Obituaries

1942

Wesley W. Lang Sr., retired business executive, Stamford, Conn., on April 11, 2016. Lang was born on March 17, 1921, in New York. He served in the Army Air Forces in WWII and earned an M.B.A. from NYU. Thereafter, he was employed by A.D. Juilliard, Pfizer, Schrafft’s and B. Altman & Co., where he was CFO and a member of the Board of Directors. Lang is survived by his wife of 69 years, Marion; daughter, Nancy; sons, Wesley Jr. and his wife, Mary Margaret, and Kenneth and his wife, Deborah; and six grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Thomas W. Stewart, retired anesthesiologist, Lynchburg, Va., on March 27, 2016. Stewart was born on June 14, 1921, in Pelham, N.Y. He earned a degree from P&S in 1945 and began his career with the Medical Corps of the U.S. Navy 1942–50, with his Foreign Service taking place at Guam N.H. in the Marianas Islands. He later was an anesthesiologist at Lynchburg Memorial Hospital, Centra Lynchburg General Hospital, Centra Virginia Baptist Hospital and Bedford Memorial Hospital, from which he retired. Stewart connected with other medical professionals through the Virginia Society of Anesthesiologists, Medical Society of Virginia and American Board of Anesthesiology and was also a member of Court Street United Methodist Church, the American Legion and the Bedford Country Club. He is survived by his wife, Selene Carson Stewart, whom he married in 1954; daughter, Martha Stewart Doolittle; sons, William and his wife, Carol Welstead Stewart, and Robert and his wife, Cleo Sander Stewart; six grandchildren; and three nephews. He was preceded in death by his brother, Samuel, and son, Thomas W. Jr. Memorial contributions may be made to Red Bird Mission.

1948

Joseph J. Fusco, retired physician, Hillsdale, N.Y., on June 16, 2016. Fusco was born on August 3, 1928, in Harlem and grew up in the Bronx. He earned an M.D. at NYU Bellevue College of Medicine, interned at Cincinnati General Hospital and was a resident at Philadelphia General Hospital. During the Korean War, he was a captain in the Air Force Medical Corps and was stationed in France, where he met his wife, Isabell. Fusco finished his residency with Dr. Paul Beeson, an infectious disease specialist at Yale. Following training at Hartford and Grace-New Haven hospitals, Fusco joined the Rip Van Winkle Clinic in Hudson, N.Y., as an internist and was appointed to Columbia Memorial Hospital’s Department of Medicine in 1958. After the clinic’s dissolution in 1964, he continued in private practice in Hillsdale and joined Prime Columbia Greene Medical Associates in Hudson. He completed his career on staff at the Pine Haven Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in Philmont, N.Y. Fusco is survived by his wife of 60 years; children, Joseph and his wife, Karen Parker, Joan and her husband, Gerard Walshe, John and Frances; a grandson; a niece; and four nephews. Memorial contributions may be made to The Community Hospice of Columbia - Greene, 47 Liberty St., Catskill, NY 12414 or The Roeliff Jansen Community Library, 9091 Route 22, Hillsdale, NY 12529.

Monteagle “Monty” Stearns, retired ambassador, professor, Cambridge, Mass., on May 14, 2016. Stearns grew up in Carmel, Calif., and New England. In 1943, while at Stanford, he enlisted in the Marine Corps, completed Officer Candidate School and was assigned to the U.S.S. West Virginia. Following WWII, he graduated from the College with a degree in English. A Foreign Service officer for more than 40 years, Stearns’ assignments included Turkey, the Congo, the United Kingdom, Laos, U.S. Ambassador to the Ivory Coast and three tours in Greece, the last also as U.S. ambassador. In Washington, D.C., he served as deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and as VP of the National Defense University. After retiring, Stearns held the Warburg Chair for International Relations at Simmons College, also publishing two books and numerous articles on U.S. foreign policy. In 2014, he was made Grand Commander of the Order of the Phoenix by the president of the Hellenic Republic.

