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Category: Obituaries

Leonard Ellis Ross

Wisconsin State Journal

He came to Madison that year as a Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin until retiring emeritus in 1992. Never one to tout his achievements, he authored many articles and book chapters, won teaching awards, and completed important research on the effects of alcohol when flying.

Barbara White Obituary (1930 – 2023)

Wisconsin State Journal

She was employed at U.W. Housing and the Mendota Mental Health Institution for over thirty years as a Food Service Manager and was active in the American Dietetic Association at the local, state, and national levels.

Grace Bernhard Obituary

Wisconsin State Journal

During her years of employment, Grace was Executive Secretary to the Organic Chemistry Chair, UW Madison, retiring in 1993.

Dale Schlough Obituary

Wisconsin State Journal

Dale had a long and very successful career in agricultural research at the University of Wisconsin and abroad. He was a great leader who was held in high esteem by all who worked with him. He retired as Director of Agricultural Research Stations at the UW College of Agricultural and Life Sciences in 1999.

Donald Anderson Obituary

Wisconsin State Journal

Don was a life-long advocate for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities as a teacher at the UW-Madison School of Social Work, Community Outreach coordinator at the UW Waisman Center, and founder/board member of Create-Ability, Inc.

Kathryn Ann “Kathy” Thomas

Wisconsin State Journal

From secretary to the UW-Madison Dean of Students LeRoy Luberg to front office manager at Kohl’s Grocery Store, followed by working closely with Dane County Executive, Jonathan Barry, and Wisconsin Division of Community Services Administrator, Eloise Anderson, and finally as a Grants Administrator and Prevention Specialist for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Kathy applied empathy, collaboration, and common sense problem-solving to everything she did.

Barbara Meyer White

Wisconsin State Journal

She was employed at U.W. Housing and the Mendota Mental Health Institution for over thirty years as a Food Service Manager and was active in the American Dietetic Association at the local, state, and national levels.

Nancy A. Schensky

Wisconsin State Journal

After 32 years with the State of Wisconsin she retired in 2012, at the age of 78, as an administrative assistant from the University Office of Biological Safety.

Rebecca Blank, Who Changed How Poverty Is Measured, Dies at 67

The New York Times

At the Commerce Department, she attained the post of acting secretary briefly in 2011 and again from 2012-2013. She left to become chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she tangled with state Republicans who were trying to cut funding. One achievement was her creation of a scholarship program for Wisconsin students from poor families.

Bert I. Gordon, Auteur of Mutant Monster Movies, Dies at 100

The New York Times

Bert Ira Gordon was born in Kenosha, Wis., on Sept. 24, 1922, the son of Charles Abraham Gordon and Sadeline (Barnett) Gordon. He became interested in film as a boy, when an aunt gave him a 16-millimeter movie camera for his birthday. He attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison but dropped out to join the Army Air Forces during World War II.

Bert I. Gordon, Cult Filmmaker Behind ‘The Food of the Gods’ and ‘Empire of the Ants,’ Dies at 100

Variety

Born on Sept. 24, 1922 in Kenosha, Wis., Gordon was gifted a 16-millimeter movie camera at a young age. After attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison and dropping out to join the Army Air Forces during World War II, Gordon married Flora Lang, who would become a frequent collaborator on his features. The two had three daughters, Patricia, Susan and Carol, before divorcing in 1979.

John Delmar Deering

Wisconsin State Journal

John had a lengthy career in law enforcement for the UW-Madison Police Department, retiring as detective.

Susan Stanford Friedman

Wisconsin State Journal

She served as Director of the UW – Madison Institute for Research in the Humanities, chaired the UW English Department, was a founding member of the UW Women’s Studies program, and published widely in modernist studies, narrative theory, feminist theory, women’s writing, migration and diaspora, world literature, religious studies, and psychoanalysis.

