Obituaries

Editor’s note: With this issue, we bring the online feature “Lions We’ve Lost” to a close. At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, these tributes to alumni who died from the virus served as an important chronicle of the pandemic’s impact on our community. But as vaccination rates rise and life resumes some familiar shape, the need for such a chronicle has lessened. We are grateful to the families who shared information with us. It’s been an honor to tell their loved ones’ stories.

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1945

John M. Khoury, textile manufacturer, Harrington Park, N.J., on March 7, 2020. Born in Brooklyn to Syrian immigrants, Khoury fought with the 7th Army in France and Germany as a sniper and rifleman during WWII. He was awarded several medals for valor, including the Bronze Star Medal with oak leaf cluster, and described his wartime experiences in a book, Love Company: L Company, 399th Infantry Regiment, of the 100th Infantry Division during World War II and Beyond. After the war, Khoury joined his father in the textile business, married his childhood friend Grace Magrabi and moved with her to Tenafly, N.J., to raise their family. Khory and his brother, Russell, ran the family businesses until his retirement at 85. He was predeceased by his wife of 68 years and is survived by his daughters, Diane and her husband, Steve Seyboth, Jeanne and her husband, George Lambert, and Carol; son, John SEAS’79, SEAS’88, and his wife, Christiane; brother; and four grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to the Presbyterian Church or the Salvation Army.

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1954

John H. Timoney, finance manager, Princeton, N.J., on July 3, 2021. Born June 14, 1933, in NYC, Timoney graduated from All Hallows H.S. in the Bronx and at the College was president of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity and captain of the swim team. He later played water polo for The New York Athletic Club, the Army and various clubs in South America. After two years of Army service, Timoney became sales manager for Pan American-Grace Airways in Bolivia, where he met and married Ana Palacios of San Antonio, who was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in La Paz. His career in finance took the family from Bolivia to Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, New York City, the Midwest and Berkeley, Calif., bringing them to Princeton in 1978 when he left W.R. Grace to join Bio-Dynamics. Timoney was chief financial officer for Applied BioScience International until 1997 and subsequently was a member of the boards of Omnicare and International Schools Services. In addition to his wife, Timoney is survived by his sons, Francis GS’84, Mark ’88, BUS’93 and Michael ’88, GS’99; daughter, Maria Teresa (“Tess”) NUR’99; sister, Susie O’Neill; 10 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. Memorial contributions may be made to All Hallows H.S.

Robert A. Weber, entrepreneur, Kingston, Mass., on February 11, 2021. Born in Brooklyn, Weber was a member of TEP fraternity, the Kingsmen and Columbia Chorus, and also earned a B.S. in 1955 and an M.S. in 1956 from Columbia Engineering, both in electrical engineering. After serving for three years in the Air Force, stationed in Morocco and Little Rock, Ark., he became an entrepreneur and founded several companies, including software and computer maintenance businesses in New Jersey. Retiring to Kingston in 2008, Weber was one of the founding members and president of the Friends of the Kingston Public Library, was on the board of the Jones River Watershed Association and was a dedicated member of the Jones River Village Historical Society, all of which will accept memorial contributions in his name. Weber was predeceased by his wife, Gloria, and daughter, Nancy; and is survived by his sister, Judith Taylor; daughters, Susan, and Barbara Weber-Boustani; and three grandchildren.

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1956

Michael H. Moerman, anthropology professor, San Francisco, on August 22, 2020. Born in the Bronx, Moerman earned a Ph.D. in anthropology from Yale in 1964 and began teaching at UCLA the following year. He was granted tenure in 1968, became a full professor in 1974 and remained until his retirement in 1993. Moerman’s early work examined the social and economic organization, agricultural transformation and ethnic identity in Thailand. Inspired by Harvey Sacks, Emanual Schegloff and Gail Jefferson, his research shifted mid-career to conversation analysis, eventually resulting in the publication of his 1987 book, Talking Culture: Ethnography and Conversation Analysis. Following his retirement, Moerman shifted gears again, this time to begin a career in acting that lasted 20 years, with performances in venues throughout California. He is survived by his wife, Patricia Miller.

