The long-time leader of one of the University of Cincinnati’s regional campuses, Ernest Muntz, died June 5 in Ohio. He was 95.

Muntz served as dean at what is now known as UC-Blue Ash from 1969 to 1990. In those 21 years, Muntz guided Raymond Walters College from a small branch campus in a quiet Cincinnati suburb to one of the largest university branch campuses in the state.

During his tenure, the enrollment steadily increased and the classroom, laboratory and office space more than doubled. The curriculum also grew — from the original 17 offerings to 40 in 1990. Muntz was dean when the regional campus, in 1969, became the first public two-year college in Ohio to receive accreditation from the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.

Born in 1923 in Buffalo, New York, Muntz attended public schools. He enrolled in Wheaton College (Illinois), but in 1942 Muntz volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He was a commissioned officer and saw service in the Philippine Islands and Okinawa during World War II.

He stayed in the active reserve, working with the Air Force ROTC and as a liaison officer for the U.S. Air Force Academy until he retired as a full colonel after 31 years of active and reserve duty.

After the end of the war, he returned to Wheaton College and graduated in 1948, then went on to earn a doctoral degree in history from the University of Rochester. He served on the faculties of Blue Mountain College (Mississippi) and Union University (Tennessee) before joining the University of Cincinnati.

Muntz is still the longest serving dean in that college's history. Upon his retirement, UC President Joseph Steger announced that the academic building on the UC-Blue Ash campus would be renamed the Ernest G. Muntz Hall.

Former dean of the UC College of Engineering and Applied Science Carlo Montemagno died Oct. 11 in Illinois. He was 62.

Considered an expert in nanotechnology, Montemagno was named the chancellor of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, in fall 2017. Prior to the SIU position, he spent five years at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and in 2012 helped establish the Ingenuity Lab there with the government of Alberta in partnership with the University of Alberta and Alberta Innovates. The lab focused on nanotechnology research related to health, environment, energy and agriculture.

Montemagno arrived at UC in 2009 from UCLA, where he served as the chair of the department of bioengineering and as the Roy and Carol Doumani Professor of Biomedical Engineering. Prior to his tenure with UCLA, he served as a professor and director of graduate studies in biomedical engineering at Cornell University.

In his three years at UC, Montemagno guided the integration of UC’s two colleges of Engineering and Applied Science.

He received his doctoral degree in civil engineering and geological sciences from the University of Notre Dame in 1995, his master’s in petroleum and natural gas engineering from Penn State in 1990 and his bachelor’s degree from Cornell in 1980. Montemagno joined the U.S. Navy in 1980 and served for 10 years in several management positions as a civil engineering corps officer.

Montemagno received a number of prestigious awards including the Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology, the 2010 Earth Award for an artificial photosynthetic foam developed at UC, a CNBC Business Top 10 Green Innovator award and was named a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, part of an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The father of the University of Cincinnati organ transplant program, J. Wesley Alexander, a College of Medicine professor emeritus of surgery who started the transplant program in 1967, died Saturday, July 7. He was 84.

Alexander was named the first director of UC’s division of transplantation in 1967, a position he held until 1999. On December 1967, he performed the first kidney transplant at General Hospital (now University of Cincinnati Medical Center). He joined another doctor, David Melvin, in December 1985, to perform the first adult heart transplant in Cincinnati. He also performed UC's first combined kidney-pancreas transplant in 1970 and first liver transplant in 1986. Alexander played key roles in the development of UC's burn and surgical infectious disease programs. Near the end of his career, he was still one of the busiest bariatric surgeons in the region.

A native of El Dorado, Kansas, Alexander received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in 1957 and a doctoral degree from UC in 1964. He completed his internship and surgical residency at UC and Cincinnati’s General Hospital in 1964. Following two years of duty with the U.S. Army, Alexander completed a fellowship in immunology at the University of Minnesota and then returned to Cincinnati in 1967 to join the UC faculty as an assistant professor. He became the inaugural holder of the William A. Altemeier Professorship in Research Surgery in 2000. He was named professor emeritus in 2008.

Widely known for his expertise in preventing surgical infections, especially in burn victims, he established one of the nation’s first surgical immunologic research laboratories. Alexander also served as acting director of the Hoxworth Blood Center from 1972-79.

Among his notable awards were the George Rieveschl Award for Distinguished Scientific Research from UC (1996) and the Daniel Drake Medal (1997) from UC’s College of Medicine.

Alexander received NIH research grant funding for more than 35 years totaling nearly $10 million and an additional $2 million in industry grants. His research efforts resulted in seven U.S. patents between 1991 and 2001 and more than 700 published scientific papers.

Scientist and educator William "Bill" Connick, a UC McMicken College of Arts and Sciences chemistry professor and director of UC’s Center for Biosensors and Chemical Sensors, died April 22. He was 51.

Regarded as an outstanding scientist, educator, mentor and colleague, Connick earned his bachelor’s in chemistry from Williams College (1988), master’s from the University of Cambridge (1992) and doctorate from the California Institute of Technology (1997) in the laboratory of Harry Gray. He joined the UC faculty in 1998.

He received a Beckman Young Investigator Award (2001-04) from the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation and a National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2002-07) for his research focused on cooperative two-electron transfer reactions.

He was named an IUPAC Young Observer in 2009, Chemist of the Year by the Cincinnati section of the American Chemical Society in 2014 and a visiting scholar at the Universite de Bordeaux in 2015.

Connick was an expert in multielectron photophysics for energy sustainability. He also developed sensors for the measurement of different targets such as pollutants in groundwater and tracing the source of radioactive pollutants in nuclear forensics. Connick received a 2018 Faculty Excellence Award for exceptional performance.

An award-winning mathematician and long-time UC professor, George Purdy died Dec. 30, 2017, in Cincinnati. He was 73. Born and raised in San Francisco, California, Purdy studied at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom receiving a bachelor’s in mathematics in 1964 and a master’s degree in 1967. He earned his doctoral degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1972. Purdy was a faculty member at Texas A&M University and the University of Illinois before joining the faculty of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Cincinnati in 1986.

In 2015, Purdy was awarded the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Joseph Desch Award for Innovation for his work on the ARPA Network and what became known as the “Purdy Polynomial.” His many interests included quantum physics, film and classical music.

An internationally acclaimed voice and speech specialist, beloved mentor to many students and a division head for UC’s College-Conservatory of Music, Rocco Dal Vera, died Sept. 29, 2017, in Cincinnati after battling glioblastoma cancer. He was 61.

Dal Vera joined the UC faculty in 1998. He developed a passion for learning about the human voice and authored or co-authored several books, including “Voice: Onstage and Off” (1994) and “Acting in Musical Theatre: A Comprehensive Course” (2008), called “the backbone of comprehensive musical theatre instruction” by one reviewer and “a gem for those of us who have discovered it” by another.

He worked as a performer and voice-over artist before joining UC, where he was a professor of acting and division head for CCM’s acting, arts administration, dance, musical theatre, opera and theatre design and production divisions. He also taught for UC’s College of Law.

In 2008, Rocco received UC’s George Barbour Award for Good Faculty-Student Relations, an honor bestowed on someone who is involved with students in and out of the classroom and is committed to mentoring, even to graduates.

Dal Vera was awarded the title of distinguished member by the Voice and Speech Trainers Association — the highest honor given by the organization. Rocco was the founding editor of that organization’s journal Voice and Speech and edited its first three books. For 16 seasons, he was the resident vocal coach for the Tony Award-winning Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and the Actors Theatre of Louisville.

An international lecturer on vocal violence and the effects of emotion on the voice, Dal Vera was a master teacher of the Alba technique for emotions, having studied and taught the method for more than 20 years.

A world renowned pioneer of medical physics and UC alumnus, James Kereiakes, died July 23 in Cincinnati. He was 92.

Named a professor emeritus of the UC College of Medicine’s department of radiology in 1991, Kereiakes participated in an active research program and was an innovator in the field of radiopharmaceutical dosimetry, or the process of injecting radioactive material into part of a patient’s body and studying the organ where the material settles. The procedure enabled doctors to more safely diagnose diseases and estimate doses for treatment.

Kereiakes, M (A&S ’47), D (A&S ’50), was honored with the William D. Coolidge medal and the Gold Medal from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. He received a Gold Medal Award from the Radiological Society of North America. UC honored him with the Daniel Drake Award in 1994.

After his education at UC, Kereiakes worked in the Army Medical Research Laboratory in Fort Knox, Kentucky, before joining the UC faculty in 1959.

The son of Greek immigrants, Kereiakes’ children are also UC grads, including Beth (Bus ’91), Dean (A&S ’75, MD ’78), Penelope (A&S ’79) and Thomas (A&S ’76, MD ’80).

One of the top Bearcat football running backs of the 1950s, Joseph Miller, died July 1 in Cincinnati. He was 86.

Miller, Ed ’56, M (Ed) ’62, was born in Mansfield, Ohio, in 1930. According to his obituary, upon graduation from high school, he turned down an invitation by the New York Giants to play baseball, as well as other scholarship offers, in favor of becoming a University of Cincinnati Bearcat. Miller originally enrolled at UC in 1949, but after a year he joined the Army during the Korean War and was stationed in Panama. Upon discharge from the military, he returned to UC in 1953 and immediately became a mainstay on the football team.

Miller recorded the longest run from a scrimmage in UC history — 91 yards — against Xavier University that first season, a UC record that still stands. He rushed for a team-leading 717 yards and 11 touchdowns in 1954, helping UC to an 8-2 record. Miller served as captain of the 1955 UC football team.

He also played baseball for UC, lettering as a catcher and earning All-Ohio honors. He caught 90-mph throws from an unknown pitcher named Sandy Koufax while both were at UC.

Miller met his future wife at UC. He and Gloria Lorenz, Ed ’56, were married for 59 years.

Miller’s career was spent with a suburban Cincinnati school district, where he was the longtime head football coach and athletic director at Anderson High School. After retiring, he went on to mentor younger coaches in the city and was especially proud to be associated with the Indian Hill and Norwood football programs. Miller was honored to be a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and the UC honorary Sigma Sigma. He was inducted into UC’s athletic Hall of Fame in 1991.

A former Bearcat standout in two sports, Rodrick “Rod” Monroe died May 7 in Houston, Texas. He was 40.

