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2019: Stanford remembers

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Members of the Stanford community remember those who have passed away in 2019.

December

Albert Cohen, the William H. Bonsall Professor of Music, Emeritus, an internationally distinguished musicologist whose research specialty was the history of music theory and French music in the 17th and 18th centuries, chair of Stanford’s Department of Music from 1973 to 1987, died Dec. 31.

Roberto Velazquez, a first-year master’s student in electrical engineering, died Dec. 25 in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.

David Hogness, the Rudy J. and Daphne Donohue Munzer Professor in the School of Medicine, Emeritus, a biochemist whose work was foundational to the fields of developmental biology and genomics, died Dec. 24 at Stanford.

Jane Benson, MA, MSW, LCSW, professional co-director of Stanford Workshops on Political and Social Issues (SWOPSI, 1975-81); consultant to Minority and Women’s Programs in the School of Engineering (1981-83); coordinator of graduate student services for Residential Education (1983-88); resident fellow at Lagunita Court (1991-98); and research social worker, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (1992-2000), died Dec. 23 in Menlo Park.

Pan A. Yotopoulos, professor emeritus of economics, internationally recognized for his research in the fields of agricultural economics and economic development, died Dec. 17.

Kenneth A. Taylor, the Henry Waldgrave Stuart Professor of Philosophy in the School of Humanities and Sciences, a dedicated scholar and teacher who was also well known by the listeners of Philosophy Talk, a syndicated public radio show he co-founded in 2005, died Dec. 2.

November

Hector Garcia-Molina, the Leonard Bosack and Sandy K. Lerner Professor in Engineering, Emeritus, and professor emeritus of computer science and of electrical engineering, distinguished for his work in distributed computing systems, digital libraries and database systems, died Nov. 25.

Bert George Hickman, Jr., professor emeritus of economics, known for his work as an empirical macroeconomist, educator and economic forecaster, died Nov. 23.

Lawrence V. Ryan, the Joseph S. Atha Professor of Humanities, Emeritus, professor of English from 1952 to 1988 specializing in the study of Renaissance literature, co-founder of the university’s Structured Liberal Education program, and winner of the Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award for 1974-75 for outstanding service to undergraduate education, died Nov. 23 in Cupertino, California.

Marilyn Yalom, a senior scholar at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford and former lecturer in the Modern Thought and Literature Program, a pioneering scholar in gender studies, died Nov. 20 in Palo Alto.

Leonard M. Horowitz, professor emeritus of psychology, who originally studied verbal learning and memory before making major contributions to the field of interpersonal assessment as well as the analysis of social and motivational foundations of psychopathology, died Nov. 11 in Portola Valley.

LeRoy Franklin Wicks, who for 46 years worked at and eventually owned a full-service auto repair and gas station on the Stanford University campus, died Nov. 2.

October

Richard Goode, MD, a long-time otolaryngologist at the Stanford University School of Medicine known for his inventions and leadership in the field of ear, nose and throat medicine, excellence in patient care and magic tricks, died Oct. 30 in Los Altos Hills.

Mary Margaret “Moo” Anderson, who with her family gifted Stanford a celebrated collection of postwar and contemporary American art, died Oct. 22 at her Bay Area Peninsula home.

Walter G. Vincenti, AB ’38, ENG ’40, professor emeritus of aeronautics and astronautics, whose research laid the foundation for many advances in aeronautics, including supersonic flight and spacecraft reentry, and co-founder of Stanford’s interdisciplinary Program in Science, Technology and Society, died Oct. 11 in Palo Alto.

September

James Spilker, BS ’55, MS ’56, PhD ’58, adjunct professor of aeronautics and astronautics, a central figure in the technical development of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and a generous philanthropist, died Sept. 24.

Joan Petersilia, the Adelbert H. Sweet Professor of Law, Emerita, a leading criminologist who advised two California governors and countless state, county, and city officials, died Sept. 23.

John Ralston, who coached Stanford football from 1963 to 1971, compiling a 55-36-3 record and guiding the Cardinal to consecutive Rose Bowl victories in 1971 and 1972, died Sept. 14 in Sunnyvale.

Trish Del Pozzo, assistant academic secretary, emerita, who served as chief administrator for the Faculty Senate and its committees for more than three decades, died Sept. 6 in La Honda, California.

David Edward Lafrenz, who trained as a postdoctoral fellow and then served as a Howard Hughes Fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine from 1978 to 1982, died Sept. 5 in Columbia, Missouri.

August

Howard Osborn, PhD ’55 in mathematics, professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of Illinois, died Aug. 21 in Champaign, Illinois.

Stanley Schrier, MD, professor emeritus of medicine, a founding member of the Division of Hematology at the Stanford University School of Medicine whose research advanced the field of red blood cell biology, died Aug. 16.

Dandre DeSandies, staff therapist emeritus who held a number of advising and counseling positions at Stanford before retiring in 2014, died Aug. 13 in Newark, California.

James A. Fox, associate professor of anthropology who specialized in the history of linguistics and Native American languages, and winner of the 2016 Richard W. Lyman Award for his long service as a lecturer on tours sponsored by the Stanford Alumni Association, died Aug. 7 in Palo Alto.

Kurt Mueller-Vollmer, professor emeritus of German studies, a scholar of German, European and American thought who was best known for his scholarship on Wilhelm von Humboldt, died Aug. 3 in Palo Alto.

