent stomach ulcers, could increase the risk of death from cancers of the stomach, lung and pancreas decades after therapy.

Engineer turns to researcher and mentor

Born May 22, 1925 in Milwaukee, Melvin Luther Griem was destined, his colleagues recall, for a life that included engineering. As a teenager, he and some friends designed and built a diving suit, complete with an air pump. These mechanical and engineering skills helped him gain a leadership role in an emerging field, where science was often far ahead of technology, and those interested in testing new approaches had to build their own equipment.

“He was an engineer at heart; he could fix electronics or replace the engine in his Mercedes,” recalled his son–in–law, Anthony Montag, professor of pathology. “When he was unable to get parts for his microwave oven, he machine–tooled a new part and reassembled the oven. It worked perfectly, but he was incapable of using it to heat up leftovers.”

Griem joined the United States Army in May 1943, having just turned 18, and served as a radio repairman until the end of World War II, in August 1945. He returned to college, earning his BS in electrical engineering in 1948, MS in physics in 1950 and MD in 1953, all from the University of Wisconsin.

In medical school he met fellow student Sylvia Fudzinski, also of Milwaukee. “I couldn’t read my notes,” he often joked, but he could read hers, “so I married her.”

After graduation, they spent a year as interns at the University of Kansas. Both came to the University of Chicago in 1954 to complete their residencies, hers in dermatology and his in radiology. He joined the faculty as an instructor in radiology in 1957, was appointed assistant professor in July 1958 and associate professor in 1961. In 1966 he became a professor and section chief of radiation therapy. That same year he was named director of the Chicago Tumor Institute, a group that pulled together radiation treatment resources from the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago and Michael Reese Hospital.

A prolific researcher and author of academic papers, Griem also trained dozens of radiation oncologists, including many academicians and chairmen, and was a 2010 recipient of the Paul C. Hodges Alumni Excellence Award given by UChicago’s Department of Radiology.

He was also a serious collector of model trains and a member of the Jackson Park Yacht Club, where he served as “fleet surgeon.”

Griem is survived by his three children: Katherine Griem, Robert Griem and Melanie Griem; three grandchildren, Hugh, William and Caroline Montag; and his sister Margaret Griem Williamson. His wife Sylvia died in 2010. Two of their children became physicians: Katherine a radiation oncologist, and Melanie a dermatologist.

A memorial service is being planned. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, Illinois Division, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1200, Chicago, IL, 60601.

Miriam Hansen, renowned film scholar, 1949-2011

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 16:58 -0600

Update: A commemorative gathering to honor the life and accomplishments of Miriam Hansen is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Monday, March 14, in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. This University memorial service is open to the entire University community and the public.

Film scholar Miriam Hansen, who founded the University’s Cinema and Media Studies program, died Saturday, Feb. 5, after a long battle with cancer. She was 61.

Over the course of her career, Hansen, the Ferdinand Schevill Distinguished Service Professor in the Humanities, Cinema and Media Studies, English Language and Literature, and the College, made significant contributions to the study of American silent film and film theory. Her 1991 book Babel and Babylon: Spectatorship in American Silent Film is considered a landmark work in the study of early cinema.

Hansen also was an expert on the film theorists associated with the Frankfurt School, including Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Alexander Kluge and Siegfried Kracauer. Shortly before her death, she completed a book manuscript on the work of these thinkers, entitled Cinema and Experience: Siegfried Kracauer, Walter Benjamin and Theodor W. Adorno, a sustained reflection on the historicity of cinema and the challenges of the present.

Film was never far from her mind, said her husband, Michael Geyer, the Samuel N. Harper Professor in History and the College, who first met Hansen at her University of Chicago job talk in 1989. “She was the consummate film theorist and film historian, and that expanded into her private life.”

After her arrival at the University of Chicago in 1990, Hansen set out to establish the Committee on Cinema and Media Studies, initially an expansion of the English Department’s film studies offerings. Hansen hoped that the program, which encompassed theory and criticism and ranged across disciplines, would broaden the horizon of students who approach the study of film.

“[The Cinema and Media Studies program] was in every sense her creation,” said Tom Gunning, the Edwin A. and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor in Art History, Cinema and Media Studies, and the College.