Monroe lettered two seasons in UC basketball (1996, ’97) and one in football (1997). Considered the physically strongest member of two Bearcats basketball teams with a bench press of 415 pounds and leg press of 1,180 pounds, Monroe was a key reserve at 6-foot-4, 240 pounds. He helped UC register a 54-13 record during his two seasons that included two Conference USA regular-season titles, a league tournament crown and trips to the 1996 NCAA southeast regional finals and 1997 NCAA Midwest regional second round.

On the UC football squad, valued for his blocking ability, Monroe started four games and caught two passes for 33 yards and one touchdown, a leaping 9-yard reception in UC’s 34-31 double overtime win over rival Miami (Ohio) in Oxford. The Bearcats finished with an 8-4 record and were invited to play in the inaugural Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho.

To the surprise of many, Monroe was one of five UC players chosen in the NFL draft in 1998, selected by Dallas in the seventh round. He played five seasons in the NFL, including as a member of the 1998 Atlanta Falcons Super Bowl squad and finished his career with the Cleveland Browns in 2001.

Monroe originally came to Cincinnati from McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas. He was a native of Hearne, Texas.

Bearcat swimming standout and UC alumnus and athletics supporter William “Bill” Keating Jr., Bus ’76, M (Bus) ’76, Law ’79, died March 29. He was 63.

Inducted into the UC James P. Kelly Athletics Hall of Fame in 1992, he was the third Keating so honored, joining his father William Keating Sr., namesake of UC's Keating Aquatics Center and a former Hamilton County judge, and his uncle Charles, UC's first-ever NCAA individual champion.

A two-time team captain, Keating qualified for the NCAA championships all four years and helped the Bearcat swimming team to four consecutive league titles. He was the Jimmy Nippert Award recipient as the most outstanding senior male student-athlete and left UC with seven school and five conference records to his name.

He served on UC's Board of Trustees from 1981-90. Keating also served on the UC Lindner College of Business Board of Advisors and as vice chair of the UC Center for Entrepreneurship. In 2013, Keating was honored with UC’s Alumni Distinguished Service Award.

Keating was active in supporting the girls and women’s sports community in the Greater Cincinnati area for more than 35 years. The Big East Conference had honored him for his outstanding contribution to girls and women in sports and the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber honored him in 2015 with its Women Empowerment Award. He was selected for the WE Celebrate Empowerment Award in 2017 by the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Women’s Sports Association. The award acknowledges a person whose mentoring, coaching and advocacy have made a significant impact on the careers of women. The U.S. Olympic Committee honored Keating in the fall of 2016 for his work with disabled athletes.

He practiced law at the Cincinnati firm Keating Muething & Klekamp for almost 40 years.

UC alumnus and active civic leader Peter Sortino, DAAP ’77, died March 24. He was 62.

Sortino was active in his adopted hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, having been instrumental in passage of a proposition that raised sales taxes to establish two metropolitan park and recreation districts, one in St. Louis and the other in Madison and St. Clair counties in Illinois. As a direct result, the Great Rivers Greenway District is building an interconnected network of parks and trails throughout three Missouri counties.

He was also key in another voter-approved measure now helping to fund the CityArchRiver project — the redevelopment of the grounds of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. Sortino was named the St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2016 Citizen of the Year.

Sortino met his wife, Leslie Gillman, DAAP ’77, while both attended UC. The couple moved to St. Louis in 1977.

The man who was named UC’s very first All-American men’s basketball player, Dick Dallmer, died Feb. 9, 2017. He was 92.

Dallmer played for the Bearcats from 1948-50 and was UC's first three-time All-American selection. He earned Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America honors in 1948 and 1949 and AP Third Team All-American laurels in 1950. He closed his college career as UC's all-time scoring leader with 1,098 points, though he did not lead the team in scoring in any of his three seasons. Dallmer helped direct UC to three consecutive Mid-American Conference championships. He earned three team most valuable player awards during his career, a feat matched only by the great Oscar Robertson.

Dallmer was inducted into the James P. Kelly UC Athletics Hall of Fame in 1984 and the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.

"I was privileged to be a teammate and friend for 70 years. He should always be remembered for setting the standard for UC's basketball history from the very beginning," notes Jack Laub, A&S '50, who was recently inducted into the Bearcat Hall of Fame. Laub describes Dallmer as "a man of high ideals, a quality person with great morals and deeply respected by all on the UC campus."

A Hamilton, Ohio, native who served in the European Theater in WWII, Dallmer received a bachelor’s degree (1950) and a master’s degree (1952) in education. He went on to coach and teach at Cincinnati area schools before becoming the superintendent of Lockland schools and then deputy superintendent of the Hamilton County Developmental Disability Services.

George Bryant, one-time general manager of WGUC and the voice of UC, died in November. He was 78. For many years, it was Bryant’s booming voice heard in UC’s promotional videos and radio spots. He proudly served in the Navy in World War II, and his fascination with broadcasting began when saw live radio shows in Hollywood while a sailor. Upon discharge from the Navy, Bryant enrolled at the Schuster-Martin School of Drama in Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, whose alumni included Ma Perkins and Tyrone Power. He started his broadcasting career in 1948 at radio stations in Charleston, West Virginia, and Atlanta. Bryant returned to his hometown to work at WSAI Cincinnati. He then went to WKRC-TV in Cincinnati and served as staff announcer and as emcee for a number of programs. The next stop was WGUC as announcer, producer, program director and later general manager, and he became the broadcast information officer at UC. Bryant taught broadcasting courses at UC as well.

Alumna and a founding member of the board of UC’s Friends of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies has died. Mary Alice Heekin Burke, A&S ’45, died Oct. 30 in Cincinnati. She was 93.

Born in 1923 into one of Cincinnati’s prominent families, Burke’s grandfather, James Heekin, founded the Heekin Can Co. and Heekin Tea and Spice in Cincinnati.

Burke earned a degree in French from UC in 1945, followed by studies in the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, one of the few women in her class. Her French served her well as a translator for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), just as America was recovering from World War II.

In 1947, Mrs. Burke married her childhood sweetheart, Thomas Burke Jr. They had met at Cincinnati's Summit Country Day School, where they were in the same class. As a boy, the future president of the Glacier Companies had delivered ice to her family for their icebox.

After her husband’s death in 1971, Burke reinvented her life. At age 60, she earned a master’s degree in art history from George Washington University. In her studies, she rediscovered the Cincinnati-born artist Elizabeth Nourse, and her research resulted in a joint exhibition at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati Art Museum.

UC lost a legend of the screen with the death of actor Hugh O’Brian, who died Sept. 5, 2016, at 91 years old. Best known for his starring role in the western television series "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" which aired from 1955-61, O’Brian attended UC in 1943 before dropping out to join the Marine Corps during World War II. After his service, he went on to become a Golden Globe-winning and Emmy-nominated actor who appeared in 52 movies and more than 100 TV shows, including “Gunsmoke”. He staged and directed a production of the Broadway musical "Guys and Dolls" that toured Vietnam, Thailand and Japan for the troops. The actor even recorded an album of popular songs and performed on the Ed Sullivan, Dinah Shore and Jackie Gleason variety shows. O’Brian was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1992. In addition to his work as an entertainer, he also founded HOBY — the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership foundation — a philanthropic group that provides youth leadership training and service-learning and motivation-building experiences. HOBY is said to have graduated more than 200,000 participants.

University of Cincinnati alumna and project architect of UC’s Kingsgate Conference Center, Lyn Herne Eisenhauer died on June 29 in Chicago, Illinois. She was 61. Born in New York City, Eisenhauer received her bachelor’s degree in architecture from DAAP in 1978, graduating reportedly as the only woman in her class. She then completed graduate work at UC and Harvard University. Eisenhauer had a distinguished career in architecture in Chicago, working for the firms of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, VOA Associates and Ghafari Associates. Project highlights included Chicago’s famed Navy Pier, Northwestern Memorial Hospital and a 2.9 million square foot expansion at McCormick Place convention center in Chicago. UC’s Kingsgate Conference Center opened in August 1999 and today features 206 rooms, 20,000 square feet of total meeting space and a grand ballroom.

One of the longest serving deans of the UC College of Medicine, John Hutton died June 19 in Cincinnati. He was 79. Serving as dean from 1987 to 2002, Hutton is credited with expanding the prestige and global reach of both the College of Medicine and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He joined the UC faculty in 1984 as the Albert B. Sabin professor of pediatrics and, while dean, increased annual research funding from about $30 million to over $100 million, turning the college into a medical research powerhouse. In 2003, Hutton was honored by the college with the Daniel Drake Medal. After his term as dean, he served as a leader in establishing the biomedical informatics program, now a department within the college, as well as helping forge a partnership with the UC College of Engineering and creating of the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

Two-time All-American and Bearcat basketball great Ron Bonham, Ed ’64, died April 16, 2016, in Muncie, Indiana. He was 73. It was Bonham who helped guide the University of Cincinnati men’s basketball team to a national title in 1962 and a runner-up finish in 1963. Bonham played three seasons for the Bearcats from 1962-64, graduating with stats second only to Oscar Robertson — with career points (1,666) and career scoring average (19.6 points). He finished as the second-leading scorer (14.3 points) on the 1962 team and was the top scorer (21.0 points) and third-leading rebounder (6.4) in 1963. As a co-captain with George Wilson in 1963-64, Bonham averaged a college career-high 24.4 points.

Bonham was a consensus first team All-American in 1963 and earned second team All-America honors in 1964. He still owns the single-season UC record for highest free throw percentage, shooting 89.2 percent (173 of 194) from the foul line during the 1962-63 campaign. His career free throw percentage of .831 (458 of 551) ranks second in UC history.

Selected by Boston in the second round of the 1964 NBA Draft, Bonham helped the Celtics win world championships in 1965 and 1966. He also played the 1967-68 season for the ABA’s Indiana Pacers.

Named Indiana’s Mr. Basketball in 1960, Bonham tallied more than 2,000 total points for Central High School in Muncie, Indiana. Bonham earned induction into the James P. Kelly University of Cincinnati Athletics Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1990.

An outstanding Bearcat basketball player and longtime high school coach, Dean Foster, Ed ’68, died April 6, 2016, in South Bend, Indiana. He was 69.

Described as the consummate point guard for several University of Cincinnati basketball teams from 1965-68, Foster led in assists every year he played. His Bearcat career as a sophomore included the team’s appearance in the 1966 NCAA tournament, when UC nearly upset the eventual national champion, Texas Western. Foster missed a game-winning, right-wing jumper at the end of regulation play. The Bearcats had a combined 56-24 record in his three varsity seasons.