Theodore Arthur Peterson

Wisconsin State Journal

He worked on the Northern Highland State Forest before being hired by the University of Wisconsin-Madison as State Extension Forester. His 39-year tenure was varied, challenging, and fulfilling. He was recognized for service by the International Forest Products Research Society and given Distinguished Service Awards by U.W. Extension and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He was inducted into the Wisconsin Forestry Hall of Fame on September 2, 2019.

Theodore Arthur Peterson

Wisconsin State Journal

He worked on the Northern Highland State Forest before being hired by the University of Wisconsin-Madison as State Extension Forester. His 39-year tenure was varied, challenging, and fulfilling.

Walter Mirisch, Oscar-winning producer, dead at 101

CBS Los Angeles

Walter Mortimer Mirisch was born in New York City on Nov. 8, 1921. After studying at City College of New York, he earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin in Madison in 1942 and a graduate degree in business from Harvard in 1943.

Walter Mirisch, Oscar-winning producer, dead at 101

Associated Press

Walter Mortimer Mirisch was born in New York City on Nov. 8, 1921. After studying at City College of New York, he earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin in Madison in 1942 and a graduate degree in business from Harvard in 1943.

Danny (Dan) G. Woolpert

Wisconsin State Journal

He was hired as the Administrator for the Research and Development Center for Cognitive Learning in 1966, and was instrumental in the design and construction of the Ed Sciences Building on the UW Campus. He later worked as an Administrator with the UW Madison Civic Engineering Department.

Peter J. Weix

Wisconsin State Journal

In 2001, Peter was employed with the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Plasma Physics Group as a Sr. Instrumentation Technicianologist, working with Madison Symmetric Torus & Big Red Plasma Ball experiments. He was also the group safety officer, implementing safety procedures and life-saving training.

Daniel Richard Grim

Wisconsin State Journal

Daniel worked for 26 years doing research at the Physical Sciences Laboratory as an Electronics Technician for the University of Wisconsin.

Fred M. Newmann

Wisconsin State Journal

During his three-decade career at UW-Madison, Fred’s research focused on school curriculum and reforms that foster critical thinking, civic engagement and more equitable student achievement. He directed the National Center on Effective Secondary Schools and the Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools, authoring dozens of research papers, articles and books.

Paul Berg, Nobel biochemist who first spliced DNA, dies at 96

The Washington Post

“It was a reflection of the Vietnam era and earlier history,” Waclaw Szybalski, then a professor and geneticist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, told Science News in 1985. “Physicists were guilty of the atomic bomb, and chemists were guilty of napalm. Biologists were trying very hard to be guilty of something.”

Rebecca Blank, ‘transformational’ former UW-Madison chancellor, dies

The Capital Times

In her near-decade of tenure at UW-Madison, she accelerated the university’s research programs, achieved record-high graduation rates and developed scholarship programs catering to low-income students within the state. Her work also expanded the number of faculty and students, as well as put the campus’ finances back on track after the pandemic brought losses in revenue.

Former UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank dies of cancer at age 67

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

One of the longest-serving chancellors in recent UW-Madison history, Blank is credited with gaining the ability to enroll more out-of-state students, launching a full-tuition scholarship program for low-income Wisconsin students, and leading a $4 billion fundraising campaign. She’s remembered for smaller gestures, too, like bringing commencement back to Camp Randall Stadium.

James “Jim” Edward Lawler

Wisconsin State Journal

Jim received a BS in physics (’73) from Missouri University of Science and Technology and a PhD in physics (’78) from UW Madison. In the two years after earning his doctorate, he was a research associate at Stanford University; he then returned to UW Madison, where he was a professor from 1980-2022 when he retired. He was an atomic, molecular, and optical physicist with a focus developing and applying laser spectroscopic techniques for determining accurate absolute atomic transition probabilities.

James “Jim” Edward Lawler

Wisconsin State Journal

Jim received a BS in physics (’73) from Missouri University of Science and Technology and a PhD in physics (’78) from UW Madison. In the two years after earning his doctorate, he was a research associate at Stanford University; he then returned to UW Madison, where he was a professor from 1980-2022 when he retired.