“Miriam had the most astonishing energy of anyone I’ve ever encountered,” Gunning added. “She was enormously generous in discussing ideas and insights with colleagues and students. She was a meticulous reader, very demanding and tremendously original in her insights. She was just extraordinary.”

“She was someone who kept us honest,” said Yuri Tsivian, the Cinema and Media Studies Department chair, who recalled Hansen’s relentless passion for her work and fierce devotion to the program she founded. “Her work ethic was enormous.”

A native of Germany, Hansen was born April 28, 1949. She received her doctorate from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt in 1975. Her dissertation on Ezra Pound was honored with the Universität Frankfurt’s Publication Award for Outstanding Dissertation, one of many honors Hansen would receive over the course of her distinguished career. She was a three-time winner of the Katherine Singer Kovacs Essay Prize in Film, TV & Video studies, a 1997-1998 Guggenheim Fellow, and a 2007-2008 fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Berlin.

“Miriam worked tirelessly to bring the Film Studies Center and the Cinema and Media Studies program from initial vision to national prominence. It's hard to imagine that anyone else could care as passionately or attend as unremittingly to every detail of building a preeminent program,” said Elizabeth Helsinger, the John Matthews Manly Distinguished Service Professor in English Language and Literature, Art History, and the College. “She also believed very strongly in the obligation to support students in every way: to engage them continuously in an intellectual and social community."

Hansen’s support made a lasting impression on Daniel Morgan, PhD’07, a former student who now teaches at the University of Pittsburgh. “She taught students how to think, in the most basic and far-reaching ways, about cinema as both an institution and an artistic form,” he said. “The results of her teachings are evident in the work and thought of all those who crossed her path, as is her infectious enthusiasm for the films themselves—an enthusiasm she bequeathed to each group of students she encountered.”

Colleagues and friends remember Hansen’s dry wit and her fondness for early film comedians like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. She enjoyed travel, music, talking politics, and discussing art and literature with her husband.

“It was a very intellectual family of two,” Geyer said.

Hansen is survived by her husband and her brother, Micha Bratu. Services were held Feb. 8 at KAM Isaiah Israel Congregation, 1100 E. Hyde Park Blvd. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Miriam Hansen Fellowship Fund, c/o the Division of the Humanities, 1115 E. 58th St., Chicago, IL 60637.

John Haugeland, scholar and former Philosophy Department chair, 1945–2010

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 12:00 -0500

John Haugeland, a scholar known for his work on philosophy of mind, died June 23 following a May 22 heart attack that occurred during a conference held in his honor. He was 65.

At the conference, James Conant, Chairman of Philosophy and the Chester D. Tripp Professor in Humanities, Philosophy and the College, praised Haugeland’s “profound and lasting contributions to many different areas of philosophy.” In particular, Conant noted Haugeland’s work on the existentialist philosopher Heidegger and on the philosophical implications of artificial intelligence.

Haugeland, the David B. and Clara E. Stern Professor Emeritus in Philosophy, joined the Chicago faculty in 1999. From 2004–07, he was chair of the Philosophy Department.

“He was an exemplary chair,” said Robert Pippin, the Evelyn Stefansson Nef Distinguished Service Professor of Social Thought, Philosophy and the College. “John had absolutely no shred of egoism. He was very sweet and very considerate, but he was also someone with firmly–held principles about philosophy and academic life.”

Born March 13, 1945, Haugeland received his BS in Physics from Harvey Mudd College in 1966, and his PhD in philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley in 1976. He taught at the University of Pittsburgh from 1974 until coming to UChicago in 1999.

Haugeland’s book, Artificial Intelligence: The Very Idea (1985), has been translated into five languages. It received acclaim not only for its analysis of artificial intelligence, but also for its lucid and engaging style.

That down–to–earth quality was typical of Haugeland’s work, said Clark Remington, a graduate student who worked closely with Haugeland until his death. In his well–known paper, “The Intentionality All–Stars,” Haugeland explored the philosophical debate over intentionality by assigning various philosophers to different positions in baseball. “It’s a delightful, hilarious article describing who in the field would be second base, left field, pitcher, etc., and it’s incredibly insightful. It’s typical that he would use humor to get right to the heart of something,” Remington said.

In 1998, Haugeland published Having Thought: Essays in the Metaphysics of Mind, a collection of essays from throughout his career. “If I had to do a ‘how–to’ book on ‘how to do philosophy,’ this essay would be one I would dissect at length, revealing its virtues,” philosopher Daniel C. Dennett wrote of Haugeland’s essay “Representational Genera.”