Foster became a high school head coach at the age of 22 when he took over at Cincinnati’s Taft. Eventually, he went back home to Elkhart, Indiana, where he had been a standout high school player and won two MVPs, to begin a 37-year career as a basketball coach in northern Indiana.

Narrator, writer and creator of the iconic television show "The Waltons," UC alum Earl Hamner, CCM '48, HonDoc '08, died March 24, 2016, in Los Angeles. He was 92. It was Hamner's warm, distinctive drawl that was heard narrating the stories of would-be writer John-Boy, his parents and their large extended family living in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains during the Depression. The autobiographical TV series aired for nine seasons in the 1970s and won Hamner an Emmy. A member of UC’s first class of broadcasting graduates, Hamner got a job right out of college with local radio giant, WLW, on its writing staff. He moved to New York City to break into television. After struggling for a time, Hamner eventually got assignments writing for the "Today Show."
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Longtime UC faculty member and a professor emeritus, Zane Miller died March 15, 2016, in Pensacola, Florida. He was 81. Miller joined the UC history faculty in 1966 and stayed until his retirement in 1999. He is most noted for his work on the history of urban and metropolitan developments in American history, with a special focus on Cincinnati. Miller authored a number of books, including “Boss Cox's Cincinnati,” a classic in the field of urban studies, and "Visions of Place: The City, Neighborhoods, Suburbs and Cincinnati's Clifton, 1850-2000.” Miller mentored dozens of doctoral students and for many years edited an urban book series at Ohio State University Press. He edited a book series at Temple University Press, titled "Urban Life, Landscape and Policy." In 1983 he was awarded UC’s George Rieveschl Award for Creative and Scholarly Works, and in 1996 he was awarded UC’s Oscar Schmidt Public Service Award. Upon his retirement, the university appointed him as the Charles Phelps Taft Professor Emeritus of American History. Currently, the UC department of history awards the Zane Miller Professorship in American History and a fellowship in Miller’s name to a doctoral candidate studying American urban history.

A high-profile attorney representing Pete Rose and Johnny Bench and UC graduate, Reuven Katz, A&S ’88, HonDoc ’01, passed away Feb. 13. Born in Cincinnati in 1924, he graduated from Walnut Hills High School in 1942 and Harvard Law School in 1950. In the interim, Katz served in the U.S. Army Air Force in WWII. He began practicing law in Cincinnati, eventually forming his own firm. Katz joined the UC Foundation board in 1989 and served as board chair from 1993-2001. He worked with many Foundation committees and served as a member of the UC Athletics Advisory Council and the UC College of Medicine Community Advisory Board. In 1999, Katz received the first Lifetime Achievement Award given by the Cincinnati Bar Association.

Credited as one of the first women to graduate from UC with a business degree, Jean Naberhaus Inkrot, Bus ’41, died Jan. 23. She was 97 years old. Inkrot graduated from what was known as UC’s College of Engineering and Commerce. She credited UC’s co-op program with making it possible to study and graduate at a time when there were few coeds. Inkrot, perhaps, was better known as co-owner with her husband, Robert Inkrot, of Lance’s Books on Calhoun Avenue. The couple operated the bookstore for many years. Jean was honored by the Lindner College of Business in 2007 with an award for entrepreneurial excellence in recognition of her outstanding leadership and advocacy for small and family businesses. The Inkrots were active in the Clifton Town Meeting and Clifton Business Association.

A professor of music education and theory and a CCM faculty member for 41 years, Simon Anderson died Jan. 14. He was 84. Anderson taught two of the largest and most popular classes ever offered at the university — music appreciation and jazz-pop music. His now-legendary classes were packed with 500 to 650 students.

Anderson also taught former Bearcats and NBA players Nick Van Exel, Kenyon Martin and Jason Maxiell, to name a few. Now, the Dr. Simon Anderson Faculty Recognition Award is given to a UC faculty member who has shown support of education advancement for student athletes at UC, awarded by the Department of Athletics and student athletes.

Born in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, in 1931, Anderson came to Cincinnati to teach at CCM in 1963. He worked with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Opera. Anderson created several programs for local public television including “Man and his Music.” Considered a national expert in American pop music, Anderson wrote “Pop Music, U.S.A.” That book and his textbook, “The Musical Imperative,” are regularly used in universities. Anderson retired from UC in 2005.

Evelyn Hess, an internationally known pioneer in studying and treating diseases of the immune system including AIDS and lupus, died Dec. 25 in Cincinnati. She was 90. A professor emerita of internal medicine at UC’s College of Medicine, Hess was recruited to UC in 1964 to be the founding leader and director of the division of immunology, a position she held until 1995. Hess built a division which achieved national prominence, and she helped develop one of the few combined rheumatology and allergy divisions in the country. She trained and mentored more than 70 rheumatology fellows who went on to successful careers in academia, clinical practice and the pharmaceutical industry. Her many professional honors include the Daniel Drake Medal from the UC College of Medicine in 2001 and the Distinguished Rheumatologist Award from the American College of Rheumatology in 1996. The Evelyn V. Hess Chair for Lupus Research was established at the UC College of Medicine in 2009. In 2007, the Ohio chapter of the American College of Physicians began awarding the Evelyn V. Hess Master Teacher Award to physician teachers. The Lupus Foundation of America in 2005 established the annual Evelyn V. Hess MD Research Award to honor researchers whose work has advanced the understanding of causes and treatment of lupus. Additionally, she founded and chaired the Greater Cincinnati AIDS Task Force. In 1998, she was given the Cincinnati Enquirer's Woman of the Year Award.

Multi-Emmy-winning actor David Canary, A&S '60, one of UC's most famous and beloved graduates, died of natural causes on Nov. 16, 2015, in Connecticut. He was 77. The actor was best known for his dual roles as both Adam and Stuart Chandler on ABC's "All My Children."

After two years in the service, he got his first break in television in "Peyton Place" in 1965, then in "Bonanza" and "Gunsmoke." By 1984, he won the role playing the Chandler twins on "All My Children," which continued until 2011. In that time, he won five outstanding actor daytime Emmys.
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TERRY KERSHAW

Terry Kershaw, a professor in UC’s Department of Africana Studies, died Oct. 28. He was 63. He is a graduate of the State University of New York at Cortland and held a master’s degree in black studies from Ohio State and a PhD in sociology from Washington State University. Prior to coming to UC in 2009, Kershaw led the Africana Studies program and was the director of the Center for Race and Social Policy at Virginia Tech. He also worked at the College of Wooster and Temple University. Kershaw was instrumental in having the National Council for Black Studies move its headquarters to UC in 2011.

Poet, essayist and UC alum Alvin Greenberg, A&S ’54, died Sept. 27, at the age of 83. He penned more than a dozen books, including a short story collection, "The Man in the Cardboard Mask," and a collection of humorous poems for the literate animal lover, "Why We Live with Animals." His work appeared in the 1973 and 1982 editions of “Best American Short Stories,” and, in 1983, Greenberg won the Associated Writing Programs’ short fiction award. He also wrote the librettos for three operas and an improvisational play for children. Greenberg taught English for 34 years at Macalester College, St. Paul, Minn., before his retirement in 1999.

A UC professor emeritus of surgery known worldwide for his work on the first heart-lung machine, James Helmsworth died Aug. 27. He was 100 years old. Helmsworth gained national acclaim in 1952 for one of the first uses in the United States of a heart-lung bypass machine in the treatment of a human patient. Also, in 1969, Helmsworth performed Cincinnati’s first heart transplant at Cincinnati Children’s. It was the world’s fourth heart transplant in a child.

He received a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and, after completing a two-year internship in Philadelphia, he began a surgical residency at the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati General Hospital. From 1944 to 1947 Helmsworth served as a surgeon in the U.S. Army. He returned to Cincinnati, completed his surgical residency in 1949 and was appointed an assistant professor of surgery. Soon after, he began performing pediatric surgery at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. He was appointed professor and director of the division of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery in 1969. Helmsworth retired in 1984 and was named professor emeritus the next year.

During his career, he collaborated with chemist Leland Clark and cardiologist Samuel Kaplan on the development of one of the first heart-lung machines.

The only one in UC’s history to hold professorships in three colleges, Richard Shell died June 26. A proponent of interdisciplinary research, Shell taught in UC’s Lindner College of Business, College of Engineering and Applied Science and the College of Medicine. He joined the university in 1970, after a decade in the manufacturing and material management industries. Full story.

Folklorist, scholar and UC professor emeritus Edgar Slotkin died on June 21 in Wyoming, Ohio. He was 72. A distinguished Celtic language and folklore scholar, Slotkin taught for 40 years and served in numerous administrative capacities at UC’s English Department, retiring in 2011. He also served as a visiting professor at both the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and the University of Edinburgh. He received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from Harvard University. As an active and prolific scholar, Slotkin had numerous articles and book reviews to his credit and gave over 100 lectures and conference papers. He is survived by his wife of 34 years, Valerie Shesko, M (DAAP) ’88.

SAUL MARMER

The head of a well-known Cincinnati shoe store franchise and UC alumnus, Saul Marmer, Bus ’48, died March 16. He was 90 years old. Heading the family-owned Cincinnati chain of Marmer Shoes for decades, he was a Price Hill native and graduated from Western Hills High School in 1942. He won a scholarship to study radio at UC’s College-Conservatory of Music and worked at Cincinnati’s WLW radio station for a time. World War II interrupted his studies. He had enlisted in the Army Reserve Corps while a student at UC and was called to active duty in 1943. He served in Europe toward the end of the conflict and during post-war occupation and participated in the liberation of a slave labor camp. Marmer was awarded a Bronze Star. In 2014, he was honored as an “Unsung Hero” by UC’s OLLI program, which provides learning and social interaction opportunities. Marmer taught several courses for OLLI, including “Personal Experiences of the ‘30s and ‘40s” and “Stop Hurting Your Feet.”

OLLI’s 2014 Unsung Hero Saul Marmer

OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute)

MICHAEL GRAVES

Celebrated architect, award-winning designer and University of Cincinnati alumnus Michael Graves, DAAP ’58, HonDoc ’82, died Thursday, March 12, in Princeton, N.J. He was 80.

Internationally acclaimed, Graves’ work earned him the highest honors from the American Institute of Architects. Born in Indianapolis, Ind., in 1934, after his studies at UC and at Harvard, Graves worked as a fellow at the American Academy in Rome. He became a professor at Princeton University and founded the New Jersey firm that bears his name in 1964.

