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OBITUARIES
COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY
COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY
OTHER DEATHS REPORTED
Columbia College Today also has learned of the following deaths. Complete obituaries will be
published in an upcoming issue, pending receipt of information. Due to the volume of
obituaries that CCT receives, it may take several issues for the complete obituary to appear.
1938 Leo D. Kellerman, ophthalmologist, Douglaston, N.Y., on November 18, 2012.
1939 Joseph R. Kuh, retired physician, New York, N.Y., on November 16, 2012.
William J. Stibravy, Foreign Service officer, Norwalk, Conn., on January 5, 2013.
1940 Francis H. McCullough Jr., retired orthopedist, Centralia, Wash., on January 15, 2013.
1942 Morris Grossman, retired philosophy professor, Fairfield, Conn., on December 12, 2012.
William J. Scharffenberger, retired business executive, New York City and Ghent, N.Y., on December
12, 2012.
Anthony E. Ventriglia, retired professor of mathematics, Bronxville, N.Y., on August 28, 2012.
1943 Cleomenes Generales, physician, La Jolla, Calif., on December 31, 2012.
1944 Gordon Cotler, author, musical producer, New York, N.Y., on December 20, 2012.
Robert A. Fishman, neurologist and retired hospital chair, Tiburon, Calif., on December 4, 2012.
Robert L. Rosenthal, hematologist, Flushing, N.Y., on February 1, 2013.
1945 Alan A. Grometstein, retired mathematician, Stoneham, Mass., on November 4, 2012.
1946 Eugene Bruck, musicologist, New York, N.Y., on December 8, 2012.
1947 William H. Hayes Jr., retired philosophy professor, Santa Cruz, Calif., on August 27, 2011.
1948 Grant B. Dellabough, family physician, Dumont, N.J., on November 21, 2012.
James St. Andrew, retired, Mooresville, N.C., on December 13, 2012.
Paul P. Woolard, business executive, New York City, on January 10, 2013.
1949 Frederick W. Scholl, Hendersonville, N.C., on April 11, 2011.
1950 John L. Maracle, retired insurance executive, Irondequoit, N.Y., on January 3, 2013.
1951 Herbert H. Beardsley, Episcopal priest, Cutchogue, N.Y., on January 26, 2013.
Myron “Mickey” Winick, physician and nutrition expert, New York City, on November 1, 2012.
1952 Salvatore J. Capone, retired ophthalmologist, Staten Island, N.Y., on December 16, 2012.
1954 John W. Brackett Jr., retired pulmonologist, Oxford, Conn., on December 8, 2012.
Leon H. Frey, Delray Beach, Fla., on July 8, 2012.
John J. McGill, consultant, Sandestin, Fla., on February 17, 2012.
David R. Williams, retired music professor, Memphis, on December 6, 2012.
1955 Ihor Koszman, chemical engineer, Montgomery, Texas, on August 9, 2012.
Raymond D. Panetta, retired urologist, Seaside Park, N.J., on December 25, 2012.
1956 Stephen Forstein, retired rabbi, Topeka, Kan., on December 19, 2012.
1959 Michael Marks Cohen, former naval officer, former Law School professor, New York City, on
December 1, 2012.
1960 Michael J. O’Connell, engineer, New Bern, N.C., on August 11, 2012.
1961 John C. Leonardo Jr., retired computer executive, Ketchum, Idaho, on December 18, 2012.
1962 George M. Abodeely Jr., West Boylston, Mass., on June 30, 2012.
1963 Robert E. Dyson, Sarasota, Fla., on July 30, 2011.
Henry A. Sellner, retired ob/gyn, Danbury, Conn., on January 25, 2013.
1964 Frederick H. Levine, physician, Amherst, Mass., on September 18, 2012.
1968 Barry Deutsch, attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y., on December 29, 2012.
1969 George S. Eisenbarth, medical executive, professor of pediatrics and diabetes researcher, Golden,
Colo., on November 13, 2012.
1972 Richard A. Arcaro, retired electrical engineer and computer analyst, Laurens, N.Y., on January 9, 2013.
1984 Richard G. Anderson, art dealer and maritime preservationist, Nyack, N.Y., on January 21, 2013.
1985 Robert Z. Mesko, development executive, Denver, on November 16, 2012.
1992 Andrew Littell, financial executive, Boston, on December 17, 2012.
Kevin B. Pratt, architecture professor, Ithaca, N.Y., on February 19, 2013.
1993 Tania E. Gregory, homemaker, Berkeley, Calif., on December 11, 2012.
Suzanne M. Weber, neuroscience researcher and lab manager, Tempe, Ariz., on January 7, 2013.
