1954
A. Stephen Passloff, physician, New York City, on April 17, 2024. Born on Feb. 9, 1933, in Manhattan, Passloff ran track and was in the Marching Band at Columbia before graduating from medical school in 1958. A board-certified internist, he will be remembered for his sense of humor, kindness and compassion. Passloff is survived by his wife of 64 years, Marina (née Dorf); children, Robert W. ’82 and Ellen (both also physicians); and four grandchildren.
1956
Herbert M. Kutlow, financial services executive, Carlsbad, Calif., on July 23, 2024. Born in New York City on Nov. 14, 1934, Kutlow graduated from Horace Mann H.S. and played varsity basketball for the Lions. An avid athlete, he enjoyed hiking and working out daily at the gym with his wife, Dee. After graduation, Kutlow served in the Navy as a lieutenant for 10 years, several of them at The Pentagon. Following the service, he made his professional mark as a stockbroker, working with prestigious New York firms including Drexel Burnham Lambert and Smith Barney. Kutlow relocated to the San Diego area in 1994 and became a beloved high school basketball assistant coach, earning the nickname “Coach Nightmare” for his old-school coaching style. In addition to his wife, Kutlow is survived by his son, Jay ’80 (Diana); daughters, Wendy (Kevin Best) and Penny (Mark Tyson); five grandchildren; and sister, Rosalee Lubell.
1958
Paul R. Herman, attorney, Englewood, N.J., on June 5, 2024. After graduating from the Law School in 1961, Herman specialized in estate planning and tax law, helping families minimize the impact of gift and estate taxes. In 1972, he joined Herrick, Feinstein and became a partner six months later, chairing the Trusts and Estates Group (which became the Private Clients Group) for more than 40 years before becoming counsel in 2014 and retiring in 2023. He also was an adviser to public charities and private foundations and lectured on estate planning and tax law developments for business and educational organizations, including NYU Law, the New York Practicing Law Institute and charitable organizations. He sat on the boards of several publicly supported charities and was an officer and trustee of the Jewish Braille Institute. Herman, who was a varsity fencer at Columbia, was a Columbia College Fund Class Agent 2012–22. He had a lifelong devotion to Judaism and was an enthusiastic devotee of the arts, including visual arts, opera, classical music and recordings of famous cantors. Herman is survived by his wife of more than 50 years, Malka; son, Murry; and daughter, Tali ’98 (Joshua Newman ’91).
telecom analyst, Purcellville, Va., on March 23, 2024. Born on June 24, 1937, in Brooklyn, Schachne graduated with dual bachelor’s degrees in engineering and liberal arts. He earned a master’s in engineering from George Washington and an M.B.A. from American, bringing him to the Washington, D.C., area. Schachne worked for several telecommunication corporations, including Comsat and France Télécom. He also was a NASA engineer on the Apollo Mission. Schachne enjoyed traveling the globe, reading, cooking, and playing Santa for friends’ children. He also was passionate about tennis and the stock market. Schachne and his wife, Evalyn Collier, went ballroom dancing twice a week while he was physically able. Schachne is survived by his wife of 14 years; stepdaughter, Melissa Collier (Shawn Pumphrey); stepsons, Pat Collier (Bernadetta) and Tom Collier (Tone); and five step-grandchildren.
1959
Edward C. “Ned” Elson, physician, Bethesda, Md., on May 19, 2024. Born on Aug. 8, 1937, Elson earned an M.D. from Missouri. He served in the Army Medical Corps, retiring as a colonel in 1999 from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense. Elson was director of the Microwave Research Laboratory at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Previously, he was an assistant professor of pathology at UC San Diego and a pathologist at the Veterans Administration Hospital in San Diego. After retiring, he continued his research in the physics department at Maryland. Elson is survived by his wife, Hannah Friedman Elson; daughters, Sara Beth and Shana; one granddaughter; and brother, David.
Francis J. Fortier III, violinist, conductor and artistic director, New York City, on March 23, 2024. Fortier majored in music and minored in history, then studied at Yale under Joseph Fuchs and at Juilliard under Ivan Galamian and Dorothy DeLay. In 1966, he won the Bath Festival Award, allowing him to apprentice with Yehudi Menuhin at the Bath Festival in England. The following year, Fortier founded the Bar Harbor Music Festival in Maine, which became a fixture of summers in Acadia and a launchpad for countless musicians. He directed and performed as soloist and later as conductor. The festival’s Touring Program brought Fortier to colleges and community arts organizations, where he spread his love of music and the violin. Fortier is survived by his wife of 40 years, Deborah; sons, Matthew and Gregory; daughter, Clarissa; and one granddaughter.
