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OBITUARIES

1926

Alexander A. Fisher, physician, New York City, on July 17, 2004. A 1929 graduate of P&S, Fisher was clinical professor of dermatology for the last three decades at NYU-Postgraduate Medical School. He was associated with The Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology and its Skin and Cancer Unit for 65 years. Fisher founded the subspecialty of contact dermatitis and edited the definitive eponymous textbook in the field as well as more than 300 scientific papers. He was an admired teacher, world-renowned lecturer and acknowledged leader in dermatology as well as a noted humorist. Fisher is survived by his children, Stephen A. and his wife, Susan, and Adria Price and her husband, Stephen; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife, Lillian.

1927

Milton Pollack, federal judge, New York City, on August 13, 2004. A 1929 graduate of the Law School and a 1998 John Jay Award recipient, Pollack presided over some of the biggest financial-scandal cases of the 20th century. He grew up in Flatbush, Brooklyn, and was named to the federal bench in the Southern District of New York in 1967 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Throughout his judicial career, Pollack was known as a strict and efficient arbiter who could not be fooled by lawyers’ tricks, either because he had seen them before or had used them in 23 years of private practice, according to The New York Times. Pollack was best known for taking complex financial scandals, boiling them down and compelling both sides to accept a settlement. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, he sorted through the Drexel Burnham Lambert bankruptcy, pulling together hundreds of claims against the company and its executives, including Michael R. Milken. In 1992, Pollack approved a settlement in the case for more than $1 billion. The Times said, “The amount was later reduced, but many experts had predicted when the case started that it would take decades to complete. Judge Pollack ended the case in a fraction of that time simply by telling lawyers on all sides to sit in a jury room until they came up with points of agreement. Several hours later, they emerged with an outline of the settlement on a single sheet of yellow legal paper, which Judge Pollack then framed and put on his office wall.” Last year, Pollack issued a landmark ruling dismissing two class-action lawsuits against analysts at Merrill Lynch. His criticism, as usual, was scathing. He blamed the plaintiffs for expecting federal securities laws “to underwrite, subsidize and encourage their rash speculation in joining a freewheeling casino that lured thousands obsessed with the fantasy of Olympian riches.” Despite his tough reputation, Pollack’s friends and family described him as a warm and gentle man who would often become teary-eyed during professional and family gatherings. His first wife, Lillian Klein, to whom he was married for 35 years, died in 1967, and his second wife, Moselle Baum Erlich, whom he married in 1971, died in February. Pollack is survived by his daughters, Stephanie Miller, Joan Kaplan, Judy Margolis and Phyllis Asch; son, Daniel; 15 grandchildren; and 23 great-
grandchildren.

1932

Kermit G. Dwork, physician, Forest Hills, N.Y., on August 25, 2004. Born on March 22, 1912, in New York City, Dwork graduated from George Washington H.S. He graduated from P&S in 1936. Dwork interned at Hartford Municipal Hospital from 1937–39 and served in the Army from 1943–47, attaining the rank of major. Dwork served at Schick General Hospital, Clinton, Iowa; 167th General Hospital, France; and the Surgeon General’s Office, Washington, D.C. His specialty was internal medicine, with a particular interest in tropical medicine and parasitology, which he wrote about in several professional publications. In addition to memberships in professional societies, Dwork held an academic appointment as assistant professor of clinical medicine at SUNY Stony Brook. He is survived by his wife, Bonnie.

1933

Valentine C. Bremer, retired quality control manager, Lyndhurst, N.J., on July 16, 2004. Bremer was a Jersey City native and lifelong New Jersey resident. After receiving his M.S. in 1937, Bremer was employed for 10 years by the Sheffield Farms research laboratory and then spent the rest of his career as manager of quality control and director of technical services of the C.F. Mueller Co., from which he retired in 1980. Bremer was an emeritus member of the American Chemical Society, the Institute of Food Technologists, the American Society for Quality Control and the American Society of Cereal Chemists. He also served on numerous advisory committees for industry groups and North Dakota State University. He was a member of the vestry and treasurer of St. Thomas P.E. Church, Lyndhurst. An avid sportsman, he won numerous bowling trophies and during retirement enjoyed salmon fishing in Alaska each summer. He is survived by his sons, Charles V. ’63 and John W.; daughter Mary E.; five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

