OBITUARIES
Compiled by Timothy P. Cross

1923

Mortimer Adler '23 PHOTO: BACHRACH

Mortimer Adler, educator and philosopher, San Mateo, Calif., on June 28, 2001. The son of an immigrant jewelry salesman and a former schoolteacher, Adler dropped out of DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx at 14 to work as a copy boy for The New York Sun. A few years later, hoping for a career in journalism, Adler enrolled in extension courses at Columbia in an effort to improve his writing. Adler became so impressed from reading Plato that he set out on his philosophical career; one of Adler's extension professors was so impressed with Adler that he found a scholarship to the College for him. Adler completed his studies in three years, but was denied his bachelor's degree because he had refused to attend gym class and didn't take the swim test. Nevertheless, Adler was immediately accepted into the Graduate School and appointed an instructor in psychology; he earned his Ph.D. in 1928. Adler taught at Columbia (as well as at City College and the People's Institute) until 1930, when he accepted an invitation from President Robert Hutchins to teach at the University of Chicago. Together, Adler and Hutchins revised Chicago's undergraduate curriculum, developing a core curriculum that focused on the humanities and reading great books. He became a full professor of the philosophy of law (a position created especially for him) in 1942. Four years later, Adler and Hutchins instituted the Great Books program, inviting members of the community to meet and discuss classic works. The two persuaded the Encylopaedia Britannica to reprint a 54-volume set of great books, with Adler overseeing the project and the now-famous Synopticon, an index of 102 "great ideas" contained in the books. In 1952, Adler resigned his professorship at Chicago to found the Institute for Philosophical Research, which was devoted to the study of Western thought and produced books such as the two-volume Idea of Freedom (1958, 1961). Meanwhile, Adler joined the Board of Directors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1947 and became director of planning and chairman of the editorial executive committee. He was the force behind the first major revision of the encyclopedia in over 200 years, published in 1974 as The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. In 1979, the Institute for Philosophical Research, under Adler's leadership, launched the Paideia Project (the name comes from a classical Greek word for education), which advocated for the reintroduction of great books and the Socratic method in the public schools. Adler also taught at St. John's College in Annapolis, where he helped the school develop its signature great books curriculum, and at the University of North Carolina. A prolific author and editor, Adler wrote or co-wrote nearly 40 books — including How to Read a Book: The Art of Getting a Liberal Education (1940), which he revised with Charles Van Doren in 1972, Aristotle for Everybody (1978), and Ten Philosophical Mistakes (1985) — and edited many more. He was the recipient of 10 honorary degrees. The College waived the physical education requirement and granted him the bachelor's degree in 1983, the same year DeWitt Clinton H.S. granted him a diploma. Adler is survived by four sons, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Editor's note: A fuller appreciation of Adler's career and accomplishments will appear in an upcoming Columbia College Today.

1924

J. Kelly Johnson, retired engineer, Liverpool, England, on May 13, 2001. Johnson, who studied at Penn before arriving at the College, also earned B.S. (1925) and electrical engineering (1927) degrees from the Engineering School, where he taught from 1927-29. He then embarked on a professional career at a number of firms, including Silver Marshall, Wells Gardner and the Hazeltine Corp. During World War II, Johnson rose to the rank of captain in the U.S. Navy. After the war, he returned to civilian engineering, working as chief engineer at Hammarlund Manufacturing Corp. and as a consulting electrical engineer. After his retirement, Johnson moved to Liverpool, England, though he regularly returned to Vermont for summer vacations. Johnson's first wife, Denise Louise, who he married in 1929, predeceased him. He is survived by his second wife, the former Gillian Banks, who he married in 1981, and by five children from his first marriage.

1928

David Cowen, retired professor and physician, New York, on March 5, 2001. A New York native, Cowen received his medical degree from P&S in 1932. He became a professor of neuropathology at P&S and an attending neuropathologist at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital. He was also associated with Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan and the New Jersey Veterans Hospital. An international authority on neuropathology, Cowen published over 70 papers during his 50-year career. He served as president of the American Association of Neuropathologists, receiving a 1979 award for his dedication and contributions to neuropathology. Cowen retired in the 1980s. He is survived by a nephew and seven grandnephews and nieces.

1930

William J. Williams, Vero Beach, Fla., on March 29, 2001.

1931

Richard P. Rissman, retired, Lorain, Ohio, December 24, 2000.