July

James Trudell, professor of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine at the School of Medicine, a chemist who spent 50 years hunting down molecular clues to help make anesthetic drugs safer for patients, died July 29 in Woodside.

John W. Harbaugh, professor emeritus of geological and environmental sciences, a foundational figure in mathematical geology and active in campus leadership, died July 28 in Santa Barbara.

James P. Johnston, a professor of mechanical engineering and a foremost authority on fluid dynamics, died July 13 in Palo Alto.

Christian Guilleminault, a sleep expert at the School of Medicine who co-founded the journal Sleep, first described obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and helped establish the Stanford Sleep Medicine Center, died July 9 at Stanford Hospital.

Calvin F. “Cal” Quate, the Leland T. Edwards Professor of Engineering, Emeritus, and a professor of applied physics, inventor of acoustic and atomic force microscopes, died July 6 in Menlo Park.

June

Christopher G. Dawesformer CEO of Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, died June 29.

Norah Borus, coterminal student in computer science, died June 14 at Stanford.

Michel Serres, professor emeritus of French, one of modern France’s most gifted and original thinkers, recognized as an immortel of the Académie Française, died June 1 in Vincennes, France.

May

Catherine “Cathy” Jensen, who began her 20-year nursing career at Stanford University Hospital, died May 10.

John D. Krumboltz, professor emeritus of education and of psychology who developed the theory of planned happenstance, died May 4 at Stanford.

April

Nils J. Nilsson, the Kumagai Professor of Engineering, Emeritus, in the Department of Computer Science and a pioneer in robotics and artificial intelligence, died April 23 in Medford, Oregon.

John C. L’Heureux, the Lane Professor of Humanities, Emeritus, author and poet and for many years leader of the Wallace Stegner Creative Writing Fellowship program at Stanford University, died April 22 at Stanford.

David A. Hamburg, former professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the School of Medicine (1961-76), died April 21 in Washington, D.C.

Roy H. Maffly, MD, professor emeritus of medicine, former associate dean for student affairs at Stanford University School of Medicine and a champion for recruiting underrepresented minorities to the school, died April 15 in Palo Alto.

March

Ralph Greco, MD, professor emeritus of surgery and a pioneer in the movement to support work-life balance for physicians and trainees, died March 31 at Stanford.

James Howell, the Theodore J. Kreps Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at Stanford Graduate School of Business, whose vision for modern-day management education profoundly changed business schools around the world, died March 29 in Palo Alto.

Richard H. Pantell, professor emeritus of electrical engineering and an expert in fields ranging from lasers to the environment, died March 26 in San Mateo.

Mischa Nee, a junior majoring in computer science, died March 22 in Mallorca, Spain.

Susan Horsfall Crljenko, retired director of finance at Stanford Libraries, died March 21 in Sunnyvale.

Mark Dalrymple, recording engineer in the Music Department, died March 21 in Los Altos.

Barbara Kent, professor emerita of physical therapy, died March 19 in Menlo Park.

Oscar Salvatierra Jr., MD, professor emeritus of surgery and of pediatrics at the School of Medicine and a leader in the effort to enact national legislation regulating organ donation, died March 16 in Menlo Park.

Beverly Bogart, retired librarian at the Law Library, died March 15 in Palo Alto.

Edward Rubenstein, MD, professor emeritus of primary care and population health at the School of Medicine and the author of an early textbook on intensive care medicine, died March 11 in San Mateo.

Wayne Barnett, professor emeritus at Stanford Law School, who taught primarily in the area of taxation and contracts, died March 8 in Seattle.

Kelly Catlin, a first-year master’s student in computational and mathematical engineering, and a world-class cyclist, died March 8 at Stanford.

Edwin Bridges, a retired professor of education best known for applying problem-based learning to the training of educational leaders, died March 7 at his home on the Stanford campus.

February

Thomas Reif Kane, a professor emeritus of applied mechanics and mechanical engineering, a pioneer in the field of spacecraft dynamics, biomechanics and modern computational dynamics, died Feb. 16 at Stanford.

Joe Kott, longtime lecturer on transportation planning in the Urban Studies program, died Feb. 14 in Oakland.

Winslow Briggs, a professor emeritus of biological sciences who published landmark research on the molecular mechanisms that plants and other organisms use to sense and respond to light, died Feb. 11 at Stanford Hospital.

Ziwen “Jerry” Wang, doctoral student in materials science and engineering, died Feb. 11 at Stanford.

Franz Georg Lassner, a former curator of special collections and director of archives at the Hoover Institution, died Feb. 10 in Cape May, New Jersey.

Jim Lyons, dean of student affairs from 1972 to 1990, for whom the James W. Lyons Award for Service is named, and a lecturer at the Graduate School of Education from 1992 to 1997, died Feb. 9 in Palo Alto.

Donald L. Carpenter, professor emeritus of electrical engineering, died Feb. 5 in Santa Cruz, California.

Alan Grundmann, who held a variety of administrative positions at the university, including administrative officer of the Department of Physics, assistant to the provost, assistant provost, and administrative director for two decades of the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, died Feb. 5.

January

Elizabeth Jean Rose-Morales, a nurse widely known as Betty Rose, who worked at Stanford Hospital for more than 30 years in a variety of leadership roles, died Jan. 22 in Palo Alto.

Juanita Nissley, who worked as a secretary at the university for 23 years, the latter half at the Hoover Institution as secretary to George P. Shultz, died Jan. 21 in Los Altos Hills.