1938

Edward G. Menaker, engineer, Waynesboro, Va., on February 24, 2003. Born in Newark, N.J., on April 10, 1919, Menaker graduated from Flushing H.S., where he was a member of the city champion fencing team. He fenced for Columbia under coach Jimmy Murray and remained a loyal Varsity “C” Club member throughout his life. In later years, he taught fencing in Virginia, providing clinics for the teams at James Madison and Virginia Commonwealth universities. Menaker graduated with a major in French literature and received an M.A. in French in 1939 from GSAS. Pursuing his doctorate, he was awarded a Columbia traveling fellowship to Aix-en-Provence, which was deferred by the outbreak of war in Europe. Menaker was commissioned in the Army in 1942 and served as one of the first radar officers in Chennault’s 14th Air Force in China, retiring from active duty in 1945 as a major with a Bronze Star. In 1946, he joined the General Electric Co. in Schenectady. Menaker became licensed as a professional engineer and spent the next four decades as an inventor and manager for G.E. in Virginia and in 1966–67 in France. Later, he was a G.E. liaison with the electronics industry in Japan, establishing relations with engineers from the nation against whose ships he had directed bombing raids 30 years earlier. Menaker was a leading member of the Virginia Democratic Party and although a war veteran, was active in opposing the Vietnam War. He served as a McCarthy delegate at the Democratic National Convention in 1968 and was a campaign manager for progressive candidates for public office in the 1970s and ’80s. He also served on the Virginia State Health Coordinating Council, was president of the Northern Virginia regional health council, and held many other regional and local public service positions. Menaker had lifelong friendships with a number of classmates and vivid recollections of College courses, particularly Mark Van Doren’s Shakespeare survey. He often spoke of his Columbia experience as teaching the value of thinking before acting and keeping an open mind. He was a John Jay Associate and a longtime Virginia ARC member. Menaker is survived by his wife of 61 years, Elizabeth (Dresbold); sons, Lawrence and Richard ’69; and four grandchildren.

1939

John Guise Lyons, attorney, San Francisco, on June 22, 2004. A New York City native, Lyons and his family went to France when he was a young boy and lived there for 10 years. After receiving a Baccalaureat de Mathematiques at the College de Cannes, Lyons returned to New York and graduated from the College with a B.A. and from the Law School in 1942 with an LL.B. During WWII, he served as a lieutenant with the Navy as an intelligence officer, first as assistant naval attache in Haiti, where he was given the Officer de L’Ordre de Merite decoration from Haiti’s government, then at the British Admiralty in London during the planning of the Normandy invasions, in which he landed at Utah Beach on D-Day, and finally was posted at the U.S. Naval Technical Mission in Paris. Lyons left active service as a lieutenant commander. Following the war, he served for several years in the Naval Reserve. A distinguished attorney in of public utility law, Lyons was a full-time partner in Vaughan, Paul and Lyons. Following nationwide deregulation of public utilities, Lyons devoted himself primarily to estate planning and business law. He also was a longtime participant in community service organizations. Lyons’ memberships included the S.F. Alliance Francaise, S.F. Rotary Club, Mechanics Institute Library, Columbia College and Columbia Law School Alumni Associations (he was a longtime member of the Alumni Club of Northern California) and the Cercle de Union (French Club). In addition to his wife of 47 years, Barbara Moller Lyons, Lyons is survived by two sons from a prior marriage, Robert Swayne Lyons and Richard Guise Lyons; two granddaughters; two nieces; three grandnieces; and one grandnephew. His brother, Franklin Brown Lyons, predeceased him.