John R. Tait ’68
scholarship to Columbia. He was
class treasurer and a reporter for
WKCR. Tait was a counterintelligence
special agent in the Army and
graduated from Vanderbilt Law. He
was an expert in worker’s compensation
law and was special deputy
attorney general for the Bureau of
Child Support. Tait also was Clearwater
Bar president, Idaho State Bar
Committee on Ethics and Professional
Responsibility chair and a board
member of the Workers Compensation
Section of the Idaho State Bar,
Idaho Trial Lawyers Association and
the State Board of Idaho Legal Aid
Services. He received the Pro Bono
Award from the Idaho State Bar and
in 1994 was nominated by President
Clinton to serve as federal district
judge. Tait’s career was dedicated to
winning complex worker’s compensation
cases for little remuneration.
He is survived by his wife, Christina
Bjornstad; brother, Paul; daughters
and sons-in-laws, Gretchen Bjornstad
and Alastair Gemmell, and
Mary Tait and Nathan Abraham;
and a granddaughter.
1985
Nicola Tanelli, attorney, North
Caldwell, N.J., on January 4, 2013.
Born in Italy, Tanelli was raised
in Verona, N.J. In high school, he
excelled in basketball and track but
his true passion was soccer. As a
member of the Columbia team from
1981–83, Tanelli experienced three
Ivy League titles. The 1983 squad
became the first Ivy League program
to compete in an NCAA Division I
men’s soccer national championship
contest. According to Columbia’s
1982 men’s soccer media guide,
Tanelli’s sophomore season, he was
listed as the team’s swiftest man.
Tanelli earned a law degree from
New York Law and was an attorney
with JPMorgan Chase in New York
City for the past two years. Prior to
that, he was employed by Citigroup
in New York City for 15 years. He
is survived by his wife, Beth (née
Holmes); children, Matthew and
Isabella; parents, Orazio and Franca;
and brother, Pasquale, and his wife,
Mary Ann.
Lisa Palladino
Class Notes
25
40
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Milton Kamen ’40 writes from
New York, “When I recently signed
in at a senior citizen expo in NYC,
the young woman at the registration
desk noticed my year of birth
and asked if I had been in WWII.
I answered, ‘Yes. During WWII I
proudly wore an Army uniform for
over three years,’ fully expecting
the usual response of, ‘Thank you
for your service.’
“But what I got was, ‘It must
have needed a good dry cleaning.’”
41
Robert Zucker
29 The Birches
Roslyn, NY 11576
rzucker@optonline.net
I recently returned from a wonderful
vacation at the Grand Velas Riviera
Maya Hotel in Mexico with my
friend, Fran, and her family. There
were 17 of us. And by the time you
read this, I’ll have returned from
a February trip to Ixtapa, Mexico,
with my family of 26, including 12
great-grandchildren.
Wm. Theodore “Ted” de Bary
sent the following update: “It’s
not exactly news but I still teach
three days a week, conducting an
Asian Humanities course and an
upper-level Core course, Classics
of East and West, on the theme of
nobility and civility. I commute
by shuttle bus from Columbia’s
Lamont-Doherty Earth Institute
in Rockland County. Among
other things I conduct a series of
public meetings on Keys to the
Core, starting with John Erskine
[Class of 1900], Mark Van Doren
[’21 GSAS] and Jacques Barzun
[’27, ’32 GSAS], meeting Fridays
at noon in the Heyman Center for
Class Notes are submitted by
alumni and edited by volunteer
class correspondents and the
staff of CCT prior to publication.
Opinions expressed are those of
individual alumni and do not
reflect the opinions of CCT, its
class correspondents, the College
or the University.
the Humanities. My next book, The
Great Civilized Conversation, is due
out in spring.”
Ted is an amazing classmate. We
all graduated 72 years ago, but Ted
does not pay much attention to the
passage of time.
Tell me, friends, what are you
doing
42
Melvin Hershkowitz
22 Northern Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060
DrMelvin23@gmail.com
Robert Kaufman, a young 91, in
a telephone call on October 14
reported the sad news of the death
on October 11, 2012, of Margaret L.
Cicchetti, wife of our loyal friend
Nicholas Cicchetti. She is survived
by Nick; son, Stephen James; and
daughter, Laraine Ann. In the
Spring 2012 issue of CCT, I reviewed
Nick’s distinguished career as an
educator and administrator in the
New York State school system; by
the time he retired, he was superintendent
of District 11 schools. We
send condolences to Nick and his
children on their loss.
On October 9, Arthur Smith
sent a picture of his 9-month-old
great-grandson, Landon, lying
on his back, looking at the photo
of Dean James J. Valentini on the
cover of the Fall 2012 issue of
CCT. Art’s son and grandson were
wondering if Landon might grow
up to be the fourth generation of
Smiths to attend Columbia, possibly
with the Class of 2034. Art’s
son, Arthur Jr. ’71, ’73 TC, became
an environmental attorney. Arthur
Jr.’s son, Jeffrey ’07 SIPA, is an
environmental engineer. Art (92)
and his wife, Audre, together
for 65 years, reside in an independent
living facility in Venice,
Fla., where Art, who has chronic
myelogenous leukemia, has done
well with seven years of therapy
with “miracle” drugs Gleevec and
Tasigna. We send warmest greetings
to him and his family, along
with a hug and high hopes for
Landon as a future Lion.