Widely recognized as one of the world’s top design minds, Graves is regarded as a catalyst behind a post-modern movement in contemporary architecture. He designed the University of Cincinnati’s distinctive Engineering Research Center, which opened in 1995. Graves was honored with UC’s William Howard Taft Medal for Notable Achievement in 1998. Other Graves designs include Cincinnati’s Riverbend and the Swan and Dolphin Resort at Walt Disney World.

“Michael transformed the role of architects and designers and even the place of design in our everyday lives,” according to his website. “For those of us who had the opportunity to work closely with Michael, we knew him as an extraordinary designer, teacher, mentor and friend. For the countless students that he taught for more than 40 years, Michael was an inspiring professor who encouraged everyone to find their unique design voice.”

UC President Santa Ono's statement about Graves

"The University of Cincinnati has lost a distinguished alumnus and a member of our community who added beauty to the world in a way no one other than Michael Graves could. He dared to take risks and to connect with people through his postmodern creations. We are fortunate that one of those unique works, the Engineering Research Center, sits in a prominent place on our campus. His buildings, his everyday products, and in his final years, his efforts to design health care equipment and furniture in new ways to help those with disabilities, leave an amazing legacy that will inspire generations to come. To his family, friends and loved ones, we express our deep sympathy."

Michael Graves website

DONALD STEINER

Donald Steiner, A&S '52, a much-honored researcher who is credited with discoveries that led to major improvements in the treatment of diabetes, died on Nov. 11 at his home in Chicago. He was 84. Steiner spent most of his career studying insulin and, until recently, was still conducting diabetes research at the University of Chicago which he had done since 1960. Over the years, that research led to a landmark discovery reported in 1967. He showed that insulin started out not as two chains, but as one long chain, which was later broken into two. This information was quickly put to use by insulin manufacturers. His findings also informed later research that made it possible to produce human insulin. Steiner won dozens of prestigious national and international honors and awards, including the Ernst Oppenheimer Award for the Endocrine Society in 1970, the Canada Gairdner International Award in 1971, the Wolf Foundation Prize in Medicine in 1985 and the Manpei Suzuki International Prize for Diabetes Research — the largest financial award for diabetes research.

HAROLD MAIER

Renowned legal scholar and UC alumnus Harold Maier died in August 2014. A professor of law at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., for 41 years, Maier, A&S ’59, Law ’63, is credited with advancing the area of transnational law. He was a consultant to the U.S. government on several occasions, including on the Panama Canal treaty negotiations and on civil litigation connected to the Mariel boatlift of Cuban refugees in 1980. He was counselor on international law to the U.S. Department of State from 1983-84 and, in 2000, testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on behalf of former World War II prisoners of war. Born and raised in Cincinnati, Maier also earned a law degree at the University of Michigan in 1964.

WARREN BENNIS

A national authority on organizational development, UC president emeritus Warren Bennis, 89, HonDoc ’07, died in July. The university’s 22nd president served from 1971-77 and led UC from a city college to a state institution. Bennis, author and editor of nearly 30 books, is considered a pioneer and expert in the field of leadership studies. After his tenure at UC, Bennis went to the University of Southern California in 1979 and served there as a distinguished professor of business administration for more than three decades. He became known as the preeminent scholarly authority on leadership, and his obituary in The New York Times noted that he advised both U.S. presidents and business executives. Bennis wrote what is likely his most influential book, "On Becoming a Leader," in 1989 — spurring vice president Al Gore to have his staff read the book and then bringing Bennis to Washington to conduct a seminar. His work, “An Invented Life,” earned him a Pulitzer Prize nomination. Other Bennis’ books include “Why Leaders Can’t Lead” (1989), “Managing People is like Herding Cats” (1997) and “The Essential Bennis” (2009).

• "UC mourns the passing of president emeritus Warren Bennis."
• Bennis' website
  

THOMAS BERGER

UC alum and author of "Little Big Man," Thomas Berger, 89, A&S ’48, died in July 2014 in Nyack, N.Y. The story of a white boy raised by the Cheyenne nation in the 19th-century American West, "Little Big Man" was published in 1964 and made into a 1970 movie starring Dustin Hoffman. Berger wrote a number of other novels, including "Sneaky People," "Neighbors" and "The Feud," which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Born in Cincinnati, Berger enlisted in the Army and served in the medical corps in England and Germany during World War II. After the war, he enrolled at UC, earned his degree with honors and pursued graduate work in English at Columbia University until 1951, when he abandoned work on his thesis on George Orwell. After Columbia, he held jobs as a librarian and as a summary writer for The New York Times Index. He married and moved to a New York suburb, where he worked as freelance copy editor while working on his first novel, “Crazy in Berlin,” published in 1958.

LOIS ROSENTHAL

Cincinnati arts patron and philanthropist Lois Rosenthal, A&S '60, HonDoc '08, died in July 2014 at 75 years old. She and her husband Richard Rosenthal funded many major arts projects, including Cincinnati’s Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art and the Cincinnati Art Museum -- the latter can offer free admissions with their gift. During her 28-year tenure on the board of the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, she and her husband established the Rosenthal New Play Prize, which has produced 15 world premier productions -- several of which were produced in New York City.

The couple also initiated programs to support the poor, hungry or disadvantaged, including the Rosenthal Fresh Foods Initiative at Cincinnati's Freestore Foodbank, in which dry, refrigerated and frozen products are collected from companies and provided to neighbors in need.

In addition, they established the Rosenthal Institute for Justice at the UC College of Law and its Ohio Innocence Project, which has freed 17 wrongfully convicted inmates from Ohio prisons. Rosenthal is survived by her husband, Richard; their children Jennie and David; four grandchildren; and her brother.

LIONEL BROWN

Alumnus and long-time urban educator Lionel Brown died in May 2014. Brown, Ed ’69, DAAP ’69, M (Ed) ’73, D (Ed) ’82, served as a teacher, principal and interim superintendent for Cincinnati Public Schools, including for Hughes, Withrow and Aiken high schools, and was an associate professor of UC’s College of Education, Criminal Justice, & Human Services. Brown, as a principal of Withrow High School, dramatically changed the learning environment of that school. He founded Project Succeed Academy, an alternative school for students at risk of educational failure. At UC, Brown worked with students in the educational leadership program. He mentored those interested in the unique challenges often presented in urban environments. Brown was the author of several books and articles for peer-reviewed publications and a frequent lecturer and presenter. His current research included studies of collaborative efforts to address the needs of urban students and their families.

CHARLES KEATING JR.

UC Hall of Fame member and the first UC athlete to win a national championship, Charles Keating Jr., JD ’48, died in March 2014. Keating won the 200 butterfly in the 1946 NCAA championships.

The Cincinnati native's swimming career took off when he returned to UC after serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Keating won the Ohio Intercollegiate Conference championship in the 200 breaststroke in 1945 before earning the national title in that event in 1946 (the event was known as the breaststroke at the time, but has since been reclassified as the butterfly in the NCAA record book). Keating won that exciting race before more than 2,500 fans at Yale's gymnasium with a time of 2:26.2. Not only was it the first national title in any sport by a Bearcat, but Keating and teammate Roy Lagaly became the first UC swimmers to earn All-America honors.

Keating went on to become a prominent banker and financier in the Phoenix, Ariz., area. He was involved in the savings and loan collapse of the late 1980s.

He remained an avid swimmer throughout his life. His grandson, Gary Hall Jr., went on to win 10 Olympic swimming medals, including five golds. Keating's brother, Bill Keating Sr. and his nephew, Bill Keating Jr., were also UC swimmers. All three are members of the UC Athletics James P. Kelly Sr. Athletics Hall of Fame. Bill Sr. is the namesake of the Keating Aquatics Center.

LEE LORCH

Prominent civil rights activist, World War II veteran and respected mathematician Lee Lorch, D (A&S) '41, died of natural causes Feb. 28, 2014, in a Toronto hospital. He was 98 years old.

Throughout his life, Lorch fought tirelessly against racial discrimination and segregation, particularly in the housing sector and academia. In the 1940s, Lorch lived with his wife, Grace, and daughter, Alice (Bartels), in Stuyvesant Town, a housing development in Manhattan’s East Side. The development had a “whites-only” policy and was given freedom to deny housing to blacks. After Lorch’s wife invited a black family to live in their Stuyvesant Town apartment, his devoted activism started to make an impact. By 1950, the housing development was forced to abandon their discriminatory policies. In 1968 the Fair Housing Act was passed.

Lorch’s reputation as a civil rights leader didn’t always serve him well. Despite his accomplishments as a professor — he taught some of the first black students to ever receive a doctorate in mathematics while at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn. — Lorch was fired from several American universities because of his controversial activism. In 1968, effectively blacklisted from American universities, Lorch moved his family to Canada and taught at the University of Alberta. He ended his teaching career at Toronto’s York University as professor emeritus of mathematics.

In a tribute on York University’s website, York's president Mamdouh Shoukri said of Lorch: “Intensely principled, Lee was a champion of social justice as well as a passionate advocate of political and academic freedoms. He will be greatly missed by the York University community and by all who knew him.”

Former Bearcat star and UC basketball hall of fame member Conrad “Connie” Dierking, att. 1956-58, died Dec. 29. He was 77. The Brooklyn-born Dierking, a lanky 6-foot-10 center, starred for UC from 1956 to ’58. A teammate of Oscar Robertson, he averaged a double-double with 12.7 points and 13.5 rebounds helping the Bearcats to a 57-19 record during his three-year UC career. Dierking still holds the record for most rebounds in a game, grabbing 33 against Loyola (of Louisiana) on Feb. 16, 1957.

Dierking was a co-captain on UC’s 1957-58 team that made the school’s first NCAA tournament appearance. He, along with Robertson, helped guide the Bearcats to a 25-3 overall record and UC’s first Missouri Valley Conference championship. He was inducted into the James P. Kelly UC Athletics Hall of Fame in 1986. He went pro when the Syracuse Nationals selected Dierking as the fifth pick overall in the 1958 NBA draft. He played 10 NBA seasons, averaging 10 points and 6.7 rebounds, including five years with Oscar Robertson on the Cincinnati Royals squad.