Stanley D. Stier, physician, patient advocate and medical director, Delray Beach, Fla., on April 23, 2021. Born in the Bronx, Stier graduated from New York Medical School and served in the Navy during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He served patients at New Britain General Hospital, Yale New Haven Hospital and Griffin Hospital, all in Connecticut, and in private practice. Stier later became a patient advocate at Danbury (Conn.) Hospital and transitioned to administration, becoming a medical director. After moving to Florida, he continued his advocacy work as a volunteer at local hospice. Stier and his wife, Suzanne, traveled to more than 20 countries. She survives him, as do his sons, Jeffrey and his wife, Marian, and Seth and his wife, Jennifer; daughters, Shari, and Ilisha Borek and her husband, Sam; and nine grandchildren.

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1957

Alfred D. Fierro, attorney, Old Tappan, N.J., on May 1, 2021. Born on November 3, 1935, Fierro was class president at Fort Lee H.S., majored in Russian and economics and graduated from Fordham Law in 1960. A founding partner of Fierro, Fierro & Izzard of Fort Lee, he appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Shell Oil Co. vs. Marinello. Fierro was a member of the Bergen County Bar Association for more than 60 years, chair of the Fort Lee Democratic Party, president of the Fort Lee Board of Education and a life member of the Fort Lee Athletic Club. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Juanita (née Tomasini); sons, Matthew and his wife, Nancy, Mark and his wife, Amy, and Paul and his wife, Kathleen; daughter, Tamara Fierro Barrera, and her husband, Peter; 10 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

Arthur T. Meyerson, psychiatrist, New York City and Shelter Island, N.Y., on January 27, 2021. A lifelong New Yorker, Meyerson grew up on the Lower East Side and graduated from Stuyvesant H.S. and P&S (1961). A gifted physician, he was a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and former president of the New York County Psychiatric Society. Meyerson championed the rights of the chronically mentally ill, and supported community mental health programming as an administrator and professor of medicine at several teaching hospitals, including Mount Sinai, NYU, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and the Hahnemann University School of Medicine, where he chaired psychiatry and neurology. Following 9-11, he was the clinical director for disaster psychiatry outreach at Ground Zero, providing free therapy to first responders, victims of the attacks and their families. Meyerson is survived by his wife, Carol A. Bernstein GS’76, PS’80; daughter, Samantha; two children from his first marriage and their spouses, son, Peter, and his wife, Kate Short Meyerson, and daughter, Jessica, and her husband, Michael Schwarz; and two grandsons. Memorial contributions may be made to the Young People’s Chorus of New York City or the University Glee Club of New York City.

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1958

Sheldon B. Cousin, engineer and chief information officer, Edgewater, N.J., on March 17, 2021. Born in Brooklyn on November 23, 1938, Cousin earned an M.S. in engineering mechanics in 1959 and a Ph.D. in engineering in 1964, both from Columbia Engineering. In 1967, he moved to Houston and, for the next seven years, managed dozens of engineers in his work for NASA/Lockheed on Apollo Missions 8-17 and Skylab. From 1974 to 1979, Cousin was a senior engineer for HRB-Singer in State College, Pa., then he returned to New York to be the director of advanced systems and applications for Ebasco Services. In the 1990s, he was chief engineer for Stone & Webster in Boston, then was the chief information officer and computer consultant for a number of companies before retiring. Cousin is survived by his wife of 59 years, Lydia; sons, Brian ’85 and his wife, Barbara, Keith and his wife, Karyn, and Wayne and his wife, Laura; daughter, Pam, and her husband, John; and nine grandchildren.

Maurice H. Katz, attorney, Los Angeles, on June 5, 2021. Born on January 18, 1937, in the Bronx, Katz graduated from Bronx Science, majored in history and earned a law degree from Harvard in 1961. Later that year, he relocated to Los Angeles, where he practiced law for the next 55 years. In 1962, Katz married Margery Rosenberg, whom he met while leading a student bike tour of France. They shared a passion for travel, food, art, movies and culture and filled their house with German Shepherds, cats, dinner parties, love and laughter. In addition to his wife, Katz is survived by his sister, Maxine Kurtzman; sons, Brian and his wife, Kerry, Bradley and his wife, Mary-Beth, and Andrew and his wife, Francine; and six grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to The National Endowment for the Arts.

