Obituaries

1946

Victorino Tejera ’46

Victorino Tejera, professor emeritus, New York City, on August 25, 2018. Tejera earned a B.A. in philosophy Phi Beta Kappa and a Ph.D. in 1956 from GSAS under the direction of classic American philosophers Justus Buchler GSAS’39 and John Herman Randall Jr. CC 1918 with the dissertation “Philosophy and the Art of Poetry.” He also translated and wrote poetry for The Columbia Review. Tejera wrote 15 books, and his university teaching career, which included Stony Brook University, from which he retired, spanned 40 years. He redefined philosophy, considering the disciplines aesthetics, metaphysics and intellectual history, and widened the philosophical organon with the inclusion of the humanistic disciplines of literary and art criticism and semiotics in a time that restricted the organon to formal and philosophical logic. Tejera studied ancient Greek with Fred Householder Jr. GSAS’41. He used original sources to counter the traditionalist reading of Plato with its predilection for ethical or political propositions, and expounded a revised “dialogical” reading of the Dialogues through their literary construction and expressive speech. Consistent with Randall and Woodbridge, Tejera wrote that the dialogues were “brilliant ironical constructions abounding in wit and concerned with the way such matters as human excellence, knowledge, and the state ought to be conceptualized.”

1952

Hugh C. Hackett, real estate investor, Naples, Fla., on June 2, 2018. Hackett, nicknamed “Bossman,” was born on September 12, 1930, in the Bronx. He graduated from Ardsley H.S. in 1948 and served in the Army until 1955, during which time he was stationed in Stuttgart, Germany. Hackett married Regina Mary Purce on October 4, 1958, and they lived in Sayville, N.Y., for almost 40 years prior to relocating to Naples, Fla. Hackett was a successful real estate investor and developed properties for 7-Eleven and oil companies including BP Amoco, Shell and Texaco. He was an avid reader of biographies and history, enjoyed jogging and working out at his local gym, and derived immense pleasure from spending time with his dogs, Schultz, Baron and Finnegan. Hackett is survived by his wife; children, Hugh ’81, John ’82, Christopher and Elizabeth; daughters-in-law, Rita and Maureen; and four grandchildren. He was predeceased by a brother, John.

1955

James R. Hudson ’55

James R. Hudson, research director, Santa Fe, N.M., on July 13, 2018. Hudson was born in 1933 in Cleveland. He attended the Army Language school in Monterey, Calif., and served as a special agent in the Army Counter Intelligence Corps in France. Upon his return he earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Michigan. Hudson employed his research expertise at the Russell Sage Foundation, conducting studies on issues of police-community tensions/relations, public education and economic development. He held faculty/research positions at Bryn Mawr College, SUNY Stony Brook and Penn State Harrisburg, serving there as the division head of the Behavioral Science Program. Hudson moved to the Bay Area, then to Santa Fe. With his wife of more than 20 years and research partner, Trish, he co-founded the Melos Institute, a nonprofit applied-research organization, where he introduced a groundbreaking paradigm for managing membership-based organizations. Hudson wrote, co-wrote and edited a number of books and articles including The Unanticipated City: Loft Conversions in Lower Manhattan (1987) and Special Interest Society: How Membership-based Organizations Shape America (2013). He is survived by his wife.

1957

James E. Abrams, retired sales and sales management executive, Downingtown, Pa., on April 1, 2018. Abrams was born and raised in New York City. After working for small and large companies, he fulfilled his dream by forming his own firm, Jener Associates. He was a proud member of the NROTC and a three-time Varsity C winner in baseball. At his College graduation, Abrams was commissioned and assigned to NS Norfolk (Va.). Shortly thereafter, he was reassigned to the U.S.S. Bulwark, a minesweeper, out of Charleston, S.C. After two years of active duty, he joined the Naval Reserve, where he rose to the rank of commander. Abrams loved baseball and coached kids for a number of years in his community. He served military veterans by driving them to appointments and was an active member of his church. Telling jokes and stories was another of his loves, though, admittedly, some were really “groaners.” Abrams is survived by his wife of 56 years, Rosemarie, as well as his daughters, Jennifer and Erica; four granddaughters; and his brother, Tom ’58.

Charles A. Straniero, retired ob/gyn, Mendham, N.J., on October 27, 2017. A native of the Bronx, Straniero was a lifelong Yankees fan. At the College, he earned a B.A., with a minor in art history, and in 1961 an M.D. from Georgetown University School of Medicine. After completing his residency at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Straniero served as a captain in the Air Force, stationed in Rantoul, Ill., 1966–68. He was a senior attending physician at Hackensack University Medical Center and a founding partner of Prospect Women’s Medical Center, where he practiced ob/gyn for 38 years and ushered more than 4,000 lives into the world. Straniero is survived by his wife of 57 years, Marilyn (née Caputo); children, Carla and her husband, Robert Barone, and John and his wife, Dawn Trusio; and six grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to the “Charles Straniero MD Memorial Fund” at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

