Passings

Roger W. Bresnahan

Roger W. Bresnahan ’57 MMus, Hot Springs, Ark., and Denton, Texas, Jan. 2, at age 84.

A musician and educator by training, Mr. Bresnahan shifted careers in 1966 when he moved his family from Minnetonka, Minn., to central Mexico to develop a marketing project to promote economic development among the Tarascan native artisans. He and his wife, Marcia, moved their six young children to Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico, where the project became an international exporting company that provided work and income for hundreds of artisan families in rural communities.

After returning stateside in 1975, Mr. Bresnahan continued to direct the export-import company, Bresnahan International, for another 21 years, shipping products from Mexico to Europe, Canada and the United States.

Mr. Bresnahan, a member of the Northwestern University Marching and Band Alumni, is survived by his wife; eight children, Kathleen, Michael, John, Mary, Thomas, James, Steven and Anne ; 14 grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; a brother, Robert; and three sisters, Colleen, Pat and Mary.

PAULA JOHNSON CLANCY

Paula Johnson Clancy ’59, Dallas, Feb. 27, at age 78. 

A dedicated alumna and committed volunteer, Mrs. Clancy and her husband, the late John F. Clancy ’59, co-chaired the Dallas Alumni Admission Council, held positions in the NU Club of Dallas and organized their class’s 10th and 40th reunions. She also co-chaired her class’s 50th reunion. Mrs. Clancy, a charter member of the Annie May Swift Society, was one of the first women to be named an Alumni Regent.

She received an Alumni Service Award from the Northwestern Alumni Association in 1995. She was also a successful interior decorator who ran Chez Jolie Interiors in Chicago and Dallas.

Survivors include two children, Allison and Andrew ’94 MBA; six grandchildren; and a brother, David.

EDDIE EINHORN

Photo provided by ICON/NEWSCOM

Eddie Einhorn ’60 JD, Alpine, N.J., Feb. 24, at age 80.

A longtime baseball executive and sports broadcasting pioneer, Mr. Einhorn purchased the radio rights to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament for a small fee while he was in law school in the late 1950s. He turned that radio deal into television broadcasts on his TVS Television Network, pushing college basketball to national prominence.

In 1981 he and classmate Jerry Reinsdorf ’60 JD led a team of partners to purchase the Chicago White Sox. Mr. Einhorn, who worked as a vendor at Comiskey Park while in law school, played an integral role in the club’s management as team president until 1990 and remained involved as the team’s vice chairman.

Survivors include his wife, Ann; a daughter, Jennifer; a son, Jeff; and a grandson, Meyer.

Taylor French

Taylor French ’51, Sarasota, Fla., Jan. 14, at age 88.

Drafted into the U.S. Army immediately after his high school graduation, Mr. French served in France and Germany during World War II. He once risked his life to rescue a colonel trapped in a minefield. The colonel then asked him to serve as his as personal secretary and driver, a position that allowed Mr. French courtroom access during the Nuremberg trials.

Mr. French went to Northwestern on the GI Bill, earning his undergraduate degree in business. He enjoyed a long career as the managing partner of Northwestern Mutual in Peoria, Ill., where he worked for nearly four decades.

He is survived by his wife, Corrine; sons Taylor “Bon” ’75, ’76 MBA, Strawn and Penn ’89 MBA; two stepchildren, Clayton and Claire; seven grandchildren, including Katheryn French Meagher ’07; a sister Barbara “Bobi” French Sanderson ’46; and a niece and nephew.

Alexander Hutchison

Alexander “Sandy” Hutchison ’75 PhD, Glasgow, Scotland, Nov. 22, at age 72.

A renowned poet, Mr. Hutchison wrote about themes from his Scottish heritage, including Celtic Christianity, and history, mythology and astronomy.

For his literary work, Mr. Hutchison won numerous awards and earned worldwide acclaim. He wrote and translated in both English and his native Scots (Doric dialect). His published volumes include Deep Tap Tree (1978), The Moon Calf (1990) and Carbon Atom (2006). He published Scales Dog: New and Selected Poems in 2007. His last anthology, Bones & Breath (2013), won the Saltire Award for Scottish Poetry Book of the Year in 2014. He was a Royal Literary Fund fellow of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland from 2010 to 2012.   

Mr. Hutchison attended Aberdeen University, where he studied English literature and won javelin-throwing competitions. He also was a skilled soccer player. In the late 1960s he came to Northwestern to earn his doctorate in English, on the work of poet Theodore Roethke.