Mark D. Luftig, lawyer and investment banker, Chapel Hill, N.C., on May 1, 2021. Born in the Bronx and a graduate of Bronx Science, Luftig majored in economics, and earned a B.S. from the Business School in 1961 and a J.D. from the Law School in 1962. He was in private law practice in NYC before becoming general attorney for rates and regulatory matters for New York Telephone Co. in 1968 and a VP at NERA Economic Consulting in 1989. He was senior VP and director of financial research at Kemper Securities 1992–94 and a partner in W.H. Reaves and Co., now Reaves Asset Management, 1995–2004, when he retired. Luftig loved to travel and avidly explored the world with his wife, Linda Stryker-Luftig. He was a math wizard who enjoyed playing poker, had an irreverent sense of humor and gave back by sitting on nonprofit boards and volunteering as a tax preparer for people in need. Luftig is survived by his wife; daughters, Lisa and her husband, Mark Zimmerman, and Jill and her husband, Patrick Campbell; stepdaughters, Wendy and her husband, Richard Robbins, Beth ’93 and her husband, Hussein Saddique, and Jo and her husband, Ivan Rasnik; and eight grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to the Chelsea Art Theater, 1129 Weaver Dairy Rd., Suite AB, Chapel Hill, NC 27514.

Howard Winell, market strategist, New York City, on December 29, 2020. Born in the Bronx and raised in Queens, Winell majored in economics and earned an M.B.A. in accounting in 1959 from the Business School. While working as an opera singer, Winell made a successful investment in Syntex in 1963 and became deeply interested in the stock market. In 1966 he joined Merrill Lynch as a broker and developed his market tools and investment techniques. In 1977 he paired with economist David Bostian to form an economic and market research and consulting company that they managed until 1989, when he formed Winell Associates. He continued to serve his clients, individuals and professional corporate money managers, until two weeks prior to his death. Winell was predeceased by his first wife, Cynthia Lillenfeld; and is survived by his second wife, of 36 years, Kathleen; sons, Jonathan, Daniel, and Jeremy and his husband, Abel Montez; and one grandchild.

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1959

Clive Chajet, designer, New York City on February 3, 2021. Born February 27, 1937, in London, Chajet’s family settled in New York City in 1960. He built a successful career in brand identity and image management, founding Chajet Design Co. and then becoming chair and CEO of Lippincott & Margulies. A leading corporate image consultant, Chajet helped create and shape the images of such corporations as Coca-Cola, Chrysler and American Express. He was the co-author, with Tom Shachtman, of Image by Design: From Corporate Vision to Business Reality (1991). Chajet is survived by his wife of 53 years, Bonnie Loeb Chajet; daughters, Lisa and Lori; son-in-law, Benjamin Wides; and three grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to Columbia or to the Park Avenue Synagogue.

Georges L. de Gramont, business executive, Cliffside Park, N.J., on March 20, 2021. Born in Paris, de Gramont’s father was a French diplomat who died fighting as a member of the Free French during WWII. He became the stepson of a Belgian diplomat and lived in many countries as a child but adopted the United States as his home, becoming a citizen after serving in the Army. De Gramont majored in economics and captained the soccer team. He earned an M.B.A. from the Business School in 1963 and spent most of his career as an executive at the Thomas J. Lipton Co., the world’s largest tea manufacturer. De Gramont loved history, literature, politics, music and the visual arts and was dedicated to his immediate and extended family. He coached his son’s baseball and soccer teams and often traveled to attend the plays, sporting events, book readings and art exhibitions of his relatives. He is survived by his wife of nearly 60 years, Carol; son, Alex; and daughter, Nina.