1962
Philip Lille, businessman, Paradise Valley, Ariz., on May 1, 2024. Born on July 6, 1937, in Brooklyn, Lille served in the Marines before attending college, where he majored in Japanese language and ancient Japanese literature. After graduating cum laude, he earned an M.A. from SIPA in 1964 under the National Defense Foreign Language Fellowship and was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to study Japanese economics at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo. Lille worked for American companies in Japan, Thailand and Malaysia before settling in Scottsdale, Ariz., in 1976. There, he was a consultant in international business, president of Western Chemical International and taught at The American Graduate School of International Management in Glendale. Lille is survived by his wife of 63 years, Patricia; son, Sean (Diane); daughter, Alison (Johnny); six grandchildren; and sister, Dawn.
1963
Geoffrey R. Akst, mathematics professor, New York City, on March 5, 2024. Born in Brooklyn, Akst graduated Junior Phi Beta Kappa and earned an M.S. in mathematics from NYU. After receiving a Certificate in French Language and Civilization from the Sorbonne, he earned an Ed.D. in mathematics education from Teachers College. Akst taught at Borough of Manhattan Community College, where he was deputy chair, specializing in remedial mathematics for college students. He was co-author, with Sadie Bragg, of several widely used textbooks in the field. Akst is survived by his partner/husband of 55 years, William Wilcox.
Henry R. Black, physician, New York City, on May 21, 2024. Born in the Bronx on June 1, 1942, Black played varsity basketball and soccer, and earned a master’s from Yale and an M.D. from NYU. He was an expert in hypertension, with almost 400 published papers, several textbooks and many lectures on the subject. Black was president of the American Society of Hypertension and a professor of preventive medicine at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. He freely gave of his time to mentoring young physicians and to encouraging student-athletes at Columbia who aspired to become doctors. He was active in alumni affairs as a member of the Columbia College Alumni Association Board of Directors, as a Columbia College Fund Class Agent and as an interviewer of prospective students for the Alumni Representative Committee. Black loved the New York Giants, theater, music of all kinds, movies and travel, and had an extensive library about WWII. He was an avid supporter of Columbia’s football, basketball and baseball teams. Black is survived by his wife, Benita Lerin; son, Matthew (Becky); daughter, Dana (Luke Parker); one granddaughter; one stepson; and one step-grandson.
1966
William W. Corcoran, attorney and consultant, Winchester, Mass., on May 23, 2024. Born in Bridgeport, Conn., Corcoran was an Eagle Scout who graduated from Westwood (Mass.) H.S. At Columbia he competed on the varsity football team, ran track and field, and was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He earned a master’s in 1967 from GSAS and a J.D. in 1972 from Suffolk, where he was a member of the
Law Review. In his diverse career, Corcoran was a teacher, coach, lawyer, restaurateur, professor, business consultant and government auditor. In his personal time, and with family, he was a sailor, golfer, skier and adventurer. Corcoran is survived by his wife, Kathleen (née Mogan); and sons, James and Andrew (Nina).
1968
Thomas S. Seligson, author and TV producer, Deep River, Mass., on April 5, 2024. Born in NYC, Seligson’s family moved from the Upper West Side to Westport, Conn., in the early 1950s, and he graduated from Phillips Academy-Andover in 1964. Seligson wrote six books, fiction and non-fiction, one of which became the basis for a film and several sequels. He was an executive producer at CBS News Productions for 10 years. Seligson produced hundreds of shows for several cable networks, winning three Emmy Awards and garnering four nominations. He was also a print journalist and had bylines in major magazines. Seligson sought out life’s adventures — scuba diving around the world, climbing mountains from the Dolomites to the Andes and riding wild mustangs in Wyoming. He enjoyed tennis, cycling, skiing and hiking, and recently had taken up boxing. Seligson is survived by his wife of 27 years, Susan Farewell; daughter, Justine; sister, Jane (Fred); and twin brother, Robert.
1969
Ira S. Cohen, physician and professor, Stony Brook, N.Y., on June 15, 2024. Born in Brooklyn, Cohen reached the finals of the NYC tennis championship as a senior at Sheepshead Bay H.S., and he played varsity tennis for the Lions. He continued to play tennis several times a week throughout his life. He graduated from NYU’s M.D.-Ph.D. program, received a post-doctoral fellowship to Oxford and returned to New York as an assistant professor in the School of Medicine at Stony Brook, embarking on a 48-year path that led to seminal contributions to the understanding of pacemakers and ion channels in the heart. A brilliant scientist, Cohen became a Distinguished Professor in the Renaissance School of Medicine Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Stony Brook. He held patents on creations ranging from biological pacemakers to cancer-fighting and anti-arrhythmic drugs. In 2016,
Nature Biotechnology recognized Cohen as one of the top 20 translational scientists in the world, and he was inducted into the National Academy of Inventors a year later. He is survived by Shelly, his wife of almost 53 years; daughter, Melissa; son, Daniel; three grandchildren; and brother, Howard.