Your correspondent, accompanied
by his devoted designated
driver, son-in-law Steve Hathaway,
came from Northampton, Mass.,
to the Homecoming game versus
Dartmouth on October 20. It was a
beautiful, warm fall day, and I was
impressed by the large number
of enthusiastic, rambunctious
undergraduates who came out to
support our team. I was pleased
to greet our talented CCT editorial
staff under the Big Tent before the
game, giving me the opportunity
to thank Alex Sachare ’71, Lisa Palladino
and Alexis Tonti ’11 Arts for
their exceptional skills in producing
this excellent publication.
Sitting with me at the game
were my lifelong friends, Ray Robinson
’41 and Dr. Gerald Klingon.
Ray (91) and Gerry (92) shared
my anguish at yet another painful
Columbia loss, 21–16. Dartmouth
has two good young quarterbacks,
a freshman and a sophomore, and
an outstanding freshman running
back, Brian Grove, who looks like
a potential All-Ivy star. Dartmouth
coach Buddy Teevens has recruited
several good young players. We
hope that Columbia coach Pete
Mangurian has done the same and,
with his experience and leadership,
we continue to hope for an Ivy
League championship sometime
soon.
Although they were unable to
make it for Homecoming, Robert
Kaufman of Scarsdale, N.Y., and
Dr. Arthur Wellington of Elmira,
N.Y., reported that one week later,
on October 27, they greatly enjoyed
watching Columbia beat Yale 26–
22 in a game shown on the YES
Network. Columbia scored the
winning touchdown in the last
minute of the game, which was
called “an Ivy League thriller” by
ESPN. Not such a thriller was our
subsequent 69–0 loss to Harvard
on November 3 in Cambridge, a
score that ranks high in Ivy League
annals as one of the most crushing
defeats since the League began in
1956. Columbia also lost by 69–0 to
Rutgers in 1978 and lost 77–28 to
Holy Cross in 1983.
Easing memories of these prior
defeats, Columbia bounced back
from the Harvard loss with a surprising
and gratifying 34–17 win
over Cornell at Wien Stadium on
November 10, with strong running
by Marcorus Garrett ’14 and three
touchdown passes by quarterback
Sean Brackett ’13. We finished the
schedule on November 17 with a
22–6 loss at Brown, giving coach
Mangurian three wins in his initial
season as our head coach. We hope
for more triumphs in 2013.
On October 30, Don Mankiewicz
Wm. Theodore “Ted” de Bary ’41’s book The Great
Civilized Conversation is due out this spring.
wrote a lengthy snail mail letter that
reported on his status at home in
Monrovia, Calif. Don (90) is doing
well, enjoying time with his wife,
Carol; son, John; and adopted
daughters, Jan and Sandy, whose
children have made Don a happy
grandfather. Don’s father, Herman
Mankiewicz ’17, won an Academy
Award for his screenplay of
Citizen Kane, and his uncle, Joseph
Mankiewicz ’28, won an Academy
Award for writing and directing A
Letter to Three Wives. Don himself
won the Harper Prize Novel award
in 1955 for his novel, Trial, and
was nominated for an Academy
Award for his screenplay for I Want
To Live! There seems to be some
genetic basis for this multilineal
transmission of genius and talent.
I was sorry to receive a note on
December 7 from Betty Galen
Reuther, reporting the death of her
husband, Leo Reuther III, on October
19, 2012, in Flat Rock, N.C., after
a short battle with pneumonia.
He was 90. I last heard from Leo
on April 23, when he sent regrets
at being unable to attend our 70th
reunion luncheon on campus in
June. Leo and Betty recently had
moved into a new house in Flat
Rock, but he was able to enjoy it
for only a few weeks before his
unfortunate death. He was buried
with full military honors in Arlington
National Cemetery.
Leo came to Columbia from the
Barnard School in New York City.
He enlisted in the Army Air Corps
after graduation and, following
flight training in Texas and Kansas,
served as a fighter pilot in the
Asiatic-Pacific Theatre, flying 142
missions in P-47 and P-38 aircraft.
Discharged as a captain in 1945, Leo
was awarded two Distinguished
Flying Crosses, three Air Medals, a
Presidential Citation and the Purple
Heart. He was one of the greatest
WWII heroes among many in our
class.
After the war, Leo joined the FBI
as a special agent; he served at various
stations and ended his career in
1975 as supervisor in charge of major
crimes and New York airports,
based at the FBI office in New York
City. After retirement, Leo lived in
Vermont and South Carolina until
1999, when he moved to Flat Rock.
SPRING 2013
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SPRING 2013
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