1941

Nian Tzu “N.T.” Wang, retired United Nations official, Larchmont, N.Y., on August 26, 2004. Wang was born in Shanghai on July 25, 1917. Trained to be a Confucian scholar, he received a classical education at home, where he was tutored in Chinese poetry, painting, the classics and other literati skills. Math, science and languages were introduced later by his father, Pai Yuan (P.Y.) Wang, a banker, when he decided to school his four sons in the Western ways as teenagers. In 1937, Wang went to study at the London School of Economics and in Germany. He transferred to the College, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with honors in economics, and went on to receive an M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from Harvard. After retiring from a 28-year career at the United Nations as director of the Centre on Trans-national Corporations, he returned to Columbia to teach at the Business School and SIPA. He enjoyed teaching, organizing seminars, creating training programs for Chinese academic and business leaders, and working tirelessly as the director of the China-International Business Project. Wang was an honorary professor at 10 universities, a fellow of the International Academy of Management and a recipient of many awards, including the New York Governor’s Award for Outstanding Asian-American. In his autobiography, My Nine Lives, Wang wrote of his lives as No. 1 son, traditional scholar, foreign student, public servant, instructor, international servant, adviser, academician and immigrant. He made many contributions to China; to the United States, his home since 1939; and to countless countries he helped through his work at the U.N. Economic and Social Council. In addition to his professional achievements, his passions included dancing with his wife of 62 years, Mabel, and playing tennis. Wang composed classical Chinese poems, which his family will compile as the 10th chapter in his life, The Poet. He is survived by his wife; children, June, Kay (Leighton Chen), Cynthia (Daniel Sedlis), Geraldine and Newton; and three grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to Community Funds, Inc. for the N.T. and Mabel Wang Charitable Fund (which will continue the mission of the China-International Business Project that Wang established at Columbia), c/o Community Funds, Inc.,
2 Park Ave., New York, NY 10016.

1943

(William) Stanley Wyatt, artist, New City, N.Y., on September 23, 2004. Wyatt was born in Denver on September 20, 1921. He earned an M.A. in 1947 from GSAS and later taught art at Waynesburg College, Columbia and Rockland Community College, among others. Wyatt’s work was influenced by Cubism, and in 1976 he created what he told The (Rockland County, N.Y.) Journal News was “the major work of his career to date,” a triptych called “Homage to the Hudson River.” The work was done for the United States’ Bicentennial and was his personal interpretation of history and contemporary life along the river as seen from Nyack and Piermont. “His work was iconoclastic, he didn’t pay attention to trends,” said Ned Harris, a member of the Rockland Center for the Arts’ board of trustees. “He went his own way and followed his own vision, an independent man whose style was Impressionistic.” Wyatt was remembered in September at the Great Teacher Awards Dinner, during which he was acknowledged for having designed the awards given to the winners. Wyatt’s wife of 60 years, Alice, died in March. Among his survivors are sons Roger ’68 and Greg ’71, a prominent sculptor who recently unveiled his bronze Scholars’ Lion near Low Library.

1944

David Sacks, retired attorney, New York City, on September 1, 2004. Sacks was a leader of the College’s Board of Visitors and in 1993 received a John Jay Award for distinguished professional achievement. He graduated from the Law School in ’48 and was a retired partner of Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett. Sacks served as chief administrative officer of Lehman Brothers and was president and vice chairman of Joseph E. Seagram & Sons. He also was president of UJA-Federation of N.Y., chairman of the board and president of the Jewish Outreach Institute, president of Westchester Jewish Community Services, the Board of Overseers of Hebrew Union College and on the boards of the 92nd Street Y, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the HealthCare Chaplaincy and the Jewish Communal Fund. Sacks is survived by his wife, Marcella Rosen; children, Jonathan, Deborah Chapin, Judith Bliss and Joshua; and 10 grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to The Sacks-Louie Charitable Trust, c/o Jonathan Sacks, 101 Central Park West, NY, NY 10023.

1947

Alan G. Baker, retired advertising executive, New Canaan, Conn., on July 12, 2004. A resident of New Canaan for 36 years, where he served as a justice of the peace until his death, Baker was born in New York City on November 30, 1924, and grew up in Brookhaven, Long Island. He graduated from The Hill School and then earned his B.A. and was captain of the Columbia varsity wrestling team. In 1954, Baker earned a master’s in English and comparative literature from GSAS. In 1952, he married Diana Harbage and began a career as an advertising executive specializing in insurance and financial services, first with in Mutual of New York, then with Eastern Life Insurance, where he was director of advertising and sales promotion. In 1964, Baker founded Alan Baker Assoc. After a stint as manager of advertising and sales promotion at Home Insurance Co., he started Financial Marketing Services; he was its president until his retirement in 1995. An avid sailor, Baker was a longtime member of the Norwalk Yacht Club and enjoyed skiing, bridge, photography and reciting poetry. He is survived by his wife; sons, Edward H. ’77 and Alfred H.; daughters, Jane Pasquini and Elizabeth Sapione; brother, John Milnes Baker; and four grandchildren. His eldest son, William E., died in 1989. Memorial contributions may be made to the New Canaan Library, 151 Main St., New Canaan, CT 06840.