Jerry Goodisman, chemistry professor, Syracuse, N.Y., on May 2, 2021. Born on March 22, 1939, Goodisman grew up in Brooklyn, graduated from Stuyvesant H.S. and earned a Ph.D. from Harvard. He was a chemistry professor at Syracuse for more than 40 years and also was vice-chair of the department. He mentored upper-level and graduate students and made introductory courses accessible to undergraduate students from all disciplines. Goodisman authored textbooks and scientific articles that advanced the field of physical chemistry and was most excited about applying his theoretical approaches in scientific collaborations that advanced human health. He enjoyed literature, puzzles, handball, tennis, cycling and cross-country skiing and was an enthusiastic supporter of Syracuse sports. He is survived by his wife of nearly 58 years, Mireille; brother, Leonard, and his wife, Nancy; son, Michael; daughter, Nathalie Cornelius; son- in-law, Eric Foster; daughter-in-law, Janet Hatt; two grandchildren; and two step-grandchildren.

J. Peter Rosenfeld, psychology professor, Glencoe, Ill., on February 16, 2021. Rosenfeld majored in biology and humanities and earned a master’s in English and comparative literature in 1961 from GSAS. He also earned a master’s in psychology in 1969 and a doctorate in physiological psychology in 1971, both from the University of Iowa. Rosenfeld was a professor in Northwestern’s Department of Psychology and its Department of Neurobiology and Physiology. He led an influential scientific laboratory devoted to brainwave research and was a pioneer in the field of concealed information detection, authoring more than three dozen scientific and academic papers. Rosenfeld is survived by his wife, Elba Del Carmen Olivares-Lopez; son, Jonathan, and his wife, Tamara Raab; daughter, Stacey, and her wife, Elizabeth Cappo; one stepson; two stepdaughters; 10 grandchildren and step-grandchildren; and one great- grandchild. Memorial contributions may be made to the Wagner Society or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Raphael “Ray” I. Schenk, engineer and furniture manufacturer, Menlo Park, Calif., on February 7, 2021. Schenk was born in Brooklyn, but lived in Sydney during his early childhood. Upon returning to New York, he graduated from Erasmus Hall H.S. and at 16 entered the College, where he played basketball and was a member of Sigma Alpha Mu. He earned a B.S. in 1960 from Columbia Engineering and an M.S. and M.B.A. from Stanford, focusing on industrial engineering. Schenk worked for Procter & Gamble and IBM, where he was a systems engineer, and Touche Ross, where he was a management consultant. Using his talent for design and craftsmanship, he later started his own company, which manufactured high-end furniture. Schenk is survived by his former wife, Alice; and daughters, Debra and Suzanne.

Roger E. Spivack, marketer and retailer, Sarasota, Fla., on January 3, 2021. Born in Boston, Spivack attended the Bordentown (N.J.) Military Institute and earned a master’s in retailing from NYU. After serving in the Army, he worked in marketing for General Foods and Richardson-Vicks before opening his own specialty foods business in Pennsylvania. In retirement, he coached résumé writing and interview skills as a Salvation Army volunteer and at his church. Spivack was married to EllenSue Knopf for 32 years and they had three children before they divorced in 1992. As he approached retirement, Spivack married Elaine Mennen, whom he had met as a member of the Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC, where he served as a deacon. They retired to Sarasota, retaining an apartment “up north” to stay connected with family and friends. After Elaine passed away in 2016, Spivak met Judith Landes at Province Presbyterian Church and they became close companions. In addition to Landes, Spivack is survived by his brother, Jolyon; sister-in-law, Dorothy; sons, Ira and Basha; daughter, Eileen; and one grandson.

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1961

Richard M. Hall, attorney, Williamstown, Mass., on June 11, 2021. Born in Milwaukee, Hall rowed at St. Andrews in Middletown, Del., as well as at the College and graduated from the Law School in 1964. He clerked for the U.S. District Court judge in Alaska in 1965 before becoming an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York in 1968. Before assuming the position of assistant director for inspection and enforcement in the Office of Surface Mining in the Carter administration, Hall was one of the early staff attorneys at the Natural Resources Defense Council. He later served as principal counsel for the Maryland Department of the Environment. After a short time in private practice, Hall went on to lead Capitol Area Asset Builders, a nonprofit that strives to create financial opportunities for low- and moderate-income individuals in the greater Washington, D.C., region. He coached women’s rowing at August Wilson Senior H.S. in D.C. and loved sailing his 43-ft. wooden ketch with his family in Chesapeake Bay and Martha’s Vineyard Sound. Hall is survived by his wife of 44 years, Heleny Cook; sons, Tim and Andrew; daughters, Diana and Charlotte ’08; and several grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to Capital Area Asset Builders.