For most of his professional career he taught and worked as an administrator in Canada and the United Kingdom. He taught English literature at the University of Victoria for nearly 20 years.

Mr. Hutchison is survived by his wife, Meg Stiven, and children, Lucy and Max.

Dwight Jaffe

Dwight M. Jaffee ’64 of Berkeley, Calif., Jan. 28, at age 72.

Mr. Jaffee was the Willis Booth Professor of Banking, Finance, and Real Estate and co-chair of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He was also a member of the finance group.

An expert on mortgage markets, banking, finance, risk and catastrophe insurance, and international trade, Mr. Jaffe testified in front of Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission on the recent banking and housing crisis and argued for privatization of the residential mortgage market by decreasing the influence of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. He wrote or co-wrote more than seven books, including The Impact of Globalization in a High-Tech Economy (2003), and 171 papers.

In the early 1990s, he led a joint project between the Haas School and the Graduate School of Management at St. Petersburg University in Russia to establish the city’s first post-Soviet era school of business. Before joining the Haas School of Business in 1991, Mr. Jaffee taught economics at Princeton University for more than two decades.

In 2007, he received the Robert I. Mehr Award from the Journal of Risk and Insurance. The website Poets & Quants named him one of the best business school professors in 2012.

In addition to his wife, Lynne LaMarca Heinrich, he is survived by his mother, Gertrude; a daughter, Elizabeth “Betsy” ’91; a son, Jonathan; and two grandchildren.

JOANN WHEELER KEALI’INOHOMOKU

Photo by John Running/Courtesy Of Cross-Cultural Dance Resources

Joann Wheeler Keali’inohomoku ’55, ’65 MA, Flagstaff, Ariz., Dec. 2, at age 85.

An internationally honored educator, author and researcher in dance anthropology, she taught at Northern Arizona University from 1970 until her retirement in 1987. She founded Cross-Cultural Dance Resources in 1981, a Flagstaff-based hub for researchers, students and dancers.

In 2000 President Bill Clinton’s White House Millennium Council highlighted CCDR as part of the Save America’s Treasure’s program.In 1997 Mrs. Keali’inohomoku received an award for Outstanding Contribution to Dance Research from the Congress of Research in Dance.

She is survived by her sisters, Lynda Yu and Pamela Kihm; and several nieces and nephews.

MITCH LIPKA

Mitchell S. Lipka ’84, Worcester, Mass., Jan. 17, at age 53.

A veteran journalist and dogged consumer advocate, Mr. Lipka helped keep companies accountable, focusing on product safety and consumer fraud during his three decades as a reporter and editor for the Boston Globe, Reuters and other publications. His weekly column in the Globe ran for more than seven years, with his final piece — on being wary of deals that seem too good to be true — published on the day he died.

For his writing on child product safety, Mr. Lipka earned the KID Best Friend Award in 2011 from Kids in Danger, and in 2010 he received the New York Press Club Award for Best Consumer Writing on the Internet.

He is survived by his wife, Christi; his children, Sam and Lily; his mother, Ann; his brother, Jerry; and his sister, Ronnie. 

Herbert J. Louis

Herbert J. “Tim” Louis ’54 MD, Feb. 16, Paradise Valley, Ariz., at age 87.

The great-grandson of Samuel Curtis Johnson, founder of SC Johnson & Son, Mr. Louis made a name for himself outside of the corporate world as an accomplished orthopedic surgeon.

After graduating from the Feinberg School of Medicine, Mr. Louis completed a medical residency at the Hines Veterans Administration, interrupted by two years of medical service as a U.S. Army captain in France. He then completed a fellowship at 12 different orthopedic centers in England.

In 1961 Mr. Louis launched his private practice in Phoenix and quickly realized that his true calling was education. He founded an orthopedic residency program at the Maricopa County hospital, where he trained more than 40 residents. Mr. Louis later helped create the Phoenix Children’s Hospital and had served on its board since its inception.

Mr. Louis was a former member of the Northwestern Alumni Association’s Alumni Regents.

He is survived by his wife, Julie; six children, Clifton, Henry, Timothy ’86, ’87 MA/MS, Carrie, Margaret and Steven ’91 MD; several children-in-law, including Amy Hagan Louis ’87 and Amy Shackelford Louis ’90 MBA; 22 grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; a sister-in-law, M. Josephine Peters Louis ’52; a cousin, S. Curtis Johnson ’83 MBA; and several nieces and nephews, including John J. ’89 MBA and Kimberly Louis Stewart ’79.

