Obituaries

In Memoriam: John Peter Stein, 45

The renowned Keck School professor and surgeon touched the lives of thousands, says Dean Puliafito.
John Peter Stein, an internationally recognized authority on the management of urologic cancers, died April 11 while attending the annual meeting of the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons in Florida. He was 45.

Stein was a professor of urology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“Dr. Stein was a superb surgeon, a gifted clinician scientist, a role model for peers, residents and students,” said Keck School Dean Carmen Puliafito. “He touched the lives of thousands of patients and saved the lives of many using his extraordinary clinical talents.”

Stein’s work has included research that identified a molecular marker that predicts which bladder cancer patients likely would face remission and which would have relapses.

He served on the editorial board of four major urologic journals, including Urology and the Journal of Urology. Stein was co-director of the Genitourinary Program at the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and was known for his compassion with patients.

“Receiving my diagnosis was the hardest moment of my life,” said Paul Scott, a former patient of Stein’s. “He not only saved my life but gave me full assurance that I would live a long and healthy life. It's now been more than six years.”

Stein’s reputation led to his inclusion on the list of “America’s Top Doctors” for every year since 2005. In 2003, he was the recipient of the Young Investigator Award given by the Society of Urology Oncology.

“Dr. Stein was a brilliant surgeon and dedicated leader in the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center,” said Peter A. Jones, director of the USC/Norris Cancer Center. “He was one of the most compassionate and skilled physicians I have ever met.”

Born in San Francisco in 1962, Stein grew up in Walnut Creek, Calif., and was a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine.

He completed his urology residency under the direction of Donald Skinner at USC and spent his entire clinical career at the Keck School of Medicine, where he rose to the rank of professor of urology.

“I consider John Stein one of the best surgeons I have ever trained, an extension of my own hands, someone very special, a son and member of my family,” Skinner said.

A nationally known urologic oncologist, Stein was appointed to committees of the American Urology Association, the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network and was secretary-elect of the American Urologic Association, Western Section.

A prominent researcher, he also received several grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute for his bladder cancer research.

He was a passionate basketball player who, despite employment at USC, continued to root for Notre Dame. But first and foremost in his mind was family.

“He was our rock, the foundation of our family, our devoted and loyal support for all of our endeavors and our own biggest fan. His presence lifted any situation, from ordinary to extraordinary or from special to extra special,” said Randi Stein, his wife of 18 years.

“He brought us peace and contentment knowing he was always with us, regardless of where he happened to physically be on any given day. We knew he was always thinking of us first.”

A resident of Pasadena, Stein was a dedicated husband and father. He leaves behind his wife Randi Goress Stein and their four children, John, Joseph, Eleanor and Louisa May.

He is survived by his parents, Robert and Helen Mary Stein of Walnut Creek, by his two brothers, and family of Riverside, Conn., as well as many members of the Goress family.

The Keck School of Medicine of USC will be holding a memorial service in the near future.

Donations can be made to either the John Stein Children’s Trust Fund c/o UBS Financial Services Inc. – Operations Dept. 2000 Avenue of the Stars, 7th Floor North, Los Angeles, CA 90067, or the John P. Stein Chair in Urology c/o USC Department of Urology, 1441 Eastlake Ave, Los Angeles 90033.

04/16/08

In Memoriam: Herbert E. Alexander, 80

The Distinguished Professor Emeritus at USC was an expert in political finance and election reform whose work ‘set the standard.’
Herbert E. Alexander, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science at USC, who during his long career was known as the dean of political finance and election reform studies, died of cancer in Rockville, Md., on April 3. He was 80.

Alexander authored 20 books and more than 375 monographs and articles in which he described and critiqued how politics, in the United States and elsewhere, is financed.

Every four years, beginning in 1960, he published a study of how the presidential and other federal election campaigns were financed, describing in detail how candidates and committees raised and spent money in search of electoral victory.

The series started with Financing the 1960 Election and concluded with Financing the 1992 Election, published before Alexander had retired from his university teaching position in 1998.

In the early years of his career, before effective federal campaign finance disclosure laws were enacted, Alexander had to rely on the extensive list of contacts he developed as well as on his own persistence to uncover the information he needed to generate his studies.

He attended every Democratic and Republican National Convention from 1960 to 1992, where he met with political party officials and campaign operatives as well as political fund-raisers and donors, from whom he drew the information that informed his narratives.

For 40 years, Alexander directed the work of the Citizens’ Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted exclusively to studying and informing the public about political finance.

The foundation, which was founded in 1958 by William H. Vanderbilt and his family, received major financial support through the years from a number of prominent foundations, including the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corp., the Joyce Foundation, the Stern Family Fund and the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Alexander presided over the foundation first in Princeton, N.J., and subsequently at USC.

On the occasion of Alexander’s 80th birthday in 2007, Michael Malbin, a political science professor at the State University of New York, Albany, and executive director of the Campaign Finance Institute, wrote a personal note to his colleague.

“For 40 years, your work set the standard,” Malbin wrote. “That you were able to keep your organization and the integrity of its work going for so long is a monument to the importance and quality of what you were doing.”

Alexander was born in Waterbury, Conn. He earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina, a master’s degree from the University of Connecticut and a doctorate in political science from Yale University in 1958.

He taught at Princeton University and at USC and also served briefly as a visiting faculty member at Yale and the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1961-62, Alexander served as executive director of the President’s Commission on Campaign Costs under President John F. Kennedy and subsequently as consultant to President Kennedy on legislation based on the President’s Commission report. The commission’s work initiated the modern era of political finance reform.

Alexander advised numerous federal, state and local election agencies. He was a consultant to the Senate Watergate investigations and to the U. S. Comptroller General, who in 1974 and 1975 headed the Office of Federal Elections, the precursor to the Federal Election Commission.

He also served as a consultant to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission and later as a consultant in the process of founding of the New York City Campaign Finance Board.

In 1996, Alexander received the Samuel J. Eldersveld Career Achievement Award from the American Political Science Association, honoring a lifetime of outstanding scholarly and professional contributions. In 2004, he received an award from the Council of Government Ethics Laws for noteworthy work in the field.

For 20 years, Alexander served as chairman of the International Political Science Association’s Research Committee on Political Finance and Political Corruption.

In that capacity, he edited two pioneering books comparing the American system of political finance with those of other countries. As a testament to his life’s work as a scholar of international reputation, in 2001, 23 academics collaborated on the publication of Foundations for Democracy: Approaches to Comparative Political Finance (Nomos, 2001), a series of essays written in his honor.

In 1998, Alexander relocated to Silver Spring, Md.

Although retired from USC, he remained active in the field he helped to create. He acted as a consultant to the International Foundation for Election Systems, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the International Republican Institute and the Organization of American States.


Offering congratulations on the occasion of Alexander’s 80th birthday, Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia, wrote, “You are America’s foremost authority on campaign finance, and your body of work will forever guide those in the field.”

Prior to his death, Alexander donated his personal library, including all of his own writings, to the Campaign Finance Institute, a non-partisan, nonprofit organization affiliated with the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

The Alexander Collection will be available to scholars to carry on the work of political campaign finance research and reporting.

He was predeceased by his wife Nancy G. Alexander and granddaughter Victoria Alexander. He is survived by three sons, Michael (Sandra) of East Windsor, N.J.; Andrew (Lisa) of Toronto, Canada; and Kenneth (Susan) of Olney, Md.; five grandchildren; and his companion, Barbara B. Seidel.

Services will be held on Sunday at the Danzansky-Goldberg Memorial Chapel in Rockville, Md.