Nathaniel Reichek, cardiologist, Northport, N.Y., on March 6, 2021. Born in the Bronx, Reichek graduated from P&S in 1965, was an intern and resident at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and spent two years in the U.S. Public Health Service at the CDC. He completed his cardiology fellowship at Georgetown under the tutelage of Dr. Joseph Perloff and followed his mentor to Penn, where in 20 years he rose to the rank of full professor and director of the Noninvasive Laboratories. In 1992 Reichek moved to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh as chief of the Cardiology Division, where he remained until 2002, at which time he became director of the Research and Education Department at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn, N.Y., and professor of medicine and biomedical engineering at SUNY Stony Brook. He went to part-time status in 2016 to continue his research. Reichek was regarded as one of the founding fathers in his field and was president of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, president of the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Magnetic Resonance Laboratories and chair of the Council of Cardiovascular Organizations. He published more than 170 original articles and more than 300 abstracts. Reichek is survived by his wife, Lesly.

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1962

Stuart M. Case, attorney and judge, Mystic, Conn., on January 12, 2021. Case enrolled in Columbia Engineering before transferring to the College and majoring in economics. After working in journalism, including media relations at the University of Connecticut, he earned a J.D. from the Western New England College of Law, ran a family practice in Connecticut and was elected to the Family Court. Case is survived by his wife of 58 years, Lenore; and son, David.

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1963

Robert J. Pollet, physician, researcher and professor, Atlanta, on April 27, 2021. Born on January 24, 1942, in Brooklyn, Pollet fell in love with research during a college summer internship at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. He earned an M.D. and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from NYU Medicine, where he met his wife, Donna. After completing an internship at Chicago and residency at Michigan, he was a fellow in endocrinology at the National Institutes of Arthritis, Metabolism & Digestive Diseases in Bethesda, Md. Pollet held dual positions as the associate chief of staff for research and development at the Atlanta Veterans Administration Hospital and senior assistant dean of the Emory School of Medicine. While at the Atlanta VA, he launched major cross-department research initiatives and brought in substantial funding to help build a world-class academic and medical research program. In addition to his wife, Pollet is survived by his sons, Adam and his wife, Natalie, and Joshua and his wife, Ashley; daughter, Sarah PH’07; and five grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

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1965

Alan I. Green, psychiatric researcher, Hanover, N.H., on November 26, 2020. Born in Norwalk, Conn., Green majored in history before graduating in 1969 from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he became passionate about neuroscience research. He took a hiatus after his internship in medicine to spend a year as an investigator at the NIH and spent another year serving as director of research for the White House Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention. Following residency, Green worked at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, where he ran the Commonwealth Research Center, and later at Dartmouth, where he was the Raymond Sobel Professor of Psychiatry and chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the Geisel School of Medicine and Dartmouth-Hitchcock for nearly 18 years. While he mentored dozens of young researchers, his own research focused on understanding the basis of schizophrenia and substance abuse and developing better treatments for these disorders. Green is survived by his wife of 37 years, Franny; son, Henry ’16; and daughter, Isobel.

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1966

Paul J. Kastin, businessman, Atlanta, on June 12, 2021. Born in Cleveland, Kastin majored in art history, was a member of Beta Theta Pi, played on the tennis team and graduated in three years before earning an M.B.A. at Chicago. He worked for Dubuque Packing and Smithfield Foods as well as for an entrepreneur in Atlanta, who called on him to run his new company. In 1981, Kastin leveraged his experience and formed Service Marketing, a commercial meat brokerage business. He was a voracious reader, avid golfer, frequent traveler and patron of the arts, including The Woodruff Arts Center, Atlanta Symphony, Spivey Hall and other cultural venues. Kastin is survived by his wife, Rosthema; daughter, Leslie, and her husband, Tod Rubin; sons, Darren and his wife, Bonnie, and Avery ’01; brother, Abba and his wife, Wei Hong; and four grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta or the Emory Winship Cancer Institute’s leukemia fund.