1933

Martin Roeder, retired attorney, New York, on August 3, 2000. Roeder, who had received a diploma from the Sorbonne in 1932, earned his law degree from Columbia in 1935. He worked with the firm of Saterlee & Green, and then served as counsel to the War Production Board from 1942-44. At war's end, he rejoined Saterlee as a partner, but left in 1948 to found the firm of Sher & Roeder. In 1960, he joined Guggenheimer & Untermyer, where he became responsible for tax matters as well as a substantial portion of the firm's work in trusts and wills. He was managing partner and chairman of the firm's executive committee before assuming "of counsel" status in 1984. Roeder wrote extensively on various tax subjects and served on tax committees of the American Bar Association, as well as bar associations of New York State, New York City and New York County. He was a member of the NYC Bar Surrogates' Court Committee and the NYU Advisory Committee of the Institute on Federal Taxation, a former trustee of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies and a member of the boards of the Associated YM-YWHAs of Greater New York, Emanu-El Midtown YM-YWHA and the Jewish Repertory Theater. Roeder is survived by his wife of 61 years, Dorothy, three children and five grandchildren.

1937

John James Mariano, retired dentist, Naugatuck, Conn., on March 7, 2001.

1947

Warren H. Westphal, mining geologist, Denver, on February 12, 2001. Westphal was a mining geologist for most of his life, with occasional forays into seismology and geophysics. In the 1950s and early 1960s, he worked at a series of mining and research companies, including Tidewater Oil, New Jersey Zinc, Utah Construction & Mining in Salt Lake City, where he was chief geologist, Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, Calif., where he was senior geophysicist, and Intercontinental Energy Corp in Englewood, Colo., where he was vice president for production. He later founded his own company, Tellis Gold Mining, in Englewood, Colo., among other ventures. Westphal was a pioneer in the in-situ mining of coal, uranium and gold and described himself a "hard rock" geologist until his retirement in the late 1980s. He is survived by his wife, Rosalie, two daughters, one son and five grandchildren.

1949

Lou Kusserow '49

Louis Joseph Kusserow, former football player and television executive, Rancho Mirage, Calif., on June 30, 2001. One of the most gifted football players in Columbia history and a prime architect of Columbia's spectacular upset of Army in 1947, Kusserow, 73, played professional football before embarking on a successful career as a television producer for NBC. Lou Kusserow was born in Braddock, Pa., near Pittsburgh, and raised in Glassport, Pa. As a freshman at Columbia he scored 15 touchdowns. In Coach Lou Little's winged-T offense, Kusserow played left halfback, but moved to fullback after an injury during the 1947 season. He also played full-time on defense, usually at safety. Kusserow, a first-team All-America, still holds Columbia records for season points (108), season touchdowns (18), career points (270) and career touchdowns (45) as well as a one-game defensive record of four interceptions. His 52-year-old record for career rushing yards (1,992) was broken in 2000 by Jonathan Reese '02. Among Kusserow's most enduring accomplishments is leading the nation with 193 all-purpose yards per game in 1948, the year he led all major-college players with 108 points and scored at least one touchdown in every game. Kusserow is perhaps best remembered for his outstanding performance against Army on October 25, 1947, at Baker Field, when Columbia pulled one of the most stunning upsets in college football history. Army had not lost a game in four years (32 wins, two ties), and until Kusserow's five-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, no one had even scored against Army that season. Despite missing a fourth-quarter extra point, Army held a comfortable 20-7 lead late in the game, but a spectacular diving catch by Bill Swiacki '48 pulled the Lions within a touchdown. Minutes later, following another Swiacki reception, Kusserow battered through Army's line for his second touchdown of the day. The extra point gave the Lions a 21-20 lead, and Kusserow cemented the victory by intercepting a pass at midfield during Army's final possession of the game. Allison Danzig, a sports writer at The New York Times, nicknamed Kusserow and teammate Gene Rossides '49 the "Goal Dust Twins," a counter to Army's "Touchdown Twins" of Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis. After graduation, Kusserow played 11 games for the New York Yankees of the All-American Football Conference and 11 games for the New York Yanks of the National Football League. He served in the military for two years, then played four years for the Hamilton Tiger Cats of the Canadian Football League, earning all-star recognition each year and leading the team to the Grey Cup championship. Kusserow retired from football in 1957 and went to work for NBC as a business manager; he became a producer when the network told him that doing so would double his salary. His television credits included six World Series, five Super Bowls (including the first one), 15 years of professional golf coverage and 12 years of baseball's "Game of the Week." He claimed two innovations in televised sports: multicolored sand traps for golf (which lasted only one telecast) and fixed timeouts during games (which exist to this day). By the time he retired from NBC in 1972, Kusserow had won three Emmys. After leaving NBC, Kusserow managed country clubs in the area of Palm Springs, Calif. Columbia honored Kusserow with the Half-Century Award in 1990. In 1999, a panel of judges named him among the 10 greatest Columbia athletes of the 20th century, and he was selected to the Lions' "Team of the Century" in the fall of 2000. He is survived by a brother, two sons, two daughters, and five grandchildren.