Stearns is survived by his wife of 57 years, Antonia Stearns (née Riddleberger); sister, Mary Lou Stearns Roppoli; children, Joanne, Pamela Pollack and her husband, Fred, Christopher, Jonathan and his wife, Barbara, David and his wife, Virginie, and Emily Stearns Fertik and her husband, Elliot; and eight grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training or to Doctors Without Borders.

1949

Neil Warner, music arranger and conductor, New York City, on August 30, 2016. Born Warner Neil Shilkret, Warner graduated from the College magna cum laude at 19 and was a Korean War veteran. He had a prolific musical career in TV, advertising (he won several Clio Awards) and on Broadway as an arranger and the original conductor of Man of La Mancha. He is survived by his wife, Naomi; children, Julie and James; daughter-in-law, Kim; sister, Marilyn; and one grandson.

1952

C. Donald “Don” Mohr, retired attorney, Washington, D.C., on July 14, 2016. Born in Hackensack, N.J., on August 7, 1930, Mohr lived most of his adult life in Manhattan. He earned a degree from the Law School in 1955 and worked at Schieffelin & Co., Moët Hennessy and LVMH, from which he retired in 1994. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Mariavittoria Serafini Mohr; children, Christopher, and Chantal Mohr O’Rourke GS’97; and three grandchildren.

1955

Abraham Ashkenasi ’55

Abraham Ashkenasi, retired professor of political science, Berlin, Germany, on March 27, 2016. Born on May 14, 1934, in Brooklyn, N.Y., Ashkenasi earned a master’s in international relations from Johns Hopkins in 1956. He conducted his doctoral residency at Columbia. After four years in the Air Force stationed in West Germany, joining the reserve as a captain, Ashkenasi taught at the University of Maryland overseas while conducting his doctoral research at the Otto Suhr Institute of the Free University Berlin, earning a Ph.D. in public law and government in 1964 from GSAS. After a year teaching at Hofstra, he accepted a teaching position at the Free University, becoming a tenured professor in 1971. Ashkenasi focused on minority and refugee issues worldwide, with a special focus on Israel and the Occupied Territories. His career included guest professorships at UCLA and UC Berkeley, a visiting fellowship at Haifa University, Israel, and a research fellowship at Hebrew University, Jerusalem. His many major publications include writing Modern German Nationalism (1976) and Palestinian Identities and Preferences (1992), as well as editing The Worldwide Refugee Crisis (1988) and The Future of Jerusalem (1999).

1957

H. Douglas Eldridge, reporter and author, East Orange, N.J., on April 11, 2016. Eldridge was Spectator editor-in-chief and later a reporter for the Newark News and the Hudson Reporter and the deputy editor for the Montclair Times. He authored The Rise and Fall of the Newark News: A Personal Retrospection and edited and wrote the preface for William M. Ashby’s Tales Without Hate. In March 1968, Eldridge marched with and interviewed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during King’s visit to Newark. He also interviewed President Nixon on television. An advocate for civil rights and civil liberties, Eldridge won numerous awards from the NAACP, the American Jewish Committee and Jewish Council for Public Affairs, among others. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Newark Public Information Office in 1970 and served as a special aide and adviser to Newark Mayors Kenneth A. Gibson and Sharpe James. Eldridge was president and executive director of the Newark Preservation and Landmarks Committee; in 2014, it presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award for 40 years of service. Eldridge’s wife, Marjorie, predeceased him on September 30, 2015; they had been married since June 15, 1957. Eldridge is survived by their sons, Martin and Frederick; three grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

1961

Bernard Miller, electrical engineer and real estate entrepreneur, Brooklyn, N.Y., on July 20, 2016. Miller was born on June 20, 1939, in New York City and grew up on the Lower East Side and in Rockaway, N.Y. He earned All-City honors as a basketball player at Hebrew Institute of Long Island. Following his graduation Phi Beta Kappa from the College, Miller earned a B.S., an M.S. and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, all from Engineering. He worked in cutting-edge aviation and aerospace projects for Hughes Aircraft in Culver City, Calif., in the 1960s. In the early 1970s Miller co-founded Unigon Industries, where he developed Doppler ultrasound technology. Miller entered the real estate industry in NYC in the 1980s. At the time of his death he was a significant real estate owner in Brooklyn and the Bronx. Miller was a noted philanthropist; an avid runner, having completed four NYC marathons; and a Talmudic scholar. He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Margareta (née Hirsch); children, Eric LAW’95, George ’93 and Lea Miller Kronenberg ’99; and 15 grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to BINA Stroke and Brain Injury Assistance, 2511 Avenue I, Brooklyn, NY 11210.