NELL SURBER

Nell Surber, JD ’55, an economic development director for the city of Cincinnati during a construction boom in the 1980s, died Dec. 9 at a local hospice following a heart attack. She was 85. Surber spent nearly 15 years – 1976 to 1990 – as the city’s economic development director, then ran for Cincinnati city council in the fall of 1991. She lost that race but was appointed the next year to fill a council vacancy. A few of the high-profile projects that opened under her watch include Atrium II, the Chiquita Center, the Saks/Hyatt complex and One Lytle Place. In addition to her work for the city, Surber was also a member of many Cincinnati civic organizations and lived downtown in a building she renovated.

JEANNE BONHAM

Jeanne Bonham, member of the UC Board of Trustees for nine years from 1986-95, died Nov. 2 at her Cincinnati home after a short illness. From her start in Rockcastle County, Ky., she went on to Purdue University. There, unable to major in engineering because she was a female, she majored in home economics so she could learn about housing issues. Her marriage in 1954 to C. Philip Bonham, a manager at Procter & Gamble, brought her to Cincinnati. Active in civic affairs, she served as a board member of the Hamilton County Mental Health Board and was instrumental in getting the first mental health levy passed. As director of the Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission in the 1960s, she helped bring Head Start and dental health programs to the region. Bonham served as president of the Planned Parenthood board and the Woman’s City Club and was a founding member of UC’s Friends of Women’s Studies.

M.J. KLYN

M.J. Klyn, the first woman to serve as a vice president at the University of Cincinnati, died Nov. 6 of lung cancer at the age of 89. Mary Jeanne Klyn, known to everyone as "M.J.," retired from the university in 1998 after more than 22 years of service. During her term at UC, Klyn developed an almost legendary reputation as a committed, energetic and effective representative of the university in Columbus as its lobbyist. Her first task was the successful campaign to bring UC into the Ohio system of higher education, accomplished in July 1977. With former UC President Joe Steger, Klyn helped get state appropriations of nearly $2 billion to help pay for the expansion of UC’s campus, which laid the groundwork for the university's growth.  In 1999, Klyn was honored as a Great Living Cincinnatian by the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce for her exemplary community service, business and civic accomplishments. Memorials can be made to the Barrett Cancer Center or to the University of Cincinnati. Read more.

GORDON MAHAM

Gordon Maham, Eng '41, a longtime anti-nuclear activist, died at age 96 on July 9, 2013, at his Greater Cincinnati home. As a civil engineer, Maham was hired to work with the Army Corps of Engineers on the Panama Canal and, eventually, on the ultra-secret National Security Complex plant that was enriching uranium as part of the Manhattan Project's Y12 Plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn. When he learned that Y12 was producing the first atomic bomb, he resigned. Losing his war-industry draft exemption, he was drafted. Upon failing to report for his military induction, he served three years in federal prison. His social justice efforts continued behind bars as he tried to desegregate the prison.

Committing his life spreading peace and helping others, he said he had lost track of how many times he had been arrested in peaceful protests. Author Connie Springer describes him as spending "just about every waking moment working for causes that are dear to him" (in her book "Positively Ninety:  Interviews with Lively Nonagenarians," named 2012 International Book Award finalist). Maham's wife, Mary, preceded him in death, and he is survived by three sons and a daughter.
See his listing under Famous Alumni Human-Rights Champions.

Standout student athlete William H. Anderson, Law ’52, whose resume also includes municipal judge, lawyer and state representative, died July 5 at the age of 87. He played for the UC football, tennis, basketball and track teams and helped the Bearcats win the Mid-American Conference football titles his sophomore and senior seasons. In high school, Anderson was named the state tennis doubles champion. He is in the Wyoming High School and Buddy LaRosa halls of fame and was named by the Cincinnati Enquirer as one of the top 100 athletes from this area. After high school, he served a stint in the U.S. Marine Corps before coming to UC. Upon graduation Anderson worked for two years at the Hamilton County prosecutor’s office, then went into private practice specializing in labor law at a Cincinnati firm until retiring in 1994.

In the 1960s, Anderson served two years as a municipal judge for the city of Wyoming, Ohio. In 1966 he jumped briefly into the political arena, running successfully for a seat on the Ohio House of Representatives. He served from 1967-68 when he sat on the education, judiciary and industry and labor committees. His bill to increase workman’s compensation benefits became law in December 1967.

He was inducted into the UC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986. After college, Anderson started playing golf. He played on Ohio’s Senior Golf Team, was a runner-up in the Ohio amateur tournament and was inducted into the Cincinnati Legends of Golf, a hall of fame organized by the Greater Cincinnati Golf Association. He is survived by his wife, five children and 14 grandchildren.

WANDA BATH MOSBACKER

A long-time advocate of cooperative education, Wanda Bath Mosbacker, Eng ’34, M (Ed) ’57, died June 28 at the age of 101. From the time she was a UC co-op in the ‘30s to her retirement as emerita director and associate dean of the Division of Professional Practice, Mosbacker dedicated her working life to cooperative education. She was recognized nationally as an innovator and administrator of co-op and received countless awards and recognitions for her work. Today the UC division continues to award annually the John and Wanda Mosbacker Award for Faculty Excellence in Teaching to the UC faculty member with a demonstrated excellence in the classroom.

As a UC student, Mosbacker was a member of Pi Chi Epsilon, the honorary women’s engineering fraternity, and served as president of the Co-Ep Club, an organization for women co-op students. She graduated from UC with a degree in commercial engineering in 1934 and received a master’s degree in education in 1957.

Mosbacker’s passion was traveling, and, in her lifetime, she visited and toured more than 100 countries and every continent. In fact, her health deteriorated following a fall while vacationing in Mexico at the age of 100.

EUGENE RUEHLMANN

Former Cincinnati mayor and distinguished UC alumnus, Eugene Ruehlmann, A&S ’47, Hon PhD 2011, died June 8. A native Cincinnatian, Ruehlmann graduated from Western Hills High School, served on the U.S. Marines during World War II, was a member of the UC football team that won the Sun Bowl Championship in 1947 and graduated with honors with a degree in political science. Afterward, he earned his law degree from Harvard University.

While at UC, Ruehlmann met his future wife, Virginia Juergens, Ed ’46, M (Ed) ’48. The two had eight children. He practiced law in Cincinnati and later went into politics, his longtime ambition. He ultimately served 12 years on Cincinnati city council beginning in 1959 and served as mayor from 1967-71.

JOSEPH STEGER

Joseph Steger, HonDoc '04, UC's 24th president, died May 9, 2013, in Cincinnati at the age of 76. His 19-year term of office, from July 1984 to September 2003, was the second-longest in UC history. As president, he launched the world-renowned campus Master Plan in 1989 to direct the dramatic rebirth of UC’s campus. Through his term, indicators of academic quality and research productivity climbed dramatically, UC achieved increasing attention for fiscal responsibility, and UC’s undergraduate curriculum was revitalized with the adoption of online and digital tools.

Steger published more than 70 articles and edited a book on statistics while conducting research and consulting on technology-transfer management, identification of management talent and higher education's role in economic development. In recognition of his contributions to science, he was elected a Fellow in both the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society. On campus, the Joseph Steger Student Life Center opened in 2004 to house offices and meeting spaces for student groups and organizations. It is one of the most unique buildings on the MainStreet corridor.

Steger earned his PhD in psychophysics and MS in experimental psychology from Kansas State University after graduating from Gettysburg College with a degree in psychology. Gettysburg named him a distinguished alumnus in 1987. His survivors are wife, Carol; son, Marty; daughter, Tracy McClorey; and three grandchildren, Dillan, Natalie, and Zemmie.

LINKS

• Read Steger's entire university obituary.
  
• Read UC Magazine's award-winning story on his departure as president.
  

RICHARD NEWROCK
Richard Newrock, UC professor and a former dean, died May 25. He first joined the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences faculty in 1973 as an assistant professor of physics and as head of the physics department from 1982-95. In 2000, Newrock was named interim dean and later dean of the College of Applied Science, serving in that position until the college merged with the College of Engineering in 2009. He returned to the department of physics as a faculty member where he remained until his death. Newrock grew up in the New York City area on Long Island. He received a bachelor’s degree in physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1964, a master’s degree from Rutgers University in 1966 and a doctorate from Rutgers in experimental condensed-matter physics in 1970.

NICHOLAS SPERELAKIS
Nicholas Sperelakis, chairman of the physiology and biophysics department at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine for 10 years, died May 21 at the age of 83. Before coming to UC in 1983, he was a professor of physiology at the University of Virginia for 17 years. Sperelakis resigned from the UC chairmanship in 1993 but remained at the university as the Joseph Eichberg Professor Emeritus to continue his research until his retirement in 2001. During his long career, Sperelakis published more than 500 research articles and numerous chapters in textbooks relating to his work in electrophysiology and membrane biophysics. He was recognized by multiple organizations and received the American Heart Association’s Research Merit Award (1996) and the Samuel Kaplan Visionary Award for Cardiac Research (1996).  His most recent accomplishment was the release of the fourth edition of his cell physiology textbook in 2012.

FRED KAPLAN
Fred Kaplan, UC professor emeritus who taught chemistry at UC for 40 years, died May 2 at his Clifton home. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Kaplan attended New York and Brandeis universities and received his PhD in chemistry from Yale University.

His research and discoveries in the then-revolutionary field of nuclear magnetic resonance aided in the development of MRIs. After a sabbatical at Stanford University, Kaplan focused on ion cyclotron resonance spectroscopy, in which he was a pioneer. He coauthored “The Vocabulary of Organic Chemistry,” a widely used text that was translated into multiple languages for use by students around the world. Kaplan was a fixture at UC basketball and football games. He was 78.

ABE BORTZ
Alumnus Abe Bortz, A&S ’41, M (A&S) ’47, the Social Security Administration's first historian, died March 19 of lymphoma at his home in Pikesville, Md. He was 93. A Cincinnati native, Bortz received his UC history degree and then was drafted into the Army the next year. He saw Buchenwald, one of the German concentration camps, soon after the Army liberated it. After he was discharged in 1945, he immediately went back to school. He earned a master's degree in history at UC in 1947 and a doctorate in the same subject from Harvard University in 1950. Bortz moved to Baltimore and became an Army historian, part of a team writing a multi-volume history of the Army in World War II. After 12 years, he went to work for the Social Security Administration — building a foundation of information for the country's largest domestic program. As the agency's first and longest-serving historian, Bortz preserved early records, established its museum and launched its research archive. He remained the agency's historian until he retired in 1985. Also during that time, Bortz wrote more than 100 book reviews, all for the Baltimore Sun papers. He and his wife, the former Rita Gradsky, were married for 58 years, until Mrs. Bortz's death in 2009.