1950

Kevin H. Prendergast, professor emeritus, Englewood, N.J., on September 7, 2004. Prendergast earned a Ph.D. in astronomy in 1954 and had taught at Columbia since 1966. He was a member of the astronomy and astrophysics department, served on several College committees and produced a number of publications. His instructor homepage on Columbia’s website noted, “My research interests include numerical modeling of interacting systems of stars and gas, with applications to galactic structure and evolution. I also have been working on mathematical methods for use in stellar dynamics and for problems arising from the existence of large-scale structures in the universe. One technique involves the study of singularities of the solutions of nonlinear partial differential equations. Recently, I have been working on the construction of numerical schemes for hydrodynamics, based on the BKG model of the Boltzmann equation.” Prendergast is survived by his wife Jane; and daughters, Laura ’88 and Catherine ’90.

1952

Alan N. Cohen, sports and entertainment executive, Purchase, N.Y., and Boca Raton, Fla., on August 10, 2004. Cohen was born in 1931 and graduated from the Law School in 1954. After serving in the Army, he joined Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, Wharton and Garrison in 1957 and became a partner in 1964. In 1970, Cohen joined the entertainment company then known as Warner Communications (now Time Warner) as executive v.p. and oversaw the company’s recorded music subsidiaries, including Atlantic Records, Electra and Warner Brothers records. During this time, he and several partners, including Warner CEO Steve Ross, purchased the New York franchise of a newly-formed professional soccer league. The team was known as the New York Cosmos, and, according to The New York Times, “it was to be the start of Mr. Cohen’s long and influential involvement in major sports ownership.” In 1974, Cohen became chairman and CEO of Madison Square Garden Corp., then a public corporation that owned the Knicks and the Rangers. In an interview with the Times, Cohen was asked if it were more important to win a championship or to earn profits for his shareholders. He replied that as a public company, his first priority was to his shareholders: “That’s the bottom line.” As a result, he was known for a time in the sports pages as “Bottom Line Cohen.” In 1978, Cohen and a group of invest-ors purchased the New Jersey Nets NBA basketball franchise; he moved the team to its current facility in the Meadowlands. In 1983, Cohen sold his interest in the Nets and with his partners, Don Gaston and Paul Dupee, purchased the Boston Celtics. Under their ownership, the Celtics enjoyed a decade of great success. Led by Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, the Celtics often reached the NBA Finals, winning the league championship in 1984 and 1986. Cohen was chairman of the NBA Board of Governors from 1985–87, and, along with Commissioner David Stern (who chairs the University’s Board of Trustees), Cohen was instrumental in the NBA’s moving to adopt a salary cap structure for its teams, pioneering its use. At the time of his death, Cohen was chairman of ANC Sports Enterprises, a leading provider of rotational and LED signage at sports facilities, and was co-chairman of Sportsco International, which owns the SkyDome in Toronto. Cohen was involved in charitable endeavors including service as a trustee or director of Independence House, a facility designed to rehabilitate youthful offenders; Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre; International Center for Photography; Haifa University; American Friends of Hebrew University; Educational Alliance; and the Graduate School of Management of The New School, as well as the College and the Law School, for which he served on the Boards of Visitors. Most recently, he was chairman of the Law School Annual Fund and a director of the American Friends of Tel Aviv University. Cohen received a John Jay Award in 1988 and was elected to the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. He is survived by his wife, Carol; and their daughter, Rebecca. He also is survived by his children from his earlier marriage to Joan Fields Cohen (deceased), Laurie Cohen Fenster and Gordon; and a sister, Beryl Zankel.