Memorial donations may be made to the National Jewish Fund.

04/04/08

In Memoriam: Houston ‘Hugh’ Flournoy

The SPPD professor emeritus was a statesman and scholar dedicated to public service, says Dean Knott.
Houston “Hugh” Flournoy, professor emeritus of the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development, died Jan. 7. He was 78.

In his lifetime, Flournoy had a long history of service with California’s state government and USC. He made a name for himself by serving as a member of the California State Assembly and as California State Controller in the 1960s and early 1970s.

“He was a fine statesman and a scholar dedicated to public service,” said Jack H. Knott, the C. Erwin and Ione L. Piper Dean and Professor at SPPD.

Recalling Flournoy’s political career, Kristen Soares, associate vice president for external and state government relations at USC, said: “He was a moderate Republican. As a young Republican assemblyman, he voted for the Fair Housing Act, which was really about equal opportunity – not an easy vote for a young Republican. His politics embody a lot of integrity. And I think he would tell you that the difference between the partisanship we read about today and when he was a member is that, at that time, they were friends. He had good friends across both aisles.”

After running as a candidate for California governor in 1974 and losing to Democrat Jerry Brown, Flournoy returned to his first love: teaching. For nearly two decades, he served as a professor in Los Angeles and Sacramento at USC’s School of Public Administration, which is now part of SPPD.

“Teaching undergraduates about the opportunities and pitfalls of getting things done in the State of California was the most enjoyable thing Flournoy felt he had done in his career,” said Robert Biller, professor emeritus and former dean of SPPD.

Flournoy’s involvement with the university continued with his appointment to the positions of vice president for government relations and special assistant to the president. In this capacity, he was a mentor to Soares in many ways and a close friend.

In 2007, Flournoy made a $500,000 gift to the USC State Capital Center in Sacramento to provide seed funding for an endowed professorship in state government. It is the largest gift a tenured member of SPPD’s faculty has ever made to the school.

“His endowment will help continue his legacy of educating USC students about state government in Sacramento,” Soares said.

Founded in 1971, the State Capital Center offers USC students a unique opportunity to study in the epicenter of policymaking in California. The School of Policy, Planning, and Development offers classes there in connection with the Master in Public Administration, the Master in Health Administration, the Executive Master of Health Administration and the Master of Public Policy programs.

Flournoy earned his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and his Ph.D. in political science from Princeton in 1956. Born in New York, he relocated to the West Coast in 1957 to teach and eventually earn tenure at Pomona College.


01/18/08

In Memoriam: Peter Staudhammer

A noted administrator and USC professor, Staudhammer was the chief engineer of the lunar descent engine for NASA’s Apollo missions to the moon.
Peter Staudhammer, who led a breathtaking variety of interdisciplinary scientific and engineering projects in both commercial and academic realms, died Jan. 14 after losing his battle with cancer. He was 73.

Staudhammer was the former vice president and chief technical officer of TRW, the former director and chief operating officer of the Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering at USC, a member of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering’s board of councilors and a research professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

“Pete Staudhammer was an extraordinary engineer and a wonderful colleague and friend,” said Yannis C. Yortsos, dean of the USC Viterbi School. “His experience and leadership helped speed the process of technology transfer from the lab to the marketplace. More importantly, he helped catalyze new technology development in the school and in the biomedical engineering area.”

At TRW, Staudhammer was the chief engineer and one of the principal architects of the lunar descent engine for NASA’s historic Apollo missions to the moon, including the successful rescue of Apollo 13, which was accomplished with the lunar lander.

“Pete Staudhammer was an engineer’s engineer – a broadly competent engineer both highly analytical and innovative,” said Simon Ramo, co-founder of TRW. “He was such a nice man. Everyone – young engineers and senior experts – would come to consult him, as did all of the top executives. He will be greatly missed.”

In 42 years at TRW, Staudhammer performed original research and development on rocket engine combustion, space-borne instrumentation, solid state electronics, thermonuclear fusion, high energy lasers and automotive systems.

He managed development of classified systems used today in national defense and was responsible for TRW corporate technology transfer that led to successful product lines. Among these was automotive electric steering with sales of more than $1 billion per year.

He pioneered hydrazine-fueled rocket engines, now a standard of spacecraft propulsion and developed space instruments for the exploration of Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The most notable of these was the Viking Biology Experiment, the first such instrument to search for life on Mars.

Under his leadership, TRW’s Central Research Laboratories created an ionized plasma-based isotope separation process to separate palladium isotopes for prostate cancer therapy; applied gallium arsenide technology for GHz communications; and developed megawatt-class continuous-wave chemical lasers.

When he retired as TRW’s chief technical officer and vice president for science and technology in 2002, he had been overseeing the efforts of 17,000 engineers and scientists worldwide.

He next served as director and chief operating officer of the USC’s Mann Institute from 2003 until 2007 when ill health forced him to resign.

“Peter was a very competent and very human person whose last years were devoted in large part to trying to make a difference in this world,” Mann said. “He was an effective leader at the Al Mann Institute and a great friend to all of us.”

Staudhammer continued to act as an industry consultant for Northrop Grumman, the U.S. Department of Energy and was a member of the General Motors Corporate Technical Advisory Committee. Early in his career, before going to TRW, he performed fundamental research on the combustion characteristics of rocket fuels at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Staudhammer was a member of the National Academy of Engineering where he was cited for “fundamental contributions to space systems, plasma and microwave processes, instrumentation and its application to commercial systems.” He chaired or served on several of that organization’s committees.

He was a member of the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, the Magnetic Fusion Advisory Committee to the Secretary of Energy and served on numerous National Research Council committees. He was a member and/or chair of industrial advisory committees to engineering schools at UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Riverside, the University of Michigan, Case Western Reserve University and USC.

Staudhammer earned his Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering in 1955, a master’s in 1956 and his Ph.D. in chemical engineering in 1957, all at UCLA. UCLA’s engineering school honored him as Alumnus of the Year in 1992, and UC Riverside named him Industrialist of the Year in 2004. Among many honors from NASA, he received the Distinguished Public Service Medal in 2002.

He was a devoted follower of opera who served on the board of the Palm Springs Opera Guild.

A resident of La Quinta, he is survived by his wife Marie, three daughters, three stepchildren and six grandchildren.

01/17/08

In Memoriam: Carol Baker Tharp

The deputy director of USC’s Civic Engagement Initiative was “one of a kind,” says SPPD Dean Jack Knott.
Carol Baker Tharp, longtime faculty member and deputy director of the Civic Engagement Initiative at the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development, died of breast cancer on Nov. 25 at her home. She was 55.

Tharp, who served as executive director of CORO Southern California prior to joining SPPD, brought her expertise as a teacher, administrator and civic activist to the school.

“It will be impossible to replace her since she is truly one of a kind,” said Jack H. Knott, the C. Erwin and Ione L. Piper Dean and Professor at USC. “She was a wonderful person and highly respected colleague whose passion for moving us toward a more democratic society was an example and inspiration to us all. She cared deeply about her students and worked unsparingly for the advancement of CEI.”

Professor Terry Cooper, director of the Civic Engagement Initiative at USC, said, “Carol was a central contributor to advancing the work of CEI through her many contacts throughout L.A., her help with research grant advancement and her creative ideas about how to advance democratic governance in American society.”

Tharp also taught citizenship and public ethics to undergraduates.

A letter Tharp sent to Knott in December 2005 included this passage: “I have discovered that teaching ethics to undergraduates brings together many aspects of my professional, scholarly and spiritual journeys. It is both challenging and deeply satisfying. It is a privilege to be in a partnership with professors Cooper and Diane Yoder making a meaningful and long-lasting part of our students’ learning experience.”