John J. Tsucalas, financial analyst, investment banker and writer, Philadelphia, on September 21, 2016. Tsucalas earned a B.A. in economics and was elected by classmates as a permanent class officer and a member of Sigma Chi and the Varsity C Club. As president of the Columbia Club of Philadelphia, he was presented an Alumni Medal in 1986. Tsucalas earned an M.B.A. in finance from Wharton. He was deputy auditor general of Pennsylvania and received commendations from the State Senate and House. Tsucalas was a C.F.A. and principal of John James Tsucalas & Co.; VP of leveraged buyouts and private placements for Butcher & Singer in Philadelphia; and investment officer for John Hancock in Boston. His writings appeared in city, national and international publications, and he was a guest speaker on economic, financial and political analyses regarding developments in the United States and the Middle East and was a volunteer adviser to the DOD on economic development. Tsucalas was a first lieutenant in the USAF and received the Air Force Commendation Medal for “Meritorious Service” and the National Defense Service Medal awarded during the Vietnam War; he developed a screenplay about the day-to-day living, loves and losses of injured female veterans. Memorial contributions may be made to Columbia University with memo “Crew Shell in memory of John Tsucalas.” Tsucalas is survived by his wife of 23 years, Joanne, among others.

1963

Alan P. Jacobs, film professor and producer, entertainment executive, Chapel Hill, N.C., on February 22, 2016. Born and raised in Manhattan, Jacobs was a lifelong New Yorker in his heart. He started making documentary films in the late ’60s supporting the Civil Rights, Anti-War and Feminist Movements and was directly involved in the emerging wave of independent film and video as a founding member of Newsreel, co-owner of Odeon Films and executive director of the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers. Jacobs was a founding trustee of the Sundance Institute and board member of the American Film Institute, the Independent Feature Project and the Southern Documentary Fund. In Los Angeles, he produced narrative television films for The Film Foundry, his own production company and others including Mirage Enterprises, CBS and Hallmark Hall of Fame. He held executive positions at Trans-Lux Corp. and Hallmark Entertainment. Jacobs taught for five years at California State University - Long Beach. He earned an M.F.A. in film in 2004 from SOA. Jacobs is survived by his wife of 31 years, Lynn Goodpasture; daughter, Keelia; brother, Jim; and cousin, Howard Muscott.

1964

Malcolm B. Sargent, financial executive, Assonet, Mass., on June 26, 2015. Born in St. Louis, Sargent lived most of his life in Westfield, N.J., New York City and Assonet, Mass. He earned an M.B.A. in 1966 from the Business School and embarked on a career in finance, joining Chase Manhattan Bank in its Special Development Program. He ultimately pursued private business interests. Sargent was an avid automobile and sports fan and steadfast friend to many, including his Phi Gamma Delta fraternity brothers. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Susan Deane Sargent; brother, Bruce, and his wife, Janet; and one nephew.

1978

John C. Ohman, attorney, New York City, on March 7, 2016. Ohman earned an M.A. from GSAS in 1981 and a degree from the Law School in 1992. He was an acknowledged classical music expert, one of his passions; another was the New York Yankees. Ohman was a successful attorney in New York as a partner at Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner, remaining as partner after its merger with Thelen Reid, and subsequently as a partner at Vandenberg and Feliu. He had recently joined McGlinchey Stafford, where he concentrated his practice on complex commercial, business and technology litigation. He is survived by his mother; two sisters; wife; and two daughters and their mother.

— Lisa Palladino