Frank B. Newell, attorney, Little Rock, Ark., on May 6, 2021. Born on September 22, 1944, Newell played football and ran track at Hall H.S. in Little Rock, majored in English and played golf at Columbia, and graduated from the Law School in 1969. After starting his career in private practice, Newell became deputy attorney general under Gov. Jim Guy Tucker (D-Ark.) and helped with a monumental revision of the state’s criminal code. After Tucker was elected to Congress in 1976, Newell stayed on in the attorney general’s office under his successor, Bill Clinton. He was appointed to the state Public Service Commission in 1981 but his confirmation was blocked by lawmakers in the state Senate because some with utility interests feared he would be too devoted to the interests of consumers. Newell resigned and served on Clinton’s staff as a legal assistant reviewing legislation before he was hired by the Worker’s Compensation Commission as an administrative law judge, adjudicating hundreds of worker injury claims a year. He later joined the Laser Law Firm and retired in 2019 from the Barber Law Firm, both in Little Rock. Newell is survived by his wife, Dee Ann; daughter, Anna Asa Newell, and her husband, Dr. John Buchanan; brother, Henry; and sister, Leslie Peacock. Memorial contributions may be made to Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

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1967

David E. Langsam, financial executive, Larchmont, N.Y., on January 24, 2021. Born in Brooklyn, Langsam was active in student government at Columbia and earned a Ph.D. in politics from Princeton in 1974, with a focus on Soviet politics. Langsam spent his career in finance, beginning at Chase Manhattan Bank before later working for Merrill Lynch, from which he retired in 2013. Langsam was passionate about Jewish life and Israel and was active at his synagogue and with nonprofits devoted to Israel. A tireless reader and consumer of knowledge, he was fascinated by history, politics, people and places, and was genuinely interested in the lives and stories of everyone he met. Langsam is survived by his wife of 46 years, Sandra; daughters, Melissa Braunstein and Nina Blachman; and six grandchildren.

Justin C. Malewezi, educator and civil servant, Lilongwe, Malawi, on April 17, 2021. Born on December 23, 1943, Malewezi was educated at Robert Blake Secondary School in Malawi’s Central region district of Dowa. A biology major and varsity soccer player at Columbia, Malewezi returned to Malawi and taught science, later becoming headmaster and chief education officer. An education reformer and a leader in combating HIV, Malewezi held several posts in the 1980s in the ministries of health and education before becoming secretary to the treasury. He also advised the governments of Tanzania, Ghana and Lesotho on education and public sector development. In 1994, in Malawi’s first multiparty elections, he joined with Bakili Muluzi and dislodged the Malawi Congress Party from its 30-year hold on power. Malewezi served as VP 1994–2004. After losing in the 2004 presidential election, he spent much of his time as an activist on HIV and AIDS issues. Malewezi is survived by his wife, Felista Chizalema; sons, Justin and Qabaniso; daughters, Msaukiranji and Tione; and six grandchildren.

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1969

Gary R. Gunas, theatrical producer, London, on February 22, 2021. Born on May 26, 1947, in Manchester, Conn., Gunas began his career on Off-Broadway in 1969 as an apprentice company manager for the musical Promenade. In the 1970s he joined Marvin A. Krauss Associates, where he managed Broadway shows and tours including Godspell, American Buffalo, Beatlemania, Dancin’, Woman of the Year, Dreamgirls and La Cage aux Folles, as well as revivals of Gypsy starring Angela Lansbury, Richard III starring Al Pacino and Death of a Salesman starring Dustin Hoffman. Gunas also managed Broadway performances by a host of artists that included Peter Allen, Ashford & Simpson, Charles Aznavour, Josephine Baker, Count Basie, Shirley Bassey, George Benson, Rodney Dangerfield, Ella Fitzgerald, Patti LaBelle, Bette Midler, Gilda Radner, Mort Sahl, Frank Sinatra and Lily Tomlin. Between 1993 and 2001 he executive-produced several Broadway musicals, including The Who’s Tommy, Jekyll & Hyde, Ragtime, The Civil War and Seussical, before he relocated to London in 2002 and worked for Clear Channel’s U.K. office until retiring in 2005. Gunas and his husband, playwright and record producer Bill Rosenfield, were featured in the Playbill video series Old Show Queens, where they shared their memories of the end of the Golden Age of Broadway. In addition to his husband, Gunas is survived by two brothers. Memorial contributions may be made to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