During her time at SPPD, Tharp also worked with Associate Dean Rich Callahan to develop executive education and leadership programs, believing SPPD has the capacity to become the most respected and sought-after executive education program for public administrators and elected and appointed officials on the Pacific Rim.

Tharp is credited with naming the SPPD Alumni Guardian Awards and defining the meaning behind it in partnership with the school’s Alumni Association.

Since March, Tharp had served the City of Los Angeles as general manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE).

“Her transition to be the general manager of DONE was an extension of her strong commitment to democratic values and processes,” Cooper said.

In a statement, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said: “Carol Baker Tharp loved the city of Los Angeles and spent the past year working to strengthen its neighborhoods as the general manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment.

“Through her entire professional career and decades of community involvement as leader of Coro, the acclaimed nonprofit civic affairs leadership training institution, and during her service to USC, Carol maintained the belief that civic engagement is the cornerstone of democracy. She committed her life to expanding power of the people.

“Her integrity, intelligence, compassion and humor will be missed. Though we mourn her passing today, we take comfort in the fact that her work and ideas will continue to yield positive benefits for the people of Los Angeles.”

Tharp earned her Ph.D. in public policy and ethics from Claremont Graduate University in 2003. She was deputy director of CEI from January 2004 to March 2007. 11/27/07

In Memoriam: Louis J. Galen

Th noted philanthropist and longtime USC supporter endowed the Galen Center.
Los Angeles businessman, philanthropist, community leader and USC trustee Louis J. Galen died Nov. 12 at his home in Rancho Mirage after a long illness. He was 82.

Galen and his wife Helene have been staunch supporters of USC, with their generosity most prominently marked by the construction of the 10,258-seat USC sports arena and events center that opened in 2006.

The Galen Center, which was made possible by a gift of $50 million from the Galens, now graces the Figueroa Street Corridor across the street from the USC University Park campus. With a towering brick façade marked by athletic images and a skylight view of downtown Los Angeles, the Galen Center has become one of the premier event venues in the city.

“Lou Galen and his wife, Helene, have always been devoted members of the Trojan Family,” said USC President Steven B. Sample. “Lou’s legacy will live on through the many buildings and programs that bear the Galen name. I speak for many when I say I will miss him deeply.”

In addition to providing a landmark gift to create the new structure, Galen and his wife were tireless in their support of USC, also endowing the Helene and Louis Galen Ceramics Studio in the USC School of Fine Arts.

In 2005, the couple also endowed the Helene V. Galen Intermedia Lab at the school, and Helene Galen was named an honorary alumna of the USC School of Fine Arts. The couple also gave funds toward establishment of a sports-themed dining facility at USC’s Heritage Hall, which opened in 1999.

Trojan athletics have played a major role in the Galens’ life, and vice versa. Louis Galen began his love affair with Trojan athletics as a boy selling hot dogs during football games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

He proposed to his London-born wife in front of 3,000 people at a USC-Notre Dame football rally and presented her with a Trojan Marching Band helmet on their wedding day. Galen was also a member of the USC Athletic Hall of Fame.

USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett said, “Lou Galen was the heart and soul of the USC athletic department. But for him, we wouldn’t have the Galen Center arena or dining facility. We accomplished things with his support that have never been done in the history of USC athletics, both on and off the field. We’ll deeply miss this great man. The thoughts of the entire Trojan Family go out to Lou's family.”

Tim Floyd, the head coach of USC’s men’s basketball team, said to the Los Angeles Times: “In all my years as a college coach, I’ve never seen anybody who gave more, who lived for their school more, who was more interested in the future after he left this Earth than Lou."

Galen, who graduated from the USC Law School in 1951, made his fortune in the banking industry. In 1960, he became president of Lynwood Savings and Loan, a company he founded, and changed its name to World Savings.

Galen then formed Transworld Financial, a holding company for World Savings, which merged with Golden West Financial and grew into a multi-state institution.
11/13/07

In Memoriam

Marjorie Bovard Malcom Weatherholt was related to George Finley Bovard, USC's fourth president.
Marjorie Bovard Malcom Weatherholt, the granddaughter of USC’s fourth president, George Finley Bovard, died July 12 from complications related to a hip fracture. She was 82.

Weatherholt, the daughter of Edna Bovard Malcom ’12 and John S. Malcom ’12, a former USC student body president and football captain, was a lifetime Trojan football fan. From an early age, she attended games with her grandfather in the then-new Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

She was also a passionate reader, a gifted artist and clothing designer and, in keeping with another deep-rooted family tradition, a strong proponent of education. Not only was her grandfather instrumental in the development of USC, but her parents also worked to establish the first high school in the San Juan Capistrano area. (In 1994, the John S. Malcom Elementary School in Laguna Niguel was named in her father’s honor.)

Weatherholt graduated as valedictorian of Capistrano Valley High School in 1941 and, following the example of her sisters and several cousins, enrolled at USC. She earned her B.A. in English in 1945. In 1947, she received a special secondary teaching credential in art and English.

In 1948, she married Kenneth Lee Weatherholt ’49, who served under General George S. Patton in the U.S. Army during World War II.

From 1947 until the birth of her first child in 1954, Weatherholt taught art at Alhambra High School. She later worked with young students in the Covina-Valley Unified School District from 1970 until her retirement in 1988.

She is survived by her two children, Craig and Sharon, five grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and her eldest sister, Barbara Bahm ’40.

11/06/07

In Memoriam: Henry Gong Jr.

Henry Gong Jr., a longtime Keck School of Medicine of USC physician, professor, researcher and member of the California Air Resources Board, died of heart failure on Aug. 16. He was 60.

Gong, an expert in respiratory diseases and the health effects of air pollution, was chair of the department of medicine, medical director of respiratory care services and chief of environmental health services at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center.

He also had served as director and principal investigator at the Southern California Center for Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research at USC. In 2004, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Gong to the California Air Resources Board.

Gong also served on the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Among the many honors and awards Gong received over the years are the 2004 Environmental Achievement Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the 2000 Clean Air Award from the American Lung Assn.

Gong is survived by his wife of 39 years; his children, Greg and Jaimee; and a granddaughter.
10/08/07

In Memoriam: Eudice Shapiro

The renowned violinist taught at the USC Thornton School of Music for 50 years and paved the way for other women in her field.
Eudice Shapiro, an internationally known violinist, chamber musician, recording artist and teacher who had been on the faculty of the USC Thornton School of Music since 1956, died Sept. 17. She was 93.

Shapiro was as an important influence at the school, overseeing many years of students’ strings education, in addition to being an integral part of the musical scene in Los Angeles.

“Eudice not only reflected the musical culture of L.A. but was also at the forefront of creating its unique musical personality,” said Dean Robert Cutietta.

Shapiro celebrated the 50th anniversary of her appointment to USC in September 2006 at which time the city of Los Angeles recognized her artistic contributions and designated her as the city’s cultural treasure.

Shapiro created her own legacy on the violin. Born in 1914, she began studying violin with her father when she was five, winning her first prize at 10 and beginning her solo career with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra at age 12. She would go on to study at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., under Gustave Tinlot and the Curtis Institute with Efrem Zimbalist.

Shapiro moved to Los Angeles in 1941 when it was particularly difficult for a woman musician to find work.

“Eudice Shapiro was a pioneer in many ways and set a new path that one could follow. She exemplified elegance within the strongest of the characters and her presence and art opened doors in countless ways,” said her colleague Midori Goto, the chair of the USC Thornton’s strings department.