Joan Leffler

Wisconsin State Journal

In the early 1980s, she worked for the precursor to DOIT at the UW, where she met her lifelong friends Lis Owens and Bernadette Rhiel. From 1991 to her retirement in 2014, Joan served as the Administrator in the German Department at the UW, where she made many friends among the faculty and graduate students, too many really to mention individually.

Louise Ann Fowler

Wisconsin State Journal

She eventually became Program Director in Distance Education Professional Development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before retiring in 2013.

John “Jack” Kellesvig

Wisconsin State Journal

Jack began his career as a teacher and principal in the Racine and Madison school districts, but he spent most of his career at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was hired as the first Director of High School Relations in 1963. In his 31 years there, he was also Director of Undergraduate Orientation, New Student Services, and Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions. He was instrumental in developing the SOAR program and was Marshall at UW commencement ceremonies for 20 years.

Charles T. Snowdon (Chuck)

Wisconsin State Journal

Chuck (81), “a scholar and fine gentleman” was a Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for 44 years. During his tenure, he served as Chair of the Psychology Dept, director of the Honors Program at the College of Letters and Science, editor of major scientific journals, and oversaw several undergrad research symposia.

John H. N. Morledge

Wisconsin State Journal

He taught for years at the UW Medical School. He interviewed applicants who wanted to become doctors, amazing them when he asked more about their views on life and travel and literature than about chemistry or biology.

Roger Head

Wisconsin State Journal

He worked for the University of Wisconsin, Madison within the Physical Plant Department as a U.S. Mail Distributor for 35 years until retirement in January, 2002.

John Eugene Gorman

Wisconsin State Journal

For most of his career, John worked as an entomologist for the USDA at the UW Russell research labs where he further specialized in the study of honeybees. The study of insects was a lifelong passion of his that included beekeeping at home, which provided fresh honey to family and friends for many years.

Grace E. Volkmann

Wisconsin State Journal

Grace worked at General Casualty Insurance for a few years until she found the jobs she loved, being a wife, a mother and being the proverbial part time “Lunch Lady” at both Witte Hall on the UW campus and for many years at Kennedy Elementary School.

Clinton H. East

Wisconsin State Journal

Mr. East worked at the UW School of Library and Information Studies from 1966 until 2000.

Joan Salomejia Burns (Kazalski)

Wisconsin State Journal

In 1974, Joan started her career at the Waisman Center, UW – Madison, eventually becoming a Clinical Professor. She developed the Genetic Counseling Training Program (first graduating class of 1978 at the UW Madison). During her professional career of teaching and promoting she instructed the importance of genetic counseling.

Marilyn Stafford

The Guardian

After the University of Wisconsin, aged 23, she moved to New York to make her name on the stage, but a few months after photographing Einstein, travelled to Paris with a girlfriend. “France was coming out of the war and there were a lot of foreigners in Paris including many expat Americans, so I got to meet lots of people. Looking back, it was a fantastic time. There was just so much energy.”

Paul M. Liss

Wisconsin State Journal

Paul was a graduate of UW-Madison in psychology and continued to work at UW as a Systems Engineering Consultant at the Biotechnology Center. He was a co-author of a number of scientific papers, including one on the metabolism of phytopathogenic enterobacteria.

John H. N. Morledge

Wisconsin State Journal

He taught for years at the UW Medical School. He interviewed applicants who wanted to become doctors, amazing them when he asked more about their views on life and travel and literature than about chemistry or biology. He spoke all over the world about his area of acclaimed expertise. He trained hundreds of doctors, nurses, medical personnel, and was a lifelong mentor to many.

John E. Gorman

Wisconsin State Journal

For most of his career, John worked as an entomologist for the USDA at the UW Russell research labs where he further specialized in the study of honeybees. The study of insects was a lifelong passion of his that included beekeeping at home, which provided fresh honey to family and friends for many years.