ERIC LUND

Courtesy of University Archives

Eric Lund ’49, Evanston, Jan. 16, at age 90. A longtime, well-respected newspaperman, Mr. Lund dedicated his life to the practice and instruction of journalism. 

After serving in the U.S. Army in the Philippines and Japan, Mr. Lund attended the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. While still a student, Mr. Lund covered city hall for the Evanston Review, where he worked until 1956. He returned as editor of the paper from 1961 to 1966.

Mr. Lund worked for the Chicago Daily News in the late 1950s and returned there from 1966 to 1977, working his way up from reporter to assistant managing editor. In 1973 Mr. Lund received the Marshall Field Award for Outstanding Editorial Contribution to the Chicago Daily News.

An influential academic, Mr. Lund was a longtime adjunct instructor at Medill as well as North Park University. He also directed and helped create Columbia College’s graduate journalism program. He retired in 1994.

The Eric Lund Global Reporting and Research Grant, which provides opportunities for Northwestern students to pursue research and reporting abroad, specifically in areas of the world that do not receive much media attention, was created in honor of Mr. Lund’s teaching at the University. (Read more about Mr. Lund's life and career.)

The son of Swedish immigrants, Mr. Lund was president of the Swedish-American Historical Society from 1976 to 1982 and chaired the board of directors from 1994 to 1996. In 1976 Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf awarded him a bicentennial medal. Mr. Lund also wrote the Swedish-American Historical Society’s quarterly newsletter.

He is survived by his second wife, Grace Carlson-Lund.

BARBARA ROTH

Photo by Betty King

Barbara Roth ’39 MS, ’41 PhD, Chapel Hill, N.C., Feb. 6, at age 99.

An accomplished research chemist, Ms. Roth began her career in 1941 after earning her doctorate in organic chemistry. After stops at American Cyanamid Co. and Gillette Co., she joined Burroughs Wellcome Co. (now Glaxo, Smith, Kline). She led the medicinal organic chemistry group and later headed dihydrofolate reductase research at labs in the United States and England.

The author of 68 research papers and holder of 38 patents, Ms. Roth was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1964.

She retired in 1986 at age 70 and immersed herself in the world of birding in the North Carolina Piedmont region. She founded the New Hope Chapter of the Audubon Society, which honored her with its Conservationist of the Year award in 1997 and the Great Egret Award.

Ms. Roth is survived by several family and extended family members.

Edith Rosen Skom

Edith Rosen Skom ’70 MA ’78 PhD, Winnetka, Ill., Feb. 3, at age 86.

A Distinguished Senior Lecturer Emeritus in the Cook Family Writing Program, Mrs. Skom taught at Northwestern for more than three decades. A dedicated and passionate teacher, she taught introductory, intermediate and advanced expository writing courses and a popular freshman seminar on mysteries and thrillers. She also served as longtime chair of the Writing Program essay awards committee.

“My freshman seminar with Edith Skom taught me more in one quarter than I had learned in four years of high school English,” says Pulitzer Prize nominee Karen Russell ’03 (see "The Write Way," spring 2014).

Mrs. Skom was most widely known for her three detective novels, The Mark Twain Murders (1989), The George Eliot Murders (1995) and The Charles Dickens Murders (1998), which take place at a fictional Midwestern University and feature amateur sleuth Professor Beth Austen. In 1990 The Mark Twain Murders was nominated for an Agatha Award, a MacCavity Award and an Anthony Award.

Mrs. Skom is survived by her husband, Joseph, a retired professor of clinical medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine; a daughter, Harriet; and three grandchildren, Elaine, Arthur and Adele.

ANNE SWANEY

Courtesy of ABC 7 Chicago

Anne E. Swaney ’98, Chicago, Jan. 14, at age 39.

Executive producer of online operations at ABC7 in Chicago, Ms. Swaney was one of station’s first website employees. She had recently celebrated 16 years working for the Chicago affiliate and was known as a trailblazer in the digital news space.

The Missouri native was also an avid world traveler and horseback rider. She rode horses in Costa Rica, Scotland, Turkey and Greece and took part in a cattle drive through Utah’s Bryce Canyon.

A proud Northwestern alumna, Ms. Swaney was vice chair of her class reunion committee in 2013 and served on the Chicago regional committee for We Will. The Campaign for Northwestern. She also supported the National High School Institute journalism program. A memorial fund established in her honor at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications supports the Medill Media Teens program.