After settling in Los Angeles, Shapiro began working for the Hollywood studio system, playing for Paramount, United Artists and RKO. She remained in the system for 23 years, becoming the first female concertmaster in a studio orchestra at RKO, an appointment that led to new opportunities for other female musicians. In addition to performing with studio orchestras, Shapiro also played with the American Art Quartet, which included Robert Sushel, Virginia Majewski and Shapiro’s first husband, Victor Gottlieb, who passed away in 1963.

Since 1956 when she joined the faculty at USC, Shapiro was overseeing students who would later move on to play in many prominent orchestras and serve on college faculties. In addition, she got to teach alongside other great musicians, including Ingolf Dahl, Gregor Pitaigorsky, William Primrose and Jascha Heifetz.

During her career, Shapiro appeared as orchestra soloist under Eugene Goossens, Fritz Reiner, William Steinberg, Josef Rosensock, Igor Stravinsky and Izler Solomon, and in chamber performances with Arthur Schnabel, Bruno Walter, Lili Kraus, Rudolf Firkusny, Jascha Heifetz, Gregor Piatigorsky, Zara Neslova, Darius Milhaud, Leonard Pennaro and Vivian Rivkin.

She also appeared in festivals across the country and in Canada, in addition to teaching every summer for 17 years at the music festivals in Aspen, Colo., and Flagstaff, Ariz. She also was an artist-in-residence at the Manchester Music Festival in Vermont.

Shapiro was very much in demand as a performer in Los Angeles as well. She came into contact with many Los Angeles composers and often helped premiere their new works. These connections also helped procure jobs that normally would have been harder for a woman to obtain, such as becoming RKO’s concertmaster.

While Shapiro earned praise for her studio work, she was also known for a commitment to modern composers, introducing their music to her students. She earlier said in an interview, “I was always interested in American music and in people that I knew who were composers.” She said her interest in modern music stemmed from the fact that many students had not been previously exposed to it.

Shapiro premiered works by, among many others, Aaron Copland, Darius Milhaud and Igor Stravinsky, with whom she developed a close friendship. She brought her interest in contemporary music to Los Angeles by developing concerts and organizations, including the first Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Monday Evening Concert series. Its predecessor, Evenings on the Roof, began in 1939 and showcased modern composers, playing at different venues around the city. The series developed into Monday Evening Concerts, which also lent many of its musicians to the Ojai festivals.

It was the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, though, that helped introduce Shapiro to Stravinsky. In order to keep from competing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chamber Orchestra asked composers to conduct. Shapiro first met Stravinsky when he conducted her, and over time they became great friends, often rehearsing together.

Shapiro’s recordings are on the Columbia Masterworks, Crystal Records, Vanguard and New World labels. Last November, Crystal Records reissued one of her recordings, which includes eight of Stravinsky’s pieces and one work by Lukas Foss, with Shapiro accompanied by the American Art Quartet and Brooks Smith on the piano.

Shapiro is survived by son Larry Gottlieb, daughter-in-law Kathleen, grandson Luke and brother Heschel Shapiro and his wife Shirley.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the Eudice Shapiro Endowed Violin Scholarship at the USC Thornton School of Music.

09/21/07

In Memoriam: Hayward Alker

The USC College international relations scholar is remembered for his intellectual range and encyclopedic knowledge.
Hayward R. Alker, holder of the John A. McCone Chair in International Relations in USC College, died on Aug. 24. He was 69.

Alker was a leading scholar on world order and international conflict resolution, interests grounded in his Quaker faith and belief in the possibility of achieving peace. A member of the College faculty for more than a decade, he brought a mathematics background to the social sciences and was renowned for his interdisciplinary approach, incorporating both statistical and humanistic techniques in his research. He previously had been a professor at MIT and Yale.

Alker suffered a cerebral hemorrhage at his home in Block Island, R.I., and died that evening at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence. Alker and his wife, J. Ann Tickner, professor of international relations at USC College, split their time between homes in Block Island and Santa Monica.

“It's a huge loss for the College and a personal loss for me,” said USC College Dean Howard Gillman. “He was an amazing, innovative scholar – one of the giants in his field. But mostly I am thinking now about his passion for his work, for his students and the joy he exuded when he was sharing new ideas. He was a great man, a force of nature.”

Laurie Brand, professor and director of international relations at USC College said, “He was a scholar of national and international standing. I’ve been receiving e-mails from various parts of the world asking about him, conveying condolences. I just got a note from someone who said he had never been Hayward’s student, but that Hayward had been the most important intellectual influence in his life.”

USC College Vice Dean Steven Lamy, who was director of international relations from 2001-06, called Alker “a powerful and influential voice in our field.”

Alker’s intellectual development intersected with one of the great debates in that academic field – the question of methodology. Early on, while concentrating on the workings of the Cold War and the United Nations, Alker was a staunch proponent of a strictly scientific approach to international studies. He would grow to repeatedly rethink and hone that view. He ultimately integrated both advanced mathematics and humanistic methods while widening the scope of his scholarship to investigate artificial intelligence, globalism and game theory.

His contrarian rejection of a pure-science approach resonated with young international relations scholars seeking to strike a new path.

In a chapter about Alker in The Future of International Relations: Masters in the Making? (Routledge, 1997), Heikki Patomäki of the University of Helsinki wrote, “As scholars in the field, we could learn from Alker’s learning, not only from the innovative paths of his long voyage. In other words, we should be interested in both what and how he has learned.”

Alker summed up this progression in Rediscoveries and Reformulations: Humanistic Methodologies of International Studies (Cambridge University Press, 1996), a compilation of articles. This magnum opus laid out his neo-Classical approach, alluding to and analyzing Aristotle, Machiavelli and Marx among a cast of great thinkers through the ages.

“No one else was capable of doing this,” said Nicholas Onuf, a former research fellow at USC and friend and colleague to Alker for more than 25 years. “Not anybody, ever, in the field of international relations had this kind of breadth, this kind of reach.”

When asked about Alker’s impact, his former student and noted international studies expert Joshua Goldstein, now a research scholar at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, said, “He was very eclectic in his interests, and he was consciously, purposefully multi-methodological and multi-theoretical. He always pushed his students to find other theoretical perspectives and to use multiple methodologies. That had a huge effect on my career.”

Both Alker and Tickner were leaders in the study of international relations. Tickner is the immediate past president of the International Studies Association, the most respected professional organization in the field. Alker was its president in 1992–93.

Alker’s colleagues and protégés were to present him this spring with a Festschrift, a traditional academic tribute in the form of a volume of articles dedicated to him. Originally planned as a surprise for Alker, the book, tentatively titled “Learning From Alker,” will instead be offered as a memorial.

Upon learning of Alker’s death, the International Studies Association announced that it will posthumously recognize him with its Susan Strange Award, which recognizes a person whose intellect most challenges conventional wisdom in the international studies community. A roundtable discussion in his honor will be held at the association’s annual spring conference.

Alker was born in New York City in 1937 and raised in Greenwich, Conn. He attended Brunswick School, where he was the first student in the school’s history to earn straight A’s.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from MIT in 1959, earning a 1960 master’s and 1963 doctorate in political science from Yale University, his father’s alma mater.

He stayed at Yale to teach, becoming a full professor at 29. In 1968, Alker returned to MIT as a political science professor, where he remained until joining USC College in 1995.

His career was marked by prestigious visiting professorships, including a 1989 appointment as the first Olof Palme Professor at the Universities of Uppsala and Stockholm in Sweden and a 1996 fellowship to study chaos theory at the Santa Fe Institute. He was a visiting scholar at Brown University at the time of his death.