1950

David Gerard Iliff '50

David Gerard Iliff, retired journalist, Indianapolis on March 30, 2001. A New York native, Iliff attended Trinity School in the city before matriculating at the College, where he was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity. He attended law school at Indiana for one year before being recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency, where he worked from 1951-58, with assignments in New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Texas. In 1958, Iliff moved to Chesterfield, Ind., and founded the weekly Yorktown Adventure; he sold the paper five years later and joined The Muncie Star, where he worked until 1978. He also served as an adjunct professor of journalism at Ball State University for 13 years. In 1978, Iliff moved to Tucson, where he became editor of three newspapers: The Arizona Territorial, The Green Valley News, and The Daily Reporter, a local legal newspaper. He also worked for two years as a copy editor for the Arizona Daily Star. He retired in 1989 and returned with his family to Indiana, where he wrote three short books on events in Indiana history connected to his family: The Lost Tribe of Ben Hur, Post Adjutant at Fort Davis and The Yorktown Adventure. Iliff was a member of St. Monica Catholic Parish, the Indiana Historical Society, the Montgomery County Historical Society, Friends of Holliday Park, The Nature Conservancy, The Crown Hill Society and St. Vincent Hospice. He was named "Volunteer of the Year" by The Nature Conservancy in 1993. Iliff is survived by his wife, Ruth, three sons, seven daughters and 10 grandchildren. The family asks that memorials be made to The Nature Conservancy, Indiana Chapter, 1330 West 38th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46208.

1951

Wendell R. Sylvester, physician, Purcell, Okla., in January 2001.

1962

Alfred D. Delutis, computer consultant, Ormond Beach, Fla., on July 24, 1999. A native of Attleboro, Mass., Delutis served in the U.S. Marine Corps (1956-58) before entering the College, where he played varsity football. After college, Delutis worked at the Providence office of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York and for the Service Bureau Corporation in Boston. In the late 1960s, Delutis moved to Texas, where he became the owner and president of Management Control Systems, a successful computer consulting company. After residing in Dallas for more than 30 years, Delutis relocated to Ormond Beach in 1998. He is survived by Carol, his wife of 40 years, as well as two children and two grandchildren. The family requests that donations be made to the Aflred D. Delutis Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o Attleboro High School, 100 Rathbun Willard Drive, Attleboro, MA 02703, Attn. Office of Graduate Opportunities.

1978

Daniel A. Pfeffer, physician, Brooklyn, N.Y., on March 30, 1991.

1997

Randolph Murff, air force pilot, Kunsan AFB, South Korea, on June 12, 2001. Randy Murff was raised in Bellaire, Texas, and graduated from the College with a degree in history. An outstanding offensive lineman who was co-captain of the Lions' football team that posted an 8-2 record in 1996, Murff received his commission upon graduation from the Air Force's Officer Training School in June 1998, and then was sent for pilot training at Laughlin AFB, Texas. Murff (who acquired the nickname "Chongo") excelled at Laughlin, and he was awarded his wings in July 1999. He was then assigned to Luke AFB in Arizona for additional F-16 fighter training. Graduating as a mission capable fighter pilot in July 2000, Murff was assigned to the 35th Fighter Squadron of the 8th Fighter Wing at Kunsan Air Base in South Korea, where he was an F-16 fighter pilot and a standardization and evaluation officer. According to the Air Force, "Murff's exceptional flying skills in air-to-ground and air-to-air weapons employment directly contributed to the 8th Fighter Wing's overall ‘excellent' rating" during an initial response and combat readiness inspection in March 2001. As standardization and evaluations officer, Murff was responsible for ensuring that squadron pilots successfully completed annual testing, flying and emergency procedure evaluations.

Editor's note: A tribute to Murff appears here.