Passings

Connie Achterberg

Constance “Connie” Achterberg ’50, Manhattan, Kan., May 11, at age 88.

Ms. Achterberg was one of only five women studying law at the University of Kansas when she graduated in 1953.

A trial lawyer for the Kansas Highway Commission, she helped acquire the land for the first 10 miles of Interstate 70. She later established her own private law practice in Salina.

Ms. Achterberg, who served on the Kansas Civil Rights Commission, was the first recipient of the Professional Award of the Kansas Bar Association and the first woman to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Kansas School of Law.

She is survived by a stepdaughter, Diana; seven grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and a number of cousins. 

John R. Catsis

John R. Catsis ’57, ’59 MS, Silver City, N.M., April 7, at age 83.

An award-winning radio and TV news reporter, Mr. Catsis grew up in Evanston and began his broadcast career with WEAW-FM, airing a weekly high school sports show. He later worked in radio and TV news, primarily in Philadelphia and Houston. In 1977 he and his wife, Connie, spearheaded the purchase of a television station in Farmington, N.M., where he was president and general manager. He later launched a country radio station in Grants, N.M.

In 1990 he became a faculty member at the Oklahoma State University School of Journalism and Broadcasting. In his 11 years on staff he wrote one of the first textbooks on sports broadcasting and helped produce the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games for NBC. He retired in 2002.

He became the self-proclaimed  “Picture Postcard King,” distributing his photographic images of southwest New Mexico to various commercial outlets in the area, including the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. 

A Korean War U.S. Army veteran, Mr. Catsis is survived by his wife of 47 years; a son, Alexander; two grandchildren; and a sister, Georgette.

Jane Schram Gerber

Jane Schram Levenberg Gerber ’42, of Evanston, on March 31, at age 98.

A member of the Human Potential Movement in the 1960s, Ms. Gerber became a leading psychotherapist with specialties in Gestalt — a humanistic form of therapy that stresses growth and balance — and family therapy. She established the Oasis Center for Human Potential in Chicago, the second organization of its kind in the country. It became a forum for therapists to present ideas and demonstrate techniques.

Ms. Gerber was a founding fellow of the Gestalt Institute of Chicago and helped establish the Midwest Satir Institute to teach Virginia Satir’s family therapy theories. Ms. Gerber also trained people around the world in the healing professions.

She is survived by her daughter, Lynn Levenberg, and two sisters, Miriam and Florence.

Emily Jonas Hill

Emily Jonas Hill ’49, ’52 MA/MS, Chicago, March 31, at age 90.

A trailblazing entrepreneur who was the daughter of Hungarian immigrants, Ms. Hill worked alongside her husband, Roger Hill ’56 MS, at Gettys Manufacturing. To distinguish their metal-cutting machine tool business from competitors at trade shows, Ms. Hill would paint their products bold colors and display them on white pedestals as if they were works of art.

Her creativity paid off. In less than 10 years, Gettys had manufacturing plants in the United States and Europe.

In 1980 Ms. Hill served as the first president of Wisconsin Women Entrepreneurs and represented Wisconsin at the first White House Conference on Small Business. The couple was twice honored as Ernst & Young Wisconsin Entrepreneur of the Year and shared the Arthur Young/Venture Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year award in 1987.

She is survived by her daughter, Wendy; her son, Roger; and three grandchildren.

Candice Kane

Candice Marie Kane ’76 PhD, Springfield, Ill., March 3, at age 68.

During a career focused on social justice and ending violence, Ms. Kane worked for the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority for 20 years, including seven as the agency’s executive director. She later spent a decade as chief operating officer at Cure Violence, a University of Illinois at Chicago–based organization dedicated to reducing violence in urban areas. Ms. Kane retired in 2014.

The ICJIA introduced the Candice M. Kane Lifetime Service Award in her honor.

Ms. Kane is survived by her wife, Carol Cogan, and a cousin, David.

James L. Ketelsen

James L. Ketelsen ’52, Houston, April 27, at age 86.

A Korean War U.S. Navy veteran and dedicated philanthropist, Mr. Ketelsen was chairman and CEO at Tenneco for 13 years. During his tenure, he made employee well-being a priority, building state-of-the-art gyms for employee use and encouraging Tenneco to sponsor the Houston Marathon.

Concerned about low graduation rates in Houston, Mr. Ketelsen and his wife, Kathryn, launched a four-year scholarship program in 1988 for Davis High School — the lowest performing high school in the city. Within three years, the number of graduates entering college from Davis had more than tripled.

In the 1990s Mr. Ketelsen introduced Project GRAD (Graduating Really Achieves Dreams), which has helped more than 7,600 Houston-area students to attend college.

He was awarded a Northwestern Alumni Association Merit Award in 1979.

Mr. Ketelsen is survived by his wife; his daughter, Lee; a granddaughter; and a grandson.

Nancy Sugg Koenig

Nancy Sugg Koenig ’47, Kansas City, Mo., March 17, at age 93.