Alker’s books include Journeys Through Conflict (Rowman & Littlefield, 2001) and Mathematics and Politics (Macmillan, 1965).

Alker most recently was working with colleagues to complete a book on world order debates. He also was dissertation adviser for nine doctoral students in international relations at USC.

Alker is remembered for his sharp intelligence and selflessness.

“He was deeply committed to community,” Brand said. “He was a terrific mentor who worked tirelessly on behalf of his students.… He also had the most fertile, inquisitive and creative mind of anyone I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.”

Talking to him was better than Googling a topic, said a colleague. Lamy described him as “brilliant, a walking bibliography for every theory and issue in our field.”

Goldstein recalled working on his dissertation with Alker: “You’d go in and talk with Hayward about an idea you had, and he would sit there and go for about 20 minutes at a mile a minute. Quite often, a citation would come by, and you’d just scribble it down. And then, you’d go off to the library for two weeks, and you’d discover a whole body of literature that you didn’t know about.”

Outside of academia, Alker was a Red Sox fan, and he had a passion for singing. This summer, he toured Italy with the Santa Monica choral group Cantori Domino. Alker had been an active member of the Santa Monica Friends Meeting since moving to the West Coast.

“My dad lived his life fully,” said his daughter Gwendolyn Alker, a teacher at New York University’s Department of Drama. “We just had the whole family together to celebrate his 70th birthday early. He was watching a Miyazaki film with his grandchildren the night before he died.” His birthday is in October.

A Quaker memorial will be held on Block Island on Friday, Aug. 31, at the St. Andrew Parish Center, followed by a private burial at the Block Island cemetery. A service at USC is planned for Oct. 8 at noon at the United University Church, with a reception to follow at the University Religious Center.

Alker is survived by his wife; his brother, Henry; his sister, Charity; three daughters, Joan, Heather and Gwendolyn; and six grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Middle East Peace Education Program of the American Friends Service Committee in Los Angeles or the Block Island Conservancy.

08/31/07

In Memoriam: Mel Shavelson, 90

Shavelson, who wrote or co-wrote more than 35 movies and directed a dozen, taught at USC College’s Master of Professional Writing program.
Melville Shavelson, a Hollywood legend who was a comedy writer, producer, director and two-time Academy Award nominee for original screenplays, has died. He was 90.

Shavelson, an instructor at USC College’s Master of Professional Writing program from 1998 to 2006, died Aug. 8 of natural causes in his Studio City home.

“He was a wonderful, wonderful man,” said Ruth Shavelson, his wife of five years. “I’m just so grateful to have known him.”

Shavelson wrote or collaborated on more than 35 films, directed a dozen and was a producer on scores more.

At USC College, Shavelson taught screenwriting. He often cracked to his students, “I’m a writer by choice and a producer by necessity and a director in self-defense.”

Syd Field, a celebrated screenwriter, author of eight books and lecturer in the MPW program, recalled his own arrival at the College in 2001, when he taught a class with Shavelson.

“During the first few weeks, Mel watched over me like a mother hen,” Field said. “He wanted to make sure I was there for the students. He was a very, very sweet man.”

But he was also a tough task master, Field said. If he didn’t like a student’s work, he was quick to say so. “He loved teaching and knew what he was talking about,” Field added. “His manner could be gruff, but he had a heart of gold.”

Shavelson got his Hollywood start in the 1930s as a gag writer for Bob Hope’s radio show. Later, he wrote and directed Hope in The Seven Little Foys, a 1956 film that earned Shavelson an Oscar nomination. Two years later, Shavelson wrote and directed Houseboat, starring Cary Grant and Sophia Loren, and was again nominated for an Oscar.

He directed a legion of Hollywood stars, including Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball in the 1968 film, Yours, Mine and Ours. Shavelson also co-wrote the comedy about a family with 18 children, which was remade in 2005.

Among the other stars he directed were Yul Brynner, James Cagney, Angie Dickinson, Kirk Douglas, Robert Duvall, Clark Gable, Frank Sinatra, Paul Newman, John Wayne and Joanne Woodward.

Shavelson loved to tell his MPW students stories about working in the 1950s with Hollywood’s biggest stars, the ones with the biggest egos. One tale involved a lovesick Cary Grant during the making of Houseboat. Grant fell for a young, gorgeous Sophia Loren. Loren couldn’t stand Grant, who was unrelenting in his pursuit, according to Shavelson. Loren rushed her marriage to producer Carlo Ponti just to fend off Grant, Shavelson said. The wedding to Ponti took place in Mexico City on location, the same day her marriage to the Grant character in the movie was filmed.

“And that,” Shavelson told his class with a wink, “is how you make a successful family comedy in Hollywood.”

Beginning in 1969, Shavelson served three terms as president of the Writers Guild of America, West, where he earned the organization’s highest honor, the Laurel Award for Screen Writing. He was also a founder and president emeritus of the Writers Guild Foundation.

“Mel is the reason why the foundation exists,” said Angela Kirgo, the foundation’s executive director. “He was the force behind the foundation and kept it going for a number of years. Mel was deeply committed to the cause of equity and justice for writers.”

In 1984, Shavelson founded the WGF’s library, home to more than 20,000 scripts and other materials. He sometimes took his students on tours of The Writers Guild Foundation Shavelson-Webb Library, at 7000 W. Third St. in Los Angeles.

“The library was his dream,” Kirgo said. “Now, it’s his legacy.”

Born April 1, 1917, in Brooklyn, Shavelson graduated from Cornell University and was soon hired to write jokes for syndicated humor columnists. In 1938, he moved to Hollywood, married and had two children, Richard and Lynne.

Rich Shavelson, 64, of Menlo Park, Calif., recalled growing up in a home where famous screenwriters such as Ernest Lehman and television producers such as Sherwood Schwartz were regular visitors. His father at the time was one of Hollywood’s busiest writers. But there was another side to him. He enjoyed nature and shared it with his family.

“One of my favorite, early memories with my father was when we went backpacking together in the Sierras on a fishing trip,” Shavelson recounted. “I was about nine and he usually didn’t have time for that sort of thing. It was a very special time. We really got to know each other. I remember we laughed a lot and caught a lot of trout.”

In addition to his film work, Shavelson created two Emmy award-winning television series and wrote for a dozen Academy Award shows. He also wrote, produced and co-directed the six-hour ABC miniseries Ike, The War Years, based on the World War II exploits of Gen. Dwight Eisenhower.

He was the author of two novels and four works of nonfiction, including a 1990 New York Times bestseller he wrote with Hope, Don’t Shoot, It’s Only Me. His autobiography How to Succeed in Hollywood Without Really Trying: P.S.—You Can’t!, was released on his 90th birthday.

“He never stopped writing,” said Maureen Solomon, a longtime friend who helped Shavelson edit his autobiography. “Even the night before he died he wrote an email to me. Sometimes I would get an email at 11 p.m. and the next day, I’d say, ‘Why were you up so late in your office writing?’ We’d laugh a lot. He was really like a little kid.”

Solomon said Shavelson had incredible energy, maintaining boyhood hobbies into adulthood. He was a ham radio enthusiast, and continued using the aging technology to talk with friends around the globe.

“He knew the best places to find pizza, ice cream, prosciutto, you name it,” Solomon said. “He even had his own working soda fountain in his home. There will never be another person like Mel, ever.”

Shavelson is survived by his wife, son and daughter, Lynne Joiner, and grandchildren Karin Salim, Amy Kurpius and Scott Joiner. Shavelson’s first wife of 63 years, Lucille, died in 2000.