1953

Leonard M. Trosten, retired attorney, Savannah, Ga., on July 10, 2004. Born in Brooklyn on January 25, 1932, Trosten attended public schools and earned a degree from the Law School in 1955. He practiced law in Manhattan. Trosten married Arthea Howell Dickson in 1954, and the couple had two children. In 1958, he and his family moved to the Washington, D.C., area, where Trosten joined the Office of the General Counsel of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and was staff counsel to the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy. In 1968, he became a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of the law firm now known as LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae. After the death of his first wife, Trosten married Jane Tyner Harris in 1979. They lived in Bethesda, Md., with their children until 1992, when Trosten retired and he and his wife moved to Savannah. Following the death of his second wife, Trosten married Ali Meadows Bufkin on June 2, 2004. He served as a lay reader, a vestryman in three Episcopal parishes and the senior warden of two. Trosten also was active in local Republican Party, legal aid work and the Rotary Club. He is survived by his wife; daughters, Amanda Trosten-Bloom and Jessica H.T. Forrest; children by marriage, Hope Harris Pampillonia, James Edward Overstreet and Arthur F. M. Harris Jr.; and five grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to the Memorial Fund at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 1 W. Macon St., Savannah, GA 31401.

Philip Clark Wilson, business executive, East Amherst, N.Y., on July 5, 2004. A Buffalo native, Wilson was born on July 16, 1931. He received an M.B.A. from the Business School in 1955. Wilson served two years in the Army and worked for Moore Business Forms on Grand Island from 1976–93 and then with Elegance Confections until his death. A letter to CCT from Wilson’s friend, Carl Witkovich ’53, noted, “Phil was an expert oarsman and rowed on the varsity heavyweight crew. While in graduate school, he designed, created and installed the first student owned-and-operated laundry facility on campus. I don’t know how they do it nowadays, but 50 years ago, many dorm residents mailed home their dirty socks and underwear for mom to launder.” Wilson’s survivors include his wife of 50 years, the former Mary G. Stager; daughters, Gretchen, and Catherine M. Gardner; sons, Mark P., Matthew C. and Peter D.; brothers, Gordon J. and Bruce R.; seven grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.

1962

Philip G. Stein, measurement scientist, educator and mentor, Pennington, N.J., on June 24, 2004. Stein was born August 2, 1941, in Washington D.C. His family moved to Brooklyn, and he attended Erasmus Hall H.S. At the College, Stein majored in physics was chief engineer at WKCR, later working for WLIB and WABC. He earned a master’s in measurement science from The George Washington University. For 40 years, Stein solved diverse state-of-the-art systems problems in which measurement was the central issue. His focus was on using information technology for implementing new quality measurement and statistical process control techniques in manufacturing and service industries. Stein worked for the National Bureau of Standards for 15 years before joining RCA at the David Sarnoff Research Laboratories in Princeton. At Sarnoff, Stein applied metrology to the development of the first video disk players. Later, he headed his own consulting firm and developed and taught curricula in business and scientific measurements, quality assessments, statistics, quality engineering and the use of computers for management, analysis and control of processes. He was a calibration laboratory assessor and the author of four books and numerous articles for trade and computer magazines. He was certified as a calibration technician, quality manager, quality auditor, quality engineer, software quality engineer, reliability engineer, quality technician and mechanical inspector. Stein was a longtime member of the Board of Advisors of Legacy International, a nonprofit educational and training organization helping individuals and groups worldwide to build cooperative and productive lives and to develop and refine skills for dealing effectively with their societies’ needs. Stein’s personal interests included gourmet food, Bordeaux and Sauterne wines, fine chocolate, music, fencing and games. He loved jokes and always was glad to share his good humor; he loved puns. Stein is survived by his wife, Carole Armel Stein; children, Daniel Katz-Stein, Jonah Stein, Jac, Jeff and Paul Hagerhorst and Jeannine Trewhella; five grandchildren; and sister, Eleanor Stein. Memorial contributions may be made to The Philip Stein Metrology Education Fund, c/o Waxman & Assoc., PO Box 89, Princeton Junction, NJ 08550 or Legacy International, 1020 Legacy Drive, Bedford, VA 24523.

Lisa Palladino

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