An elementary school music teacher for 20 years, Mrs. Koenig’s career took an unexpected turn when a traumatic brain injury impacted her family. Her focus shifted to the care and support of people with traumatic brain injuries after her son fractured his skull in a motorcycle accident.

Mrs. Koenig recognized the dearth of services available to the families of those affected by brain injury and dedicated her life to providing support, advice and information.

In 1981 she founded the Missouri Head Injury Association and served as chairperson from 1991 to 1994. Mrs. Koenig was also a founding member of the Missouri Head Injury Council. Over the course of a decade she testified frequently before the Missouri Legislature in favor of motorcycle helmet laws.

The MHIA, now known as the Brain Injury Association of Missouri, awarded her its inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.  

She is survived by two sons, Don and David; a daughter, Barb; and two grandsons. 

MARTHA LAVEY

Photo by Joel Moorman

Martha Lavey ’79, ’86 MA/MS, ’94 PhD, ’10 H, Chicago, April 25, at age 60. A tireless and innovative advocate for Chicago theater, Ms. Lavey was artistic director of the acclaimed Steppenwolf Theatre from 1995 to 2015. She is credited with ushering the theater into the modern era and bringing attention back to the Chicago theater scene.

Ms. Lavey was the first woman to ascend to the top artistic position at Steppenwolf, and she embraced the opportunity at a time when its founders were looking for a new way forward. Under her stewardship, the company became a national leader in commissioning and producing new plays, doubled the size of its ensemble, diversified its base of artists, added two performance spaces, expanded its partnerships in public schools and the Chicago arts community and created Steppenwolf for Young Adults. During her tenure, the theater premiered plays such as Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize–winning August: Osage County, and several that developed at Steppenwolf moved to Broadway. On her watch, the company won nine of its 12 Tony Awards and received the National Medal of the Arts.

Ms. Lavey came to the position with years of acting experience and a doctorate in performance studies under her belt. She joined the Steppenwolf ensemble in 1993 and performed in more than 30 of the company’s productions. Her presence onstage drew glowing reviews. Ms. Lavey was twice named one of the “100 Most Powerful People” by Chicago magazine and was “2010 Chicagoan of the Year,” according to the Chicago Tribune. Ms. Lavey also won the Sarah Siddons Award, a Northwestern Alumni Association Merit Award and a Northwestern Alumnae Award.

She is survived by her parents, Robert and Patricia Lavey; a sister, Michelle; and five brothers, Jim, Kevin, Matt, John and Patrick.

Nancy Oestreich Lurie

Photo courtesy of the University of Wisconsin–Madison

Nancy Oestreich Lurie ’52 PhD, Milwaukee, May 13, at age 93.

An anthropologist, Ms. Lurie was known for her research on American Indian history and culture. Her studies focused on contemporary adaptations, particularly regarding the Ho-Chunk, or Winnebago; the Dogrib, a group located in the Canadian sub-Arctic; and intertribal urban Indian groups. Ms. Lurie served as expert witness for more than half a dozen Indian tribes in cases before the U.S. Indian Claims Commission.

From 1972 until her retirement in 1993, she was a curator and the head of the anthropology department at the Milwaukee Public Museum. She served on the Wisconsin Historic Preservation Review Board and was president of the American Anthropological Association in the mid-1980s.

Ms. Lurie received a Northwestern Alumni Association Merit Award in 1982.

CHRIS WALL

Chris Wall ’78, Chicago, May 9, at age 61. A giant in the advertising world, Mr. Wall is best known for his significant work with computer and tech companies, including IBM, Apple and Microsoft. Most recently, Mr. Wall served as the vice chairman of Ogilvy North America, where he was the creative director behind many of the agency’s signature ads.

One of Mr. Wall’s greatest strengths was his ability to turn computer jargon into understandable concepts for consumers. Mr. Wall first got his start in the ad world in 1987 as a copywriter at BBDO for Apple, crafting the “What’s on Your PowerBook?” campaign.

After several years at BBDO, he worked on the Windows ’95 launch with Wieden & Kennedy. In 1996 Mr. Wall moved to Ogilvy & Mather, where he worked on the agency’s IBM account, helping the computer maker’s resurgence. Under his leadership, Ogilvy helped the slumping IBM brand value move from No. 283 to No. 3 worldwide, according to former Ogilvy & Mather vice chairman Steve Hayden. “We took a brand that was written off for dead, that had no new products, and helped make it relevant and fresh — part of the future instead of part of the past,” Mr. Wall told Adweek in 2002.

Over his 35-year award-winning career, he worked on Coca-Cola, Pepsi, American Express, Volvo, Ford, UPS, Nike and Morgan Stanley accounts, among others. His awards included Cannes Lions, Clios and ADDYs, among others. His work for Apple and IBM earned Grand Effies.

At 6-foot-10, Mr. Wall was a backup center on the Northwestern men’s basketball team in the mid- to late 1970s. He scored 70 points and grabbed 78 rebounds in 50 games.

He is survived by his partner, Betsy Spence, and brothers Greg and Glenn.