JOHN HERMANIES
A die-hard UC Bearcats fan who missed only a couple of home football or basketball games, John Hermanies, D (Law) ’48, Hon. Doc. ’92, died March 16 at his home in Cincinnati at the age of 90. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II in Okinawa, he returned to Cincinnati to get his UC law degree. For the next 50 years, Hermanies would hold many political positions including as Ohio’s assistant attorney general, as well as assistant to Ohio governor Jim Rhodes and chairman of the Hamilton County Republican Party. Hermanies served on the UC Board of Trustees for 15 years (remaining as a trustee emeritus until his death), and he and his wife, Dorothy, were generous donors to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Art Museum and the Hamilton County SPCA among others. The UC athletic department was often the focus of the couple’s generosity, and the press box at UC’s Nippert Stadium is named for them.

THOMAS McEVILLEY
A provocative and influential art critic, Thomas McEvilley, A&S ’63, D (A&S) ’68, died March 2 in New York City. He was 73. McEvilley grew up in Cincinnati and studied Greek, Latin, Sanskrit and classical philosophy in UC’s classics program. He taught at Rice University from 1969 to 2008. In 2005, he founded the MFA art criticism and writing program at the School of Visual Arts in New York. McEvilley had been a visiting professor at Yale University and the school of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has received numerous awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts critics grant, a Fulbright fellowship and the 1993 Frank Jewett Mather Award for Distinction in Art Criticism from the College Art Association. McEvilley became a major art world figure when he wrote a “shattering review” and critical account in Artforum about William Rubin’s and J. Kirk Varnedoe’s 1984 Museum of Modern Art show "Primitivism in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern." His art essays are collected in several books including “Art & Otherness: Crisis in Cultural Identity” (1991) and “The Triumph of Anti-Art: Conceptual and Performance Art in the Formation of Post-Modernism” (2012).

WILLIAM SCHUBERT
William Schubert, BM & MD ’52, professor emeritus of pediatrics and former president of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, died Feb. 25 at age 85. He had been affiliated with Children's and UC College of Medicine for more than 50 years, having joined the former in 1963 as director of its Clinical Research Center. He chaired pediatrics from 1979-93 and was president and CEO  from '83-96, making him the only person to have served in both roles at the same time. His primary research interests were diseases of the liver and Reyes syndrome, for which he published more than 80 research articles.

During his tenure, he helped train an entire generation of physicians and steered Children's "from a small facility with four operating rooms to one of the top five pediatric medical centers in the nation," says Ohio Sen. Rob Portman. "During the 1970s, Dr. Schubert led a centralization of the region's pediatric care into a single medical center at Children's Hospital."

In 1976, he was instrumental in expanding the city's property tax levy for indigent care to include children. In 1993, the American College of Surgeons designated Children's as a Level 1 pediatric trauma center under Dr. Schubert's guidance. In 1991, he received the College of Medicine's Daniel Drake Award in recognition of his leadership and compassion for the children. That year, he was also named to the Greater Cincinnati Business Hall of Fame for gaining national recognition for the medical center. In 1992, he received the college's Medical Distinguished Alumni Award. He retired in 1996, but continued to serve as a historian, a consultant and a member of the medical center's Board of Trustees.

MILTON ORCHIN
When Milt Orchin died on Feb. 14 at age 98, the chemistry department had indeed lost its most senior faculty member. In 1953, Orchin joined UC in the Applied Science Laboratory after working as a chemist for the federal government with the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Mines. At UC, he soon moved to the chemistry department, where he served as chair from 1956-62, held more than 20 patents, supervised the thesis work of 52 graduate students and wrote seven books, 15 reviews and 198 research papers. After his 1981 retirement at age 67, he spent the next 25 years as director of the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences' Hoke Greene Laboratory of Catalysis and collaborator on 47 more research papers. After he finally closed his laboratory in 2006 at age 92, he began writing a seventh book with two colleagues, William Jensen and Henry Fenichel. The book was published six months after his 97 birthday.

WILLIAM FORBRIGER

William Forbriger (1930-2013), Eng ’53, was former vice president of Revlon-Realistic Co. and co-owner of the Tressa Co. At Revlon, he developed products for permanents, hair color and dryers, gaining the reputation as “the creator of the best permanent waves in the professional beauty Industry.” At UC he had been a member of the UC golf team and twice won the Kenwood Country Club Men’s Champion., In 2010, he was appointed to the University Of Cincinnati Foundation Board and served as a Kautz Alumni Master in 2002. He created two scholarship funds for the UC Pharmacy School and the College of Engineering.

HENRY WINKLER
President Emeritus Henry Winkler, A&S '38, MA (A&S) '40, HonDoc '87, died on Dec. 26 at the age of 96. Considered an outstanding scholar, educator and administrator, he is the only UC alumnus to serve as the university's president.

After graduating from UC, Winkler served in the U.S. Navy as an intelligence officer in the Pacific with a specialty in Japanese language. He earned his PhD from the University of Chicago, then joined the faculty at Rutgers University, where he went on to become chair of the history department, dean of liberal arts, senior vice president for academic affairs, executive vice president and acting president.

In 1977, he became the 23rd president of the University of Cincinnati, where he was active in the creation of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (now the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities). In 1984, he left the president's office and remained on faculty.

At the age of 70, he retired "because I had to," he told UC Magazine. "Those were the rules at the time. But it allowed me to become honest again; my first love was my academic profession. So I took a few years to retool myself, then taught off and on, and wrote books on British history."

During his 63 years in higher education, Winkler received numerous honorary degrees and awards, and also served as a visiting professor at Bryn Mawr, Columbia, Harvard and the London School of Economics. "He will be truly missed," said John McDonough, UC associate professor emeritus of surgery. "He had a fantastic and enviable life and was the inspiration of the Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions" (for which McDonough is chair of its Advisory Board).

"Dr. Winkler will be remembered for his leadership of UC during its first years as a state university," said UC President Santa Ono, "He holds a special place in our collective heart as a kind and gracious member of the UC family." Winkler is survived by his wife Bea, children Allan Michael and Karen Jean, and stepsons Richard, Robert and Kenneth Ross.
Read more.

ELWOOD JENSEN
Elwood Jensen, a distinguished university professor in the department of cancer biology and winner of the 2004 Lasker Award, passed away Dec. 16, 2012. He was 92. Internationally known as the "Father of the Nuclear Receptor Field,” Jensen was one of three researchers sharing the 2004 Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, making him only the second UC faculty member to be honored with an "American Nobel” following Albert Sabin in 1956.

Since receiving his Lasker Award, Jensen’s name was frequently mentioned each Fall as a possible recipient for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Jensen was revered worldwide for his discovery of hormone receptors which brought about a revolution in molecular science and transformed the treatment for breast cancer patients. Some have estimated that his work annually saves or prolongs the lives of more than 100,000 women.
Read 2008 feature on Jensen.

LEROY "ROY" ECKART
After 45 years of service to the University of Cincinnati, Leroy "Roy" Eckart passed away on Nov. 26, 2012, due to pancreatic cancer. In 1966, he began his UC career by teaching math, but then became professor of nuclear engineering with research in criticality safety, radiological environmental assessment and human health-risk assessment. He received the Engineering Tribunal's Teacher of the Year award twice, the Neil Wandmacher Excellence in Teaching Award and the national AT&T Foundation Award for Excellence in Instruction of Engineering Students.

From 1985-95, Dr. Eckart and his research group were awarded 17 research contracts worth $2,795,000 for health-risk assessment due to radioactive materials in the workplace and the environment. This research work aided in the cleanup of contaminated weapons sites in Ohio at Fernald, Mound and Portsmouth, as well as the cleanup of plutonium bearing soils at the Nevada Weapons Test Site.

Dr. Eckart served as department head of mechanical, industrial and nuclear engineering for five years, as senior associate dean and associate dean for academic and administrative affairs for 10 years, then as interim dean for two years. During that time, he worked to develop the ACCelerated ENgineering Degree (ACCEND) program and accepted a $450,000 General Electric Fund grant to determine how instructional technologies could improve engineering education.

After retiring, he developed a course on leadership that was a popular elective in the college and authored “Becoming a Leader: Fundamentals of Leadership,” which was designed for college students and new graduates.  He was also a devoted family man who coached soccer for his children and refereed for many years. He is survived by his wife, three children and seven grandchildren.

GEORGE STRIKE
A former UC Board of Trustees chairman and a minority owner of the Cincinnati Reds, George Strike, HonDoc ‘99, died on Oct. 20 at age 82 after a brief struggle with cancer. Through his career, he had been an owner and leader of American Laundry Machinery, Hess & Eisenhardt, Advance Textile Systems and Martin Franchises, the worldwide franchisor of the "Martinizing" dry cleaning stores. His dedication to the university included serving as the first chairman of the newly formed UC Health Board of Directors, chairman of the University Hospital board, a member of the UC Foundation Board and the Health Alliance Board. In 2012, the university honored him with the President’s Award for Excellence, the Lifetime “Health Care Hero” Achievement Award and induction into the Order of the Black Blazer, Athletics’ top honor. At other times, he received the Honoree Award from the Drake Center and the Chairman’s Award from the University of Cincinnati Foundation for distinguished leadership.

JAMES "JIM" IRELAND JR.
On Sept. 3, 2012, at age 69, James Ireland Jr., Bus '66, MM (CCM) '70, passed away of cancer, in Florida, where he had been living. From 1972-79, Ireland created the foundation for the opera/musical-theater arm of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) with the intention of building a stronger support base for opera and musical theater in the United States. The NEA Opera/Musical Theater Program was launched in 1978. While serving the NEA as its director of the budget and of its Opera/Musical Theater Program, Ireland also worked to help develop OPERA America, an international service organization for North American opera. After moving on, he spent 22 years as managing and producing director of the acclaimed Houston Grand Opera. Most recently, he had been assisting composer Tobias Picker in developing a new opera company for the San Antonio area.

NEIL ARMSTRONG
Neil Armstrong, HonDoc '82, the first man on the moon and a UC aerospace engineering professor, died on Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012, at the age of 82. Armstrong taught at UC from 1971 through '79 and delivered the commencement address in 1982, when he received his honorary doctorate of science.