The Writers Guild of America and the WGF will honor him at a memorial 6:30 p.m., Aug. 28 at the Writers Guild Theater, 135 S. Doheny Drive, Beverly Hills. RSVP to (323) 782-4694.

A private funeral is pending. In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations be sent to Defenders of Wildlife, the Hollywood Office of the Humane Society of the United States, or the Pet Adoption Fund.
08/10/07

In Memoriam: William J. Tuttle

The pioneering makeup artist taught at USC, sharing his innovative techniques with students for 25 years.
William J. “Bill” Tuttle, the pioneering makeup artist who received an honorary Academy Award in 1965 for his groundbreaking work in 7 Faces of Dr. Lao and former adjunct professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, died on July 30. He was 95.

“Bill was a great teacher who was willing to share anything and everything with his students,” said Professor Emeritus Herb Farmer, who taught basic film technology and distribution classes during Tuttle’s tenure at the school. “He would look at the kids’ work and show them how to improve and make it better. He had no secrets.”

Tuttle created innovative techniques and trained generations of makeup artists during his 35-year career at MGM. In 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, the film that earned him his Oscar, he transformed actor Tony Randall into the seven characters of the title, including a deeply aged and bearded Merlin the Magician, and a Medusa with upper and lower lips of foamed latex meant to create a more feminine appearance. The 1995 book The Technique of the Professional Make-up Artist called the film “a landmark in makeup artistry" that "will forever remain a goal for other artists to accomplish."

“He was most famous for his ability to make the right decision in faces and heads and accomplish it in such a way that he was able to redo the makeup each day, no matter how long it took to shoot the picture,” Farmer said.

Tuttle’s talent lives on in hundreds of films in every decade since the 1930s, including Million Dollar Mermaid (1952), Where the Boys Are (1960) and Young Frankenstein (1974). His final credit came in 1981 for Zorro, the Gay Blade.

Born April 13, 1912, in Jacksonville, Fla., Tuttle dropped out of school in his teens to help support his mother and younger brother, Thomas, who also would work as a makeup artist in the film industry. At 18, the future Oscar winner moved to Los Angeles and attended art classes at USC where he would later return to teach from 1970-1995.

He donated more than 100 of his masks to USC that feature such famous faces as Paul Newman, Charlton Heston and Laurence Olivier and those used in Lao.

“He helped the kids loosen up and use their imagination,” Farmer said. “He’s a great talent that will be missed.”

Tuttle is survived by his wife of 40 years, Anita A. Tuttle, and his daughter, Teresa.
08/03/07

In Memoriam: Hammond Rolph, 85

The former USC College international relations administrator and his wife created a fellowship for graduate students.
Hammond “Ham” M. Rolph, former administrator at the USC College School of International Relations, World War II veteran and East Asian studies scholar, has died. He was 85.

Rolph died of natural causes on July 27 at the San Gabriel Medical Center, his wife of 61 years, Julia Rolph said.

Rolph served as associate director of international relations for nearly a quarter-century, from 1964 to 1988. He oversaw the school’s overseas programs and was among the first to teach undergraduate and graduate East Asian studies courses at USC.

Last year, the Rolphs created The Hammond and Julia Rolph Endowed Fellowship for Graduate Students, providing funds for students in international relations and the department of East Asian languages and cultures. The Hammonds created the fellowship by donating their San Gabriel home to USC while retaining a life estate so they could continue to live there.

“Both Julia and I felt strongly that student aid was critical to the continuing success of USC,” Rolph told USC College in August 2006. “Working overseas for much of my career helped Julia and me realize the importance of advanced education with an international direction. Julia’s USC work with the department of East Asian languages and cultures helped us to focus our gift in those two directions.”

Born Oct. 13, 1921 in El Campo, Texas, Rolph graduated from the University of Texas with a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1942. He was commissioned in the Navy that same year and was sent to Boulder, Colo., to a Japanese language school.

Enrolled in his class was his future wife, Julia Hilts. Rolph returned from his service in World War II on Christmas Eve 1945, and the couple married the following May. They had a daughter, Rebecca, who learned Japanese when the family was stationed in Tokyo.

“We both found it amusing and frustrating to hear our 3-year-old speaking colloquially and fluently in no time, while Ham and I sounded bookish!” Julia Rolph wrote in 1993.

Rebecca later earned her doctorate in British history at USC and was an academic adviser at the College. Rebecca Rolph died of cancer in 1997.

During World War II, Rolph was stationed in the South Pacific, where he used his Japanese language skills.

“He used to love to tell the story of recovering a sunken ship from the Japanese military,” said close family friend Carolyn Crane. “He found a teletyped message that held Japanese military secrets so important it was sent by courier to Washington, D.C. At the end of the message was the command, ‘Destroy this paper once read.’ ”

During his military career, Rolph, who also spoke Chinese, was stationed in China, England, Washington, D.C., Seattle and Alaska. He retired after 22 years as a commander and immediately began his second career at the College.

Michael Fry of La Jolla, Calif., who was director of international relations during Rolph’s tenure, described Rolph as a man of integrity.

“He was absolutely devoted to the school,” Fry said. “He was in the office every day. I can’t remember him being ill one day. He was a good man all round. Everyone had deep affection for him.”

Peter Berton, professor emeritus of international relations, had known Rolph for more than four decades.

Standing 6-foot-5 and lanky, “Ham was always with a smile,” Berton said. “He had a great sense of humor, and I knew I could always rely on him.”

USC College Vice Dean Steven Lamy, professor and former director of international relations who now oversees undergraduate programs in the College, remembered Rolph as being “one of those people who was always willing to help the professors. He was an active participant in the intellectual life at the School of I.R.,” Lamy said.

Rolph wrote extensively about Pearl Harbor, North Vietnam, and communist strategy and propaganda. His book Vietnamese Communism and the Protracted War (American Bar Association, 1971) analyzed communism and its contrasts with liberty under law.

Julia Rolph, 85, who earned her bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in Chinese with a minor in Japanese at USC, described her late husband as a true Southern gentleman.

“It was just a love affair,” Julia Rolph said of their long marriage.

A year ago, the couple celebrated their 60th anniversary at the same Pasadena hotel where they spent their wedding night, even visiting their honeymoon suite.

“He used to always say,” Crane recounted, “ ‘I don’t know what I did to deserve two such beautiful and intelligent women in my life,’ ” referring to Julia and Rebecca. “He was so grateful for their love.”

Rolph is also survived by his sister, Marilyn Caine, two nieces and a nephew. He was preceded in death by his brother, Norman Rolph.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 3, at the Church of Our Saviour, 535 West Roses Road in San Gabriel.
08/02/07

Anthropologist Paul Bohannan Dies at 87

The professor emeritus and former administrator at USC College was an authority on Africa’s Tiv tribe.
Paul James Bohannan, known as the world’s leading expert on the Tiv of Nigeria, has died. He was 87.

A professor emeritus of anthropology at USC College, Bohannan’s rich body of work as a cultural and social anthropologist ranged from working among the Tiv, a West African tribe, to research about divorce in the United States.

At the College, Bohannan served as dean of social sciences and communications from 1984 to 1987. After retirement, he moved to Three Rivers near Sequoia National Park, where he was writing his autobiography. He had battled Alzheimer’s in recent years and died in his sleep on July 13.

Born in 1920 in Lincoln, Neb., Bohannan grew up in Indiana, Montana and Colorado and attended the University of Arizona. When the United States entered World War II, he left school to enlist in the Army. After the war, Bohannan returned to the UA, where he earned his bachelor’s degree, then became a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University.