Ms. Swaney is survived by her mother, Georganne; her father, Jack; and her brother, David.

Robert Tannehill

Robert “Bob” Tannehill ’49, ’56 MS, Buffalo, Feb. 19, at age 88.

When Mr. Tannehill was a young boy, he contracted polio and was subsequently left with some leg weakness. After his school gym teacher taught him to swim at age 9, he quickly began to excel on a competitive level.

By the time Mr. Tannehill reached his mid-teens, he was running swimming programs at the local YMCA. He was recruited to swim at Northwestern, where he became a captain. In 1949 he ranked fourth nationally in the backstroke. He also helped produce the Dolphin Show, swam in water shows with Adolf Keiffer and performed as a clown diver.

Mr. Tannehill began his professional career as a corporate training director at Graphic Controls Corp. in 1963. He later worked as an independent management consultant. Throughout his life, Mr. Tannehill remained committed to helping disabled or aquaphobic individuals learn how to swim. He also continued to swim competitively, earning a national ranking in the backstroke among 50-year-olds.

Mr. Tannehill is survived by his wife, Molley; three children, Sue, Amy and Doug; one stepson, Sean; eight grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Mary Howard Foster Weyand

Mary Howard Foster Weyand ’46, Honolulu, Dec. 25, at age 90.

A sophisticated fashion designer with brilliant business acumen, Mrs. Foster Weyand and her late husband, William Foster, launched a Hawaiian fabric house called Malia International during a boom in tourism to Hawaii in the early 1960s, a time when casual, island fashions were gaining popularity on the mainland. (Malia is Hawaiian for Mary.)

In 1961 Mrs. Foster Weyand and her husband sold their inherited home to buy a design shop. From there Mrs. Foster Weyand developed Malia’s signature look — spectacular prints, vibrant colors and swirling designs — in women’s dresses and sportswear. She pushed her designers to create 20 new original prints per season, and sales reps sold the Hawaiian wear first in Los Angeles and later Chicago, Dallas and New York. At one time the highest paid woman in the state, Mrs. Foster Weyand became the first woman to be named businessperson of the year in Hawaii, an award she shared with her husband.

After graduating from Northwestern with a degree in philosophy, Mrs. Foster Weyand moved to California to attend Stanford University, where she met William. In 1949 the couple moved to Hawaii, William’s home state. William died in 1993, and Mrs. Foster Weyand married Fred Weyand, a four-star Army general, in 1998. They were named Hawaii’s outstanding philanthropists in 2009. Fred died in 2010. 

Mrs. Foster Weyand is survived by three children, Bill, Whitney and Laurie; three stepchildren, Carolyn, Robert and Nancy; and four grandchildren.

QUENTIN YOUNG

Andrew Campbell Photography/Northwestern University Feinberg School Of Medicine

Quentin D. Young ’48 MD, Berkeley, Calif., March 7, at age 92. An outspoken social activist, Dr. Young fought for racial equality and became a leading voice for universal health care.

In the 1950s and ’60s he worked to desegregate Chicago hospitals, participated in voter registration initiatives in Mississippi during Freedom Summer, marched with civil rights leaders in Selma, Ala., and served as a personal physician to Martin Luther King Jr. during his stay in Chicago. He once sewed up a head wound King suffered during a march. 

In 1964 Dr. Young founded the Medical Committee for Human Rights, a group of health professionals who provided medical care to civil rights and antiwar protesters. He also served as president of the American Public Health Association and led the Chicago-based Physicians for a National Health Program. (Read more about Dr. Young's fight for a national health care program.)

In 1972 Dr. Young became chairman of the department of medicine at Cook County Hospital and was fired for his support of doctors and residents who were striking for improved working conditions. He successfully sued to get his job back.

Dr. Young left the hospital in 1981 and later taught preventive medicine and community health at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

In 2001, at age 77, Dr. Young and former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn ’80 JD — his patient and friend — walked 167 miles across Illinois to promote universal health care. At one time or another, Dr. Young also counted columnist Mike Royko, author and historian Studs Terkel ’01 H and Chicago Mayor Harold Washington ’52 JD among his patients.

In 2008 the Feinberg School of Medicine honored Dr. Young with the Distinguished Alumni Award. He is survived by two sons, Ethan and Michael; three daughters, Nancy, Polly and Barbara; two stepchildren, William and Karen; and nine grandchildren.

(Read John Geyman's Quentin Young Festschrift.)