His first distinction came in 1966, when he became the first civilian to fly a U.S. spacecraft. While he commanded Gemini 8, two vehicles successfully docked in space for the first time. Then in '69, he was mission commander on the historic Apollo 11 flight and piloted the Lunar Module "Eagle" to the moon's surface. Afterward, Armstrong served as NASA's deputy associate administrator for aeronautics. At UC, he was a beloved teacher and researcher.

A fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Armstrong was decorated by 17 countries. Internationally, he received the Royal Geographic Society's Gold Medal, the Federation Aeronautique Internationale's Gold Space Medal and the Harmon International Aviation Trophy. In the U.S., he received the first Congressional Space Medal of Honor, presented by President Jimmy Carter; the Congressional Gold Medal, presented by President Barack Obama as the highest civilian award bestowed by Congress; the Presidential Medal of Freedom; and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal.

UC interim president Santa Ono said the following: "Our nation and indeed the entire globe has lost a courageous and unassuming hero who served humankind in a way that captivated our imagination and served as an inspiration for generations of scientists and explorers. We are very honored that he chose to serve on the engineering faculty at UC for many years."
Read a complete feature article remembering Armstrong at UC.

LOUISE DIETERLE NIPPERT
Louise Dieterle Nippert, A&S '34, HonDoc '67, a most devoted University of Cincinnati patron, fan and volunteer, passed away on July 23, 2012, at age 100. She and her husband Louis Nippert, a College of Law alumnus who passed away in 1992, had generously supported various programs and funds spanning numerous colleges and units at UC. Their generosity has transformed countless lives throughout the university.
Read complete obituary on Nippert.

PAT CUMMINGS
Former University of Cincinnati basketball All-American and 12-year NBA veteran Pat Cummings passed away June 26, 2012, in New York City. He was 55. Cummings averaged 17.1 points and 8.3 rebounds during his four seasons with the Bearcats (1975-76, 1978-79). He earned All-America accolades from the Citizens Savings Foundation and was named the Metro Conference Player of the Year in 1979.
Read complete obituary on Cummings.

ELMER THOMAS
Professor emeritus Elmer Thomas, founder of the choral-studies program at the College-Conservatory of Music, died of respiratory failure at the age of 81 on June 13, 2012. Teaching and conducting at CCM from 1966-95, Thomas built one of the country's leading choral programs and created an extensive graduate program for conductors. He remained the director until 1995.

Recognized internationally, he was also founder and music director of the Vocal Arts Ensemble, Cincinnati’s only professional chamber choir; conductor of choruses for the Cincinnati May Festival; and director of music at Armstrong Chapel United Methodist Church. He was frequently a guest conductor in Europe, England, Hong Kong, Korea, Central America and across the United States.

“He often spoke of the joy of living his life surrounded by the great music of great composers," said Earl Rivers, CCM's current director of choral studies. "And he frequently reminded his students that in their careers they would always find joy and solace, as needed, in great musical works. Elmer remained my mentor. He was the first person whose insight and opinions I sought when studying, preparing and executing masterworks for chorus.”
Read more.

JACK TWYMAN
Former University of Cincinnati legend, six-time NBA all-star and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Jack Twyman, Ed '55, died May 30, 2012, at the age of 78 in Cincinnati. UC’s second All-American, Twyman led the Bearcats in scoring his sophomore through senior seasons (1952-55), finishing his career as the school’s all-time leading scorer (1,598) and rebounder (1,242). He was named an All-American in 1955 after averaging 24.6 points and 16.5 rebounds.  His career scoring total currently ranks ninth while his rebounding numbers rank second at UC.  Twyman is one of three former Bearcats to have their jersey number retired. His jersey No. 27 hangs at Fifth Third Arena.
Read complete obituary on Twyman.

GREG COOK
The UC Bearcats lost a legend with the passing of former quarterback Greg Cook, CAS '68. The first-round draft pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in 1969, died Jan. 27, 2012. He was 65 years old. Cook was inducted into the James P. Kelly Sr. UC Athletics Hall of Fame in 1986 and was a charter member of Nippert Stadium’s Ring of Honor in 2006. No. 12 was one of the top quarterbacks in school history, setting or holding 17 school records during his career. Cook's true gift was the deep strike. He averaged 17.5 yards per completion with the Bengals in '69, a standard no professional quarterback has accomplished since. Cook suffered a shoulder injury during his rookie season that kept him off the field for the next three seasons. He returned briefly in 1973 and then retired. He served as a radio analyst for the Bearcats during the late 1980s. Later in his career, Cook, an avid painter, became a salesman with a Cincinnati firm that works with foundations and charities. Read complete obituary on Cook.

STANLEY KAPLAN
Stanley Kaplan, A&S '44, MD ’46, emeritus professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at UC’s College of Medicine, died on Nov. 10, 2011, at age 89 after a long illness. Named a Great Living Cincinnatian in 2007, he was recognized as one of the region’s most prominent arts donors, not only financially, but through leadership in shaping local art, culture and educational institutions, as well as social service agencies. Besides giving 60 years of service to UC, he served as a board member of the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Taft Museum, CET, Cincinnati Ballet and Playhouse in the Park. Among Cincinnati building projects that he supported were the Lois and Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art and the Aronoff Center for the Arts, where the Jarson-Kaplan Theater is named in honor of his family and the parents of his wife, Mickey. At UC, the couple established a lectureship to bring mental health experts from around the world to Cincinnati, a student essay award to foster medical student education and an endowed chair in psychiatry. After 53 years of marriage, Mickey preceded him in death. Three children survive their parents — Steve, Richard and Barbara Kaplan Chilcote.

CARL LINDNER JR.
The most prominent benefactor to both the University of Cincinnati and the city, Carl Lindner Jr., HonDoc '85, died Oct. 17, 2011, at age 92. His generosity led to the business college being renamed the Carl H. Lindner College of Business this year. In the 1980s, the college established Carl Lindner Award for Outstanding Business Achievement and the Carl Lindner Honors-PLUS program in his honor. He had also served on the Board of Advisors for the College of Business, from where his sons, Carl III and Craig, graduated in the 1970s.

One of the most successful corporate financiers in the nation, he began his career delivering milk door to door during the Depression while attending high school evening classes. In 1940, he and his family founded United Dairy Farmers. At the time of Lindner’s death, he was chairman of the board of American Financial Group, which he founded in 1959.

During his investment career, Lindner held controlling interests in Great American Insurance Group, Cincinnati Reds, Chiquita, Hanna-Barbera, Kings Island, Taft Broadcasting, Cincinnati Enquirer, Provident Bank, General Cable Corp. and Penn Central Corp. Employees throughout the city particularly remember him for throwing legendary Christmas parties featuring stars such as Frank Sinatra and including gifts for each employee.

A supporter of Cincinnati educational, religious, cultural and civic organizations, he served on the boards of the Cincinnati Fine Arts Museum, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Citizens for a Better Cincinnati and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C, among many others. The Lindner family also has been a major benefactor of Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, Lindner Center of HOPE, Lindner Family Center for Reproduction of Endangered Wildlife at the Cincinnati Zoo, Lindner Ice Age Exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum Center, Lindner Family Tennis Pavilion at Sawyer Point, Boy Scouts of America, National Underground Railroad and the World Trade Center Memorial, among others.

In 1994, he was named a Great Living Cincinnatian. The next year, he received the International Peace Award, the highest International award given by Jewish National Fund. In addition, he was considered a friend and confidant of numerous U.S. presidents. Lindner is survived by his wife, Edyth; their sons Carl III, Craig and Keith; 12 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

On Friday, Oct. 21, a memorial procession featuring Carl Lindner's hearse traveled from downtown Cincinnati to Kenwood, passing locations meaningful to the businessman. Around 9:45 a.m., the procession passed the Lindner College of Business, where the UC community said their farewells with meaningful signs, music by the marching band and a final farewell treat of United Dairy Farmers ice cream. See the slideshow by clicking on the photo above.

Read his obituaries in ...

• New York Times
• Sports Illustrated
• Cincinnati.com (including a slide show of photos)
  

HERBERT FLESSA
Herbert Flessa, A&S ’50, MD ’52, was a professor emeritus in the College of Medicine's Department of Internal Medicine and former chair of the division of hematology oncology. Considered a regional expert on leukemia, he died in Aug. 30, 2011, at age 85. After joining the UC faculty in 1964, he grew passionate about improving emergency care, which led him to create the nation's first emergency medicine residency program — at the University of Cincinnati and General Hospital in 1970. Winner of the 2004 Daniel Drake medal, the College of Medicine's highest honor, Flessa served on numerous state and national committees and also served as the physician for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra during a tour of Asia and Europe.

GLORIA GOERING
Known as a philanthropist and a loyal UC alumna, Gloria Goering, Ed ’55, passed away on June 24, 2011, at age 78. In 2007, she and John (her husband of 55 years) were the first co-recipients of the William Howard Taft Medal for Notable Achievement, the highest honor given by the UC Alumni Association. They were also recognized as life benefactors of the UC Foundation, were the founders of the Goering Center for Family/Private Business at the College of Business, ran the John and Gloria Goering Foundation and were active in the Founders Society of the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Northern Kentucky Symphony, Playhouse in the Park and the Cincinnati Zoo. In addition, Gloria was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and the Cincinnatus Society, as well as twice president of the University of Cincinnati Women's Club and a Hoxworth Blood Center volunteer who had amassed more than 3,900 hours of service. Besides commitments to her alma mater and family, she had exhibited American Saddlebred Horses for more than 30 years. She is survived by John and their children Stuart and Susan (Hill).

BILL NIMMO
Former UC community relations director and well-known radio and TV celebrity Bill Nimmo, A&S ’39, MA (A&S) ’73, died on February 21, 2011, at age 93. In the 1950s, he worked with Johnny Carson, Jackie Gleason, Lack Lemmon, Gary Moore and Regis Philbin. In 1956, he was the announcer for an ABC game show called “Who Do You Trust?” for which Johnny Carson emceed. When Nimmo left, he was replaced by Ed McMahon. He also hosted a national game show in 1957-58 called “For Love or Money,” co-hosted a local TV show called “Be Our Guest” with Marian Spelman and appeared as "Bill the Bartender" in commercials that ran for more than six years on the Pabst Wednesday night fights.

With a career that spanned more than 50 years, he worked as an actor, baritone singer, newscaster, emcee and announcer for NBC, CBS and ABS. In 1991, he was inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame. He also served in World War II in which he received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. After the war, he served a year in diplomatic service in the Paris Embassy, then broke into broadcasting by taking an overnight DJ job in Cincinnati. Shortly after his death, his voice could still be heard on WMKV-FM in Cincinnati, hosting several taped shows.