1959

Robert L. Moore, retired business­man, Sudbury, Mass., on July 29, 2018. Born on December 10, 1937, Moore was raised in the mining town of South Fork, Pa. The first member of his family to graduate from college, he was a scholarship student at Columbia. In 1980, Moore launched Omni Apex, a corrugated packaging company, with offices in Acton, Mass., and later Concord, Mass., as well as a manufacturing plant in Fitchburg, Mass. A writer, philosopher and naturalist, Moore enjoyed reading, poetry, classical music, nature walks and time by the sea. He self-published three books after his retirement: the two-part Compendiary: A Letter to My Children in the Form of a Commonplace Book and Gathered Thoughts: An Anthology of a Life Enjoyed, a book of his poetry. Both are included in the collection at Harvard University’s Widener Library. Moore’s life was guided by a strong sense of curiosity, a fierce self-reliance and a wry sense of humor. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Lynn Hirsh Moore BC’59; three sons; and five grandchildren.

Harvey Seidenstein, physician, Stamford, Conn., on September 3, 2018. A major in the Army; known as the “Father of Cardiology” in El Paso, Texas; and a dedicated clinician at Greenwich (Conn.) Hospital, Seidenstein will be remembered for his devotion to his patients during his 55-year career. He is survived by his wife of 33 years, Jacquelyn Peters Seidenstein; and children, John and his wife, Veronica, Ellen Janay and Benjamin.

1960

Thomas G. Waldman ’60

Thomas G. Waldman, medieval scholar, Philadelphia, on July 1, 2018. Waldman was born in Cleveland. He earned an M.A. in 1961 from GSAS and a D.Phil. from Lincoln College, University of Oxford. Waldman was a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He specialized in 12th-century France, in particular on the abbey of Saint-Denis in Paris and its abbot Suger. For many years he was an associate professor in the history department at Penn, where he was also director of corporate and foundation relations. Waldman was a co-founder of the Delaware Valley Medieval Association and helped secure a grant from the Lilly Foundation that enabled its success. He is survived by his brother, Ronald, and sister-in-law, Lee; nieces, Elizabeth Haspiel and her husband, Joseph, and Margot Waldman and her husband, Tim Lemmon; and five grandnieces and grandnephews. Memorial contributions may be made to the Curtis Institute of Music, 1726 Locust St., Philadelphia, PA 19103 c/o Anthony J. Brown.

1961

Thomas J. Gochberg, real estate financier, New York City, on May 24, 2018. In 1979, Gochberg arranged a management takeover of Security Mortgage Investors, a publicly traded real estate investment trust, becoming its president and renaming it Security Capital Corp. Security Capital purchased and merged with Smith Barney Real Estate, making the combined firm one of the nation’s largest fully integrated real estate financial holding companies. In 1991 Gochberg co-founded TGM Associates, a specialized money management firm focused on investing in multifamily real estate for institutional clients. Gochberg had been fascinated with sailing since his youth in New England, but had no opportunity to sail until the 1970s. He taught himself celestial navigation and competed in world racing events, including the Sevenstar Round Britain race and the OSTAR Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic race. He completed several transatlantic crossings, cruised the Mediterranean, circumnavigated Newfoundland and made a number of cruises to Bermuda. Gochberg was a patron of the New York Yacht Club, the University Club, the American Sail Training Association and The Cruising Club of America, and was an involved College alumnus. He is survived by his wife, Letty; daughter, Sarah ’00; son, John; daughter in-law, Kim, two grandsons; brother Donald; and numerous nieces and nephews.

1962

Vincent J. Fasano, retired professor, Montreal, Quebec, on March 17, 2017. Fasano majored in philosophy and minored in archaeology. After the College, he was drafted and served two years with the Army in Mannheim, Germany, as an MP. On returning to the United States, he completed graduate work at the University of Alabama and McGill University before taking a teaching position in the anthropology department of Dawson College in Montreal. Fasano is survived by his wife of 51 years, Julie; son, Erik; daughter, Louise; and two granddaughters.

Jack Hurwitz, retired, New York City, on December 24, 2017. Hurwitz was born on December 22, 1940, into a large, Upper West Side Jewish family. He went to Horace Mann, and majored in English lit at the College. Hurwitz was the third generation to run the family business, Robert Hull & Co. After he retired, he devoted his time to his favorite things: traveling the world, going to the theater, spending time with friends and family, and walking the city he loved. He is survived by his wife, Carol; daughters, Rudie, Diana and her husband, Nathan Tidd, and Tamara and her husband, Dan Dornan; seven grandchildren; sister, Lynn Zelevansky and her husband, Paul; nieces, Claudia and Nora; and longtime friends Alan Weinstein and Lloyd Perell. As his granddaughter Noa wrote, “We will celebrate him forever by reading the books he gave us, making the meatloaf he taught us was universally liked, and filling glasses just half full because you should never pour what you’d be bothered to spill.” Memorial contributions may be made to The Center or Landmark West.