In 2003, Haugeland received a Guggenheim Fellowship to begin work on Heidegger Disclosed, a bold and unique reinterpretation of Heidegger’s Being and Time. At the time of Haugeland’s death, the book was two–thirds complete. “If it’s published, it’s sure to be one of the most important works on Heidegger,” said Pippin.

Family and friends remember Haugeland’s quick wit and his caring relationship with his colleagues. “Everyone knew he had a deep love and concern for philosophy and for his students,” Remington said.

In his spare time, Haugeland was an avid movie–watcher who loved the Coen brothers and never tired of The Princess Bride, said his wife Joan Wellman.

A gifted woodworker and handyman, Haugeland liked to boast that he “certainly owned more nuts and bolts than most philosophers (and possibly more than any).”

Family friend Robbie Kendall remembers, “If there was something that needed to be fixed, his first instinct was to fix it.”

In addition to his wife, Haugeland is survived by his sisters, Cyndi Munch and Carol Magnuson; his son, John Christian Haugeland III; and his stepdaughters, Jennifer Swain and Emma Wellman.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the University of Chicago Philosophy Department, Stuart 202, 1115 E. 58th St., Chicago, IL 60637, for the John Haugeland Undergraduate Fund.

Don Browning, Divinity School scholar of marriage and the family, 1934–2010

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 12:00 -0500

Don Browning, a professor in the Divinity School and a leading scholar on marriage in America, died June 3 at his home in Hyde Park. He was 76.

A service for Browning will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, June 10 at the Hyde Park Union Church. The Divinity School plans to hold an additional memorial service in the fall.

Don Browning, the Alexander Campbell Professor Emeritus of Ethics and the Social Sciences in the Divinity School, studied the influence of religion on American family life, as well as the intersection of psychology and religion. For more than a decade, he was the director of the Divinity School’s Religion, Culture and the Family Project.

“Don Browning was a stalwart and utterly collegial citizen of Swift Hall and the wider University,” said Richard Rosengarten, dean of the Divinity School. “We miss him and we mourn his passing, even as we recall his myriad accomplishments.”

Browning was born Jan. 13, 1934 in Trenton, Mo. He received his BD (1959), AM (1962) and PhD (1964) from the Divinity School. He was an ordained minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). From 1977 to 1983, he was dean of the University of Chicago Disciples Divinity House.

Browning’s early work focused on the integration of psychology and pastoral care. His second book, Generative Man: Psychoanalytic Perspectives, was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1974.

He was instrumental in the advancement of the practical theology movement, which emphasizes the integration of religious theory and religious practice. His 1991 book, A Fundamental Practical Theology, is widely considered a classic in the field.

In 1990, Browning received a grant from the Lilly Endowment to start the Religion, Culture and the Family Project. Over the course of the project, Browning examined the social implications of the decline of marriage. The research resulted in numerous books and scholarly articles, as well as a nationally televised, two–hour documentary, “Marriage: Just a Piece of Paper?”

“He had an amazingly capacious mind that could see how religious and moral questions need to be explored from a variety of vantage points,” said William Schweiker, the Edward L. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor in the Divinity School and the College. “He could pinpoint the strength and weakness of an argument and indicate this in a forceful, but gentle way.”

“It’s going to be impossible to find someone else to do what he did,” said Jean Bethke Elshtain, the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics in the Divinity School. “He represented something unique. He had an unusual combination of expertise. As a scholar of the family, he believed you had to look at history, you had to look at sociological context, you had to look at law.”

As a colleague, “he was absolutely wonderful. He was thoughtful, engaged and attentive,” Elshtain said. “If you wanted to construct an ideal colleague, he would be my image.”

Browning, a longtime Hyde Park resident, was an avid moviegoer who loved spending time with his grandchildren and searching out local ethnic restaurants, said his son Chris.

In addition to his son, Browning is survived by his wife, Carol; his daughter, Elizabeth; and his granddaughters, Kristin and Lydia.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Browning Family Fund at the Disciples Divinity House of the University of Chicago. Donations can be sent to: 1156 E. 57th St., Chicago, IL 60637. They can also be made online at http://ddh.uchicago.edu.