LINKS

• Watch Nick Clooney interview Bill Nimmo about his career.
• See his TV credits.
  
  

ROBERT HOWE
Robert Howe, professor emeritus of civil engineering, died unexpectedly on Feb. 23, 2011. He had taught at UC for 37 years before retiring in the early 1980s. "I never wanted to do anything else," he once said. Howe, Eng '43, MA (A&S) '55, began teaching at UC after serving with the Navy Seabees in World War II. He taught soil mechanics, highway design, traffic engineering and surveying, and became the first professor to teach computer programming "by the numbers," as he called it. Howe was also an avid historian, who frequently lectured on Tri-state history and authored history textbooks with his wife, Helen, A&S '43, who passed away in 2006. Active in civic affairs, he served as a long-time member of the Charter Committee, ran unsuccessfully for city council and served on the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority board.

The Howes also instilled the love of teaching in their three children: Steven Howe, A&S '74, MA (A&S) '78, PhD (A&S) '81, psychology department head at UC; Barbara Howe, A&S '69, associate professor emerita and former director of the Center for Women's Studies at West Virginia University; and Nancy Howe Bull, Ed '71, MA (Ed) '74, vice provost at the University of Connecticut. "Dad really valued his membership in the UC emeritus club," says Barbara, "and it was always clear that UC provided him with the education — and financial resources through the co-op program — he needed to be an engineer."

2010

MARCIA LEWIS
Marcia Lewis, CCM ’64, a respected Broadway singer and actress, died Dec. 21, 2010, of lung cancer at the age of 72. She had received Tony Award nominations in 1997 for her role as Mama Morton in the Broadway re-staging of Chicago (with Bebe Neuwirth and Joel Grey) and in 1994 for her role as Miss Lynch in a revival of “Grease.” In 1987, she received a Drama Desk nomination for playing the mean Miss Hannigan in “Rags.”

Her TV credits included "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" ('97), "Happy Days" ('77 and '79), "The Bob Newhart Show" ('74 and '75), "The Bionic Woman" ('76), “Hollywood Squares” and “Sesame Street.” Her film credits included MGM’s “Ice Pirates” in 1984. Recognized as a cabaret singer, she recorded her debut solo CD, "Nowadays," in 1998.
Read more in Playbill.

From 1985 to 1986, Wiot served as acting senior vice president and provost for health affairs at the Academic Health Center. In 1974, along with colleague Robert Lukin, Wiot worked to bring the first computed tomography (CT) scanner to the Tristate, and 13 years later, he led University Hospital’s acquisition of two computerized axial tomography (CAT) scanners — important tools for exploring the interior of the brain and other solid organs.

Wiot was named president of the American College of Radiology (ACR) in 1983 and was awarded the ACR’s 1989 Gold Medal for outstanding contributions to the field. He was also selected to receive the Daniel Drake Medal, the College of Medicine’s highest honor, in 1992. Wiot had participated in the training of more than 300 radiologists. The Wiot Chair to support Radiology Resident Education was established and funded in 2005.

LARRY ELSASSER
A well-known Bearcat, Larry Elsasser, Ed ’65, MEd ’73, died on Nov. 15, 2010, at the age of 67. In 1961, UC recruited Elsasser to play baseball and basketball. Although baseball was his passion, he had memorable basketball career, playing guard when UC defeated Ohio State in 1962 for the NCAA championship. After graduation, he played professional baseball for the Kansas City Athletics, the forerunner to the Oakland A’s. He later became a Cincinnati public school teacher, then a math teacher at Raymond Walters College where he also worked as assistant director of the Campus Center. In 1970, he transferred to the Uptown Campus as assistant director of Tangeman University Center. He served as the TUC director from 1976-2001, after which he became associate director of Campus Food Services. He retired in 2005.

In 1989, UC inducted him into the UC Athletic Hall of Fame. In 2007 when the Missouri Valley Conference celebrated its centennial as the nation’s second-oldest NCAA Division I conference, it recognized Elsasser as a key player who had been in the league prior to 1975.

Elsasser is survived by his wife of 46 years, Donna Lay, DAAP ’65, and their son, Erin, Bus '95.
LINK: Elsasser took part in 50th anniversary kickoff event of '61 and '62 champs.

DAVID GREENBERG
UC Professor David B. Greenberg, who passed away on July 25, 2010, was a faculty member in the Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, (now the College of Engineering and Applied Science) from 1974 until 2000, when he became Professor Emeritus.  He continued teaching at UC's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute from 2000 until 2009.

DAVID NILAND
David Niland, professor emeritus of architecture, died in September 2010 at the age of 80. A faculty member since 1962, Niland had been a guest critic and visiting studio professor at Yale University, Carnegie-Mellon University, Harvard University, Penn State University, Ohio State University and the Royal Academy for Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Denmark, among others. He had also received numerous awards, including the American Collegiate Schools of Architecture’s Distinguished Professor Award in 1991-92. He also served on the urban design review boards for UC and the cities of Cincinnati and Covington and had been a design consultant to the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center. He retired in 2001 at age 71 and is survived by his wife, Mary.

Read a tribute to Niland, written by Jayne Merkel, an architectural historian and critic in New York.

BEVERLY SEMMENS
After a brief illness, Beverly Semmens, professor emeritus of the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, died at her home in August 2010 at the age of 72. By teaching metals and textile arts in the both departments of art education and fine arts, she created a legacy of teachers of textile and metal design in Cincinnati and nationally. Weaving and basketry, the two disciplines in which she excelled, led her to exhibit nationally and internationally.

Most recently, she had works published in "500 Baskets: A Celebration of the Basketmaker's Art." Her works can be found in numerous private collections, as well as commissions for Dow Chemical, IBM, Cincinnati Bell and the Ohio Designer-Craftsman Museum.

DONALD SPENCER
Donald Spencer, A&S '36, Ed '37, MEd '40, HonDoc '06, Cincinnati teacher, real estate broker, activist, and husband of former UC board trustee Marian Spencer, A&S '42, HonDoc '06, passed away at age 95 on May 4, 2010.

Married for nearly 70 years, the Spencers helped break down racial barriers in Cincinnati. Donald was the first African American broker to join the Cincinnati Association of Real Estate Brokers in 1986 and was later elected president of the organization. He founded his real estate firm, Donald A. Spencer and Associates, while a teacher for Cincinnati Public Schools. Spencer was a lifetime member of the NAACP, the first African American to chair Ohio University's Board of Trustees. He also was active in the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber and was named a "Great Living Cincinnatian" in 2005.

Spencer is survived by two sons and Marian, whose own long civil rights career includes being the first African American elected to Cincinnati City Council.

PAUL RUTLEDGE
Cincinnati theater pioneer and UC professor emeritus of theater Paul Rutledge passed away on March 10, 2010, at age 91. Rutledge was instrumental in the development of the CCM’s degree programs in musical theater and drama during his 35-year tenure. During that time, he also founded and directed the UC Theater and served as a faculty adviser to the UC Mummers Guild.

Rutledge mentored many future stars including David Canary, Marcia Lewis, Lee Roy Reams and Pam Myers. Rutledge was highly influential in the city of Cincinnati’s decision to purchase and rescue the Showboat Majestic, the last original floating showboat still in existence, and served as its managing director for 17 years. Since his retirement in 1984, he frequently traveled to England as a guest lecturer on theater history and management.

Memorials may be directed to the F. Paul Rutledge Scholarship Fund dedicated to UC Musical Theater Students. (Address: CCM, Corbett Center, Room 3840, Cincinnati OH 45221.)

LINKS

• CCM dedicates "Picnic" production to Rutledge with April 21 reception.
• Read about UC's musical theater program celebrating its 40th birthday.
  

RICHARD LINDNER
Richard Lindner, longtime supporter of UC and Cincinnati sports and brother of Carl Lindner Jr., died at age 88 on Jan. 16, 2010.

Lindner, a local businessman and philanthropist who helped bring the ATP Tennis Championship to the Tri-State, donated the initial $10.2 million to kick off the construction of the University of Cincinnati's Varsity Village and the athletics center that bears his name. The project was completed in 2006 and houses sports administrative offices, study space for student athletes and a museum detailing the history of the UC athletics program.

Lindner, along with brothers Carl and Robert and sister Dorothy, began their careers delivering bottled milk to homes for their father's business, which would become United Dairy Farmers (UDF). Lindner later headed Thriftway and was involved in the development of American Financial Group. He was also known for his civic philanthropy.

Besides UC's Richard E. Lindner Center and Varsity Village, a number of other local facilities are named after him: the Richard E. Lindner Family YMCA in Norwood; the Robert D. & Richard E. Lindner Sports Complex at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy; the Richard E. Lindner Lobby at the Aronoff Center; the Richard E. Lindner Dining Room at UC’s Shoemaker Center; as well as "capital additions” at Saint Joseph’s Home for Children. In 2008, Lindner was inducted into the Cincinnati Tennis Hall of Fame.

Learn more about UC's Richard E. Lindner Center and Varsity Village.

ELSA MARIE HEISEL SULE
Elsa Marie Heisel Sule, A&S ’43, was executive director of the Ruth Lyons' “50-50 Club” on WLW TV and associate producer of the “Bob Braun Show” during a career lasting from 1945-84. Afterward, she ran the annual Ruth Lyons Children’s Christmas Fund campaign until the early ’90s. On Jan. 13, she passed away at age 88.

Elsa developed quite a memorable appearance on the Ruth Lyons' show where she would hand-model products, demonstrate products in table settings, create popular contests for the show and write “wickedly funny song parodies,” says a long-time Cincinnati radio and TV host and broadcaster Bill Myers, who began working with her in the 1950s. “Television screens glowed less brightly when Elsa concluded her career in broadcasting,” he says.

Read UC Magazine story about Elsa.

RONALD HOWES SR.
Ronald Bruce Howes Sr., att. Eng ’40s, creator of the Easy-Bake Oven, died in February 2010 at age 83. As director of research and new product development at Kenner Products in the early 1960s, Howes was best know for developing the toy oven that was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2006 at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, N.Y. At that time, 23 million ovens had been sold and more than 140 million mixes. Howes continued to invent items during his entire life, including high-tech defense weaponry devices and electrostatic printers. At the time of his death, he was living in in Anderson Township with his wife of 47 years, Nancy.