Thomas S. Huseby, entrepreneur, Decatur Island, Wash., on June 16, 2024. Born in New York City, Huseby earned a B.S. from SEAS in 1970 and an M.B.A. from Stanford in 1972. He worked in Rio de Janeiro, Paris, and Menlo Park, Calif., before moving to Seattle and founding SeaPoint Ventures in 1997. He enjoyed sailing and spending time at his home in the San Juan Islands, which he shared with his wife of 35 years, Janice Magee Huseby. In addition to his wife, Huseby is survived by his children, Conor, Devin, Max and Alexis’16, SPS’17; daughter-in-law, Thalia Sady; son-in-law, William Bambury SEAS’16; and five grandchildren.
Nathaniel Wander, consultant, researcher, writer, artist and painter, Portland, Ore., on March 27, 2024. Born on June 26, 1948, in Queens, Wander graduated from Stuyvesant H.S. and earned a Ph.D. in anthropology from GSAS in 1980. He also received an M.S. in counseling/psychology from Portland State in 1994. Wander,
CCT’s CC’69 class correspondent for the last four years, was an associate researcher in anthropology at UC San Francisco, a senior research fellow at the University of Edinboro and a research ornithologist at Observatorio Cayo Pajaro Chico in Belize. He gave back to his community as a consultant/researcher/writer for his own company, Consultation for Change. Wander was an avid marathon runner and hiker with a love for dogs and birding, and later in life became an accomplished artist and painter, especially of birds. He traveled the world and lived in India, Peru, Israel, France and Belize before settling in Portland. Wander is survived by his brother, Lawrence (Christine).
1970
Frank T. Furillo, engineer and consultant, Medford, N.J., on March 30, 2024. Born in Reading, Pa., Furillo lettered in football for three years and became one of the most avid alumni supporters of the Lions football program, known for hosting game-day tailgates. After earning a master’s from SEAS in 1976, Furillo enjoyed a successful career as a metallurgical engineer, working for ExxonMobil before starting his own firm, Red Tiger Consulting. He enjoyed tackling
New York Times crossword puzzles, golfing with family and friends, and indulging in Italian food and wine. Furillo is survived by his daughter, Jamie; son, Casey; and step-daughter, Jennifer Thomann.
1971
Mark L. Silverman, physician, New York City, on April 27, 2024. Silverman was chair of the Pathology Department at Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Mass., for more than 30 years. He is survived by his wife, Susan; daughter, Jill; sons, David BUS’09 and Billy; and six grandchildren.
1972
Joseph L. Falik, attorney, Huntington Woods, Mich., on Sept. 17, 2023. Falik, who worked on
Spectator and the
Columbian, graduated from the Law School in 1975 and was admitted to the bar in 1981. He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Deborah Hecht; sons, Benjamin ’04 (Andrea) and Samuel; sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, Betsy and David Summer, Miriam Hecht and Ivan Zackheim; and two grandchildren.
1978
John R. Flores, attorney, Newington, Conn., on June 20, 2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Flores graduated from the Law School in 1981 and had a lengthy career as an insurance and employment law attorney. His legal career culminated with four years of service to the State of Connecticut as general counsel in the Office of the Treasurer. Flores took great pride in his Puerto Rican and Argentinian heritage and was a longtime member of the Church of the Holy Spirit, where he started the CYO Girls Basketball program and coached his daughters. One of his greatest honors was being a member of Catholic Charities/The Institute for the Hispanic Family, where he ultimately was a member of the Board of Trustees, including being chair for several years. Flores, who interviewed prospective students for Columbia’s Alumni Representative Committee, is survived by his wife of 44 years, Lucille (Medile); daughters, Danielle Flores de Benzerga ’04 (Yacine), Melissa Caban ’07 (Cleo) and Jessica Lynch ’10 (Jim); brothers, Richard and Raymond SEAS’73 (Jo); sister-in-law, Theresa Day; brother-in-law, Nicholas Medile Jr. ’87 (Sherri); and six grandchildren.
— Alex Sachare ’71