After earning his doctorate in philosophy at Oxford, Bohannan studied the Tiv tribe from 1949 to 1953. He lived in a mud hut without plumbing, learned the Tiv language and documented the customs and culture of the tribe, then numbering 800,000.

“I became interested in Africa through my teachers, E.E. Evans-Pritchard, Meyer Fortes and Max Gluckman,” Bohannan said in 1964. “I was, for almost four years, a colleague of the late M.E. Herskovits, some of whose passion for Africa I have absorbed.”

Bohannan returned to the U.S. and taught at Princeton University and Northwestern University, where he focused on African ethnography and helped to build the anthropology department’s study of economic anthropology. He then taught at UC Santa Barbara before joining USC College.

Gary Seaman, associate professor of anthropology at the College, co-authored with Bohannan, The Tiv: An African People From 1949 to 1953 (Ethnografics Press, 2000). Seaman, an expert in the analysis of ethnographic film, used his cutting-edge digital techniques to rescue the badly damaged images that Bohannan had taken during his years among the Tiv. Of the 1,200 black-and-white images, nearly half had been damaged.

“When you’re thousands of miles from technological civilization, you do what you can,” Bohannan told USC Trojan Family Magazine in 2000. “In the heat and humidity of the Nigerian bush, negatives start to molder unless you develop them the same day you take them.”

The rescued, digitized images and Bohannan’s published research on the Tiv provided the foundation for the book, which chronicled life among the Tiv farmers in the last days of British colonial rule. The photographs preserved a record of domestic activities that the Tiv, now numbering more than 2 million, have since discontinued – such as hollowing out tree trunks for canoes.

A former president of the American Anthropological and the African Studies associations, Bohannan was also a member of the American Philosophical Society. His other research projects focused on stepfamilies, aging, law, divorce and American history, among other topics.

Bohannan’s other major works include We, the Alien: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (Waveland Press, 1992), How Culture Works (Free Press, 1994), Justice and Judgment Among the Tiv (Waveland Press, 1989), Africa & Africans (Natural History Press, 1973) and African Homicide and Suicide (Holiday House, 1972). For his study on African homicide and suicide, Bohannan won the August Volmer Research Award of the American Society for Criminology.

Seaman remembered Bohannan as a Renaissance man with insatiable curiosity.

“He was extremely energetic and had an extremely wide range of interests,” said Seaman, a faculty member at the College for 25 years. “He was abreast of all sorts of issues. He was an authority on marriage in relation to economic systems; he was an expert on customary law, the ethnography of divorce, the study of kinship. Paul was a man of many parts.”

A connoisseur of fine Scotch whiskey and a man of Scottish ancestry, Bohannan spent each summer in Scotland, where he visited distilleries. He also had other leisure pursuits.

“His real passion was ballet,” Seaman said, adding that Bohannan had an immense videotape collection of classical ballet performances. “He often would remark that if he hadn’t grown up in the time and the place he did, he would have undertaken a career like Vaslav Nijinsky.”

Bohannan is survived by his wife, Adelyse “Lisa”; a son, Denis; and a brother, William. He was predeceased by his first wife, Laura, also a well-known anthropologist, and a sister, Margaret.
07/30/07

In Memoriam: Engineer H. K. Cheng

The USC Viterbi professor emeritus was known for his work in flight aerodynamics and the effects of sonic booms.
H. K. (Hsien Kei) Cheng, distinguished professor emeritus of aerospace and mechanical engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, died in his sleep on July 11. He was 84.

Cheng, an early contributor to USC’s reputation for research excellence in flight aerodynamics, published a landmark paper in 1963 on hypersonic flow that was crucial to the design of ultra-highspeed aircraft. He also did significant work in theoretical and computational fluid mechanics, flight hypersonics, geophysical fluid mechanics, bio-fluid dynamics, the hydrodynamics of swimming propulsion and the effects of sonic booms on oceans.

“In addition to his scientific achievements, H. K. was one of the most pleasant and helpful colleagues I have ever had,” said Ron Blackwelder, professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering.

Born in China, Cheng received a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from Chiao-Tung University in 1947. He next attended Cornell, earning a Master of Science and a Ph.D. in aeronautical engineering in 1950 and 1952, respectively.

He worked for several years as a research aerodynamicist for Bell Aircraft Corp. before returning as a researcher to Cornell. After a year as a visiting lecturer at Stanford, he became a special lecturer at the Graduate Department of Aerospace Studies at USC in 1964.

By the following year, he was a full professor in USC’s Department of Aerospace Engineering. Cheng retired in 1994 but retained close ties with USC and his colleagues.

Cheng was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He received the USC Viterbi School’s Engineering Research Award in 1982 and was a member of the Phi Tau Ph Honorary Scholastic Society.

During his career, he was a consultant for RAND Corp. and for half a dozen Southern California aerospace companies. He was frequently invited to deliver lectures at American universities around the world.

This year the USC Viterbi School’s Astronautics and Space Technology Division named their annual keynote lecture for Cheng.

Cheng is survived by his wife, Wai L. Cheng, and a daughter, Linda Cheng.
07/18/07

Former USC University Librarian Dies

Trojans mourn the passing of Peter Lyman, who oversaw the 1994 opening of Leavey Library and established the use of digital technology.
Peter Lyman, USC university librarian from 1991 to 1994, died of brain cancer on July 2 at his home in Berkeley, Calif. He was 66.

Lyman also was a professor emeritus, former university librarian and associate dean at UC Berkeley.

When Lyman succeeded Charles Ritcheson as university librarian in spring 1991, he was charged with the mission of leading USC’s libraries into the 21st century.

Under his leadership, the long-awaited Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Library became a reality in 1994. Lyman referred to Leavey Library as “the key to the issue of academic quality in undergraduate education at USC.”

Other accomplishments of Lyman’s tenure at USC were the utilization of then-cutting-edge compact disc technology to store digital images for future generations and a successful $4 million campaign for the purchase of books and journals specifically devoted to the humanities.

Lyman’s decision to leave USC for UC Berkeley in 1994 was “a tough one” that forced him to choose between “the two best jobs anyone could be offered in the course of a lifetime.”

“USC has one of the most innovative groups of librarians and library staff in the world,” Lyman said upon his resignation. “A new, self-sustaining library culture is firmly in place here.”

Before his appointment as university librarian, Lyman served as USC’s associate dean for library technology and founder and executive director of the USC Center for Scholarly Technology.

“Peter Lyman is best known as a groundbreaking technologist and it is thanks to his pioneering vision that the Information Commons first appeared in the new Leavey Library,” said Lynn Sipe, a 41-year veteran of the USC Libraries who served as interim director of the organization after Lyman’s resignation. “Yet, Peter was always a humanist at heart, both in his personal interests outside of the technology sphere and in his administration of the library.

“He cared deeply about the library and the librarians and staff who worked here,” Sipe added. “He was an inspirational leader and teacher for many of us.”

Lyman was one of the founders of James Madison College, a residential college at Michigan State University with a public-policy focus, and he was a faculty member from 1967 to 1987, when he moved to USC. He also taught at Stanford University and UC Santa Cruz.

More recently, he was devoting time to researching information and conducting ethnographic analyses of online social relationships and communities.

In 2004, he coauthored the highly influential study “How Much Information?” with fellow UC Berkeley School of Information professor Hal Varian. A year later, Lyman became the director of the Digital Youth Project, a three-year study of how children use digital media in their everyday lives.

“It was clear that he felt that scholarly work was done in the service of improving the world and the lives of others,” said Mizuko “Mimi” Ito, a senior research associate at the USC Annenberg Center for Communication, who served as a principal investigator on the Digital Youth Project with Lyman. “In our work together, he always insisted on looking at questions that were meaningful and significant in the real world.”