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1971

John W. Borek, artist, bookseller and playwright, Rochester, N.Y., on April 2, 2021. Borek spent 15 years as a legislative aide to former Rochester City Councilman Adam McFadden, was a past president of the 19th Ward Community Association and worked with community advisory programs at the University of Rochester. He owned and operated The Village Green bookstore and was perhaps best known for his commitment to the city’s arts and cultural scene. At 58, Borek took a sudden interest in the arts and began recording rap albums, including a song about Michael Jackson’s monkey, Bubbles. He wrote deliberately odd plays and even performed in them, as artistic director at the Multi-Use Community Cultural Center. He had planned to perform a show called The Book of Leuk about his observations on his battle with leukemia, but a resurgence of the disease prevented that. Last year, Borek published The Club Van Cortlandt, a book about his freshman year at Columbia.

J. Hallock “Hall” Northcott, corporate advocate, Kensington, Md., on February 5, 2021. Northcott started his professional career in Washington, D.C., working for Rep. William Frenzel (R-Minn.). He then worked for a variety of corporate and trade associations, focusing on his strong interest in politics and international trade. Northcott traveled extensively throughout his career, loved the beach and was passionate about cars, particularly high-powered sports cars, and blues music. In retirement, he worked for his beloved Washington Nationals, and was an active volunteer in the National Presbyterian Church’s Men’s Ministry and 40Plus of Greater Washington. Northcott is survived by his wife, Karen; and sister, Heather Walker.

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1972

Robert K. “Kayo” Hull, attorney and mediator, Penn Yan, N.Y., on March 16, 2021. Hull was born in Denver but his family moved to South America and he received his early education in Argentina, Venezuela and Portugal. He graduated from Woodberry (Va.) Forest School and took a $10-a-day trip through Europe during a gap year before college. Hull then earned degrees from the Law School in 1977 and SIPA in 1978. He was a writing instructor at the Law School and an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City before moving to Penn Yan, where he practiced law. He was Yates County treasurer 1986–89 and mayor of Penn Yan 1987–91, had been a labor arbitrator and mediator since 1993 and taught at Cornell Law School in the early 2000s. Hull is survived by his wife, Anna Hurley; sons, David, and Charles and his wife, Lisa; sister, Elizabeth; and one grandson. Memorial contributions may be made to St. Michael’s Church; the Struzzi Fund of the Finger Lakes Health Foundation, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research or the Woodberry Forest School.

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1984

Eric L. Hansen, musician, New York on April 27, 2021. Born on February 18, 1957, in Grand Forks, N.D., Hansen moved with his family to Madisonville, Ky., where he was valedictorian at North Hopkins H.S. He majored in political science and minored in music, and became a devotee of the burgeoning new wave music scene and lifelong follower of The Residents and Tom Waits. Hansen was a member of the CU Glee Club, the New York Choral Society and The Dessoff Choirs, and the bass section leader and soloist in the St. John’s Episcopal Church Choir in Larchmont, N.Y. He enjoyed nothing more than lugging his keyboard to open mic nights and doing his best Waits impersonation, which evolved into his “Tom Waits for No Man” finale performance in the annual Blowhole eater show at Barbes Brooklyn. He is survived by his longtime partner, Anna; mother, Carolyn; brothers, Paul and his wife, Pi-Hsun, Daniel and his wife, Stacey, and Peter and his wife, Heather; sisters, Sonja and her husband, Dave, Kristen and her husband, Trent, and Rachel and her husband, Todd; and eight nephews and nieces. Memorial contributions may be made to The Dessoff Choirs.

— Alex Sachare ’71