1964

Edward C. Steinberg, retired urban planner, White Plains, N.Y., on June 19, 2018. Born on June 14, 1942, in Ellenville, N.Y., Steinberg earned an M.S. in urban planning in 1966 from GSAPP. He began his professional career that year as a planner for the New York office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He went to White Plains in 1970 to work for the Urban Renewal Agency, where he was later named director. In 1985, Steinberg was appointed commissioner of planning for the city. He was often seen in his trademark Stetson hat walking the renewal areas. Later, he became director of the Stamford Urban Redevelopment Commission, and consulted until his retirement. Steinberg was an avid photographer and an enthusiastic participant in the hobby of model railroading, for which he authored dozens of articles in national magazines. He is survived by his wife of more than 50 years, Marian; sons, Joshua, and his wife, Rachael, and Alex and his wife, Esperanza; daughter, Jean Borrup, and her husband, Kevin; four grandchildren; sister, Phyllis Greene; and brother, Clarence. Memorial contributions may be made to Congregation Kol Ami (White Plains), the Alzheimer’s Association or The Nature Conservancy.

1966

Richard O. Forzani, IT sales executive, Garfield, N.J., on September 12, 2018. Forzani was born on April 25, 1945, in the Bronx. A student-athlete and active alumnus of the College (he was the CC’66 Class Notes correspondent 2012–18), Forzani served in the Navy Reserve. He enjoyed traveling, fine dining, military history, Columbia football, penning letters to the editor and spending time with his friends and family. Forzani was predeceased by a son, Troy, and is survived by his wife, Kathleen; children Daniel “Casey,” Katelyn and Richard; younger siblings, Diana, Carol, Mary, Lillian, Edward and Michele; two grandchildren; 13 nieces and nephews; and countless others whose lives he positively influenced with his generosity, larger-than-life personality and ability to charm a room with his sense of humor. Memorial contributions may be made to Villa Marie Claire hospice in Saddle River, N.J.

1968

Gregory F.T. Winn, scholar, lecturer, civil servant, diplomat, author, Naples, Fla., on April 19, 2018. Winn was born on August 20, 1946. He worked at the United States Information Agency as division chief and senior program advisor and was involved with American support for the independence of Ukraine. For several years he was deputy director of Grants Management for AmeriCorps and as its senior grants advisor. Winn spoke six languages and earned master’s degrees from NYU and the University of Southern California, where he also earned a Ph.D. in international relations. He received Fulbright scholarships for research and teaching in Korea and Japan and taught international relations at USC, American University and Ave Maria University. The author of 25 published articles, after retiring Winn completed two historical novels. He received the Army Commendation Medal for his service in military intelligence and held a first-degree black belt in judo. Winn and his wife, Vera, visited more than 60 countries. He is survived by his wife; sister, Claire; daughter, Natasha Lantz, her husband, Jon, and their daughter; and son, Tyler. Winn was predeceased by a daughter, Alanna Alexandra, 20 years prior. He also leaves his wife’s daughters, Anya Mendenhall and her three daughters, and Masha Sharma and her husband, Jony, and their two sons. Memorial contributions may be made to the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, c/o Fr. Victor Potapov, 4001 17th St. N.W., Washington DC 20011.

1971

Eli A. Rubenstein, attorney, Newton Center, Mass., on January 27, 2018. Raised in Silver Spring, Md., Rubenstein graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the College and earned a J.D. in 1974 from NYU. After three years at Cabot, Cabot & Forbes, he launched a 40-year career at Goulston & Storrs, becoming a partner and director in the firm’s Boston and New York offices, with expertise in real estate development and financing strategies. Rubenstein donated his time, talent and support to several charitable organizations, including the cause closest to his heart, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. He served on the society’s national board, including three years as chair, and spent decades on the Greater New England Chapter board. Rubenstein will be remembered by friends and family for his dry wit, excellent cooking and mixology skills, pragmatic advice, and steadfast kindness and loyalty. He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Emily Broner Rubenstein BC’72, SW’74; son, Isaac, and his wife, Michelle; daughter, Abigail ’05, and her husband, Maxwell Bogue; and two grandsons. Memorial contributions may be made to the National MS Society.

1989

Charles A. Radi Sr. ’89

Charles A. Radi Sr., global managing director and chief information security officer, Miami, Fla., on August 21, 2018. A fourth generation Miamian, Radi was a star student athlete at Miami Southridge Senior H.S., where he was a key player in baseball, wrestling and football and on into college ball. He had a successful career that spanned nearly 30 years as a highly sought-after authority in computer and network security. While he enjoyed many achievements, Radi’s proudest and happiest moments were the times spent with family. He will be remembered for his fun-loving, jovial and spirited personality. Radi is survived by his father, Gabe; sisters, Heather and her husband, Mark Bermudez, Michele and her husband, Bob Vicente, and Shawnee and her husband, John McFadden; children, Charles Jr. “CJ,” Kristin, Zachary and Courtney. He is also survived by his children’s mother, Valerie Radi, who was his wife for 23 years. Radi was predeceased by his mother, Jackie. Memorial contributions may be made to the ALS Association Florida Chapter in honor of Radi’s mother.

— Lisa Palladino