Lyman is survived by his wife, Barrie Thorne, a UC Berkeley professor of gender and women’s studies and sociology and former director of USC’s Program for the Study of Women and Men in Society; a son, Andrew Thorne-Lyman; a daughter, Abigail Thorne-Lyman; twin grandsons; and a sister, Cynthia Lyman.

07/10/07

Tillman Hall Memorial to be Held June 30

The Distinguished Professor established the USC Emeriti College and served as the university’s delegate to the White House on physical fitness and aging.
USC Distinguished Emeritus Professor J. Tillman Hall died on June 6. He was 91.

A memorial service will be held June 30 at 1:30 p.m. at the Westwood United Methodist Church, 10497 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.

Hall’s career as a professor of physical education and grand marshall of USC’s commencement exercises for 27 years were “outstanding contributions to the life of this university,” said Elizabeth Redmon, executive director of the Emeriti Center, in 2004 when Hall was given the Leibovitz Award for Distinguished Volunteer Service to Seniors.

Hall’s granddaughter, Michele Jones, accepted the award for her grandfather. “He has received many awards in his career,” Jones said, “but none has ever meant more to him than this one, which is … awarded by his fellow faculty members.”

After serving as a professor and chairman of the physical education department, Tillman later returned to USC to head the Emeriti Center from 1989 to 1996. He formed the Retired Faculty/Staff Benefits Committee, began the project of videotaping interviews with influential retirees and established the USC Emeriti College.

“Tilly’s real vision came from the recognition that retirees best serve themselves by serving others,” Redmon said.

Distinguished Professor Emerita Frances Lomas Feldman said Tillman “was ahead of his time in constructing exercises that would help older people maximize their physical and mental health.”

Hall was born in Faxon, Tenn., in 1916. After graduating from Pepperdine University and serving in the Navy during World War II, he earned his master’s and doctorate degrees from USC.

Hall was active throughout his life. He played semi-pro baseball and earned a basketball scholarship to Pepperdine. He was a Golden Glove boxer, an avid fly-fisherman and golfer. In 1950, he founded the dance troupe known as The Lariats. Under his direction, the troupe performed in all 50 states and 13 other countries.

He was a respected international lecturer who wrote nine books and edited 29 others. He was appointed to the California Commission on Aging by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan and served as USC’s delegate to White House conferences on both physical fitness and aging. He was the grand marshall of USC’s commencement exercises from 1955 to 1982. In 1983, the university dedicated the 100th commencement program to him.

Hall is survived by Louise, his wife of 66 years; daughters Nancy Sweeny and Jody Hall Esser; grandchildren Michelle Jones, Brian Fisher, JoAnne Sweeny and Katherine Sweeny; six great grandchildren; six nieces, two nephews and their families.
06/21/07

In Memoriam

Thomas V. Krulisky was an associate professor of psychiatry at the Keck School.
Thomas V. Krulisky, medical director of psychiatry services at the USC University Hospital and clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, died on June 10. He was 62.

A funeral Mass will be held Tuesday, June 19, at 10:30 a.m. at Holy Family Catholic Church, 1509 Fremont Ave., South Pasadena.

Krulisky was born in Niagara Falls, N.Y., in 1945. He earned his medical degree from and completed his internship and residency at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

He served in the Air Force as a major and was assigned to the regional hospital at Sheppard Air Force Base from 1974 to 1976. He was awarded an Air Force Commendation Medal for his service.

He came to California in 1976. He served as medical director at Edgemont Hospital, committee chair at Queen of Angels – Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, director of Partial Hospitalization Psychiatry at Brotman Medical Center and director of utilization review for psychiatry at the Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center.

Krulisky is survived by his wife of 26 years, Terra Lee Mulcahy, and his three daughters, Kelly, Tamara and Kathryn.


06/18/07

In Memoriam

David B. Wittry
David B. Wittry, a distinguished professor emeritus of materials science and electrical engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, died May 5 from complications of pneumonia. He was 78.

Wittry made significant contributions to the field of materials science through his pioneering work in electron probe microanalysis.

He had appointments in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering’s Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering. In 1998, he received the USC Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award and was awarded Distinguished Professor Emeritus status.

“Dave Wittry was a pioneer in the best sense of the word,” said Yannis C. Yortsos, dean of the USC Viterbi School. “He was one of the founders of the Microbeam Analysis Society, and he was one of the founders of our materials science department. Professor Wittry was an important influence in the rise of our school.”

Wittry is survived by his wife Elizabeth, five adult children and three grandchildren.
05/31/07

In Memoriam: David B. Wittry, 78

The distinguished professor emeritus was one of the founders of the USC Viterbi School’s materials science department.
David B. Wittry, a distinguished professor emeritus of materials science and electrical engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, died May 5 from complications of pneumonia. He was 78.

Wittry made significant contributions to the field of materials science through his pioneering work in electron probe microanalysis.

“I profited from numerous conversations with David over the years in regards to academic policies and general professional matters,” said John Choma, professor of electrical engineering in the USC Viterbi School. “He was a brilliant man, and his technical knowledge and intellect were matched only by his consummate professionalism.”

A native of Iowa who grew up in Wisconsin, Wittry graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1951 with a B.S. in applied mathematics and mechanics. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from the California Institute of Technology and joined the USC faculty in 1959.

Wittry had appointments in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering’s Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering. In 1998, he received the USC Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award and was awarded Distinguished Professor Emeritus status.

“Dave Wittry was a pioneer in the best sense of the word,” said Yannis C. Yortsos, dean of the USC Viterbi School. “He was one of the founders of the Microbeam Analysis Society, and he was one of the founders of our materials science department. Professor Wittry was an important influence in the rise of our school.”

Throughout his career, Wittry was involved with research on analytical microscopy techniques involving X-ray, ion and electron beams. Among his most significant contributions was the basic design of one of the most successful commercial electron probe microanalyzers, which he patented in 1963.

Wittry also invented a dual cathode system for electron beam instruments, and a novel, rotating anode X-ray source for X-ray lithography. His work while on sabbatical at Cambridge University led to practical utilization of electron energy loss spectrometry for local microanalysis. In addition, he developed a new type of diffractor for scanning X-ray monochromators that led to two patents and is considered one of the most significant advances in X-ray spectrometry.

In all, Wittry authored 23 patents and was chair of a committee that recommended patent policy adopted by USC. He subsequently chaired the USC Patents Committee for 25 years.

Although most of Wittry’s inventions have been for materials science instrumentation, he also was awarded three patents for a rotary internal combustion engine. The so-called “Wittry Engine” combined the efficiency of a diesel piston-type internal combustion engine with the simplicity of a rotary engine.

He was a Guggenheim Fellow to Cambridge University in 1967-68 and a Visiting Scientist for the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science at the University of Osaka Prefecture in 1974.

He received the Presidential Award from the Microbeam Analysis Society (MAS) for Outstanding Scientific Contributions to Microanalysis in 1980 and was an honorary member of the society. He won the Birks Award for the best paper presented at the MAS National Conference in 1987 and 1989.

He received the Distinguished Scientist Award, Physical Sciences from the Microscopy Society of America in 1995 and the Distinguished Service Citation from the University of Wisconsin College of Engineering in 1996.

Wittry, who had lived in Pasadena for 56 years, is survived by his wife Elizabeth and five adult children and three grandchildren. A memorial service will be held on May 12 at 10:30 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church Chapel, 